Public image

Britney Spears' personal life has attracted considerable media attention. Some people feel that she has courted it by cultivating, in her early years at least, a chaste, God-fearing and "wholesome" image. It was somewhat at odds, not only with the traditional pressures, temptations and opportunities of "pop 'n' roll," but with the increasingly sexualized content of her own image and songs. Spears' kiss with Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards received much media attention, as have her romantic relationships.
It began in April 1999 when a then 17 year-old Spears was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in a sexually suggestive Lolita-themed photo shoot which triggered widespread speculation (denied by her representatives) that the singer had opted to have breast implants.
In August 2003 the artist reached more controversy with a photoshoot by photographer Michael Thompson which appeared on W Magazine. The photos display Britney in a heavy dominatrix inspired shoot, and sexually suggestive poses. In the interview by Rob Haskell which accompanied the photos, Spears admitted to having lost her virginity to Justin Timberlake two years into their relationship. She also stated that she in fact smokes, and she did kiss Colin Farrell but had no relationship with him.
The sexualized public image of Spears once again became a topic of debate as a result of her November 2003 semi-nude photo spread for the men's magazine, Esquire. Prompted by this, Playboy reportedly offered the star over one million USD to pose nude for their magazine, but Spears publicly declined.[ In an interview with Diane Sawyer, she was asked if she had ever gone further than she wished she had with the sexualized photo shoots. Spears responded, "No, I don't think so, no." After the Esquire photos were held up in front of her, she said, "Okay. Now those are a little much. Yeah, those are a little much. That's one picture, I must say, that I felt kind of weird about, yeah."


The 2004 Onyx Hotel Tour brought new criticism. While Spears and her on-stage dancers performed her songs "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe on Me", they were seemingly nude and were performing routines simulating gay sex, orgies and masturbation. As there were underage fans in the audience, there was some outrage at the alleged lack of decency of the performances, as well as reports of adult chaperones angrily storming out with children they brought to the concert. Spears has responded to parents' concerns by stating she is "not their babysitter. It's the parents' responsibility. If you don't like it, then just change the channel. The only person I want to be a role model to is my sister, Jamie Lynn." (From ABC's Primetime interview with Diane Sawyer)
In December 2005, Spears sued US Weekly for a story the magazine published in the column "HOTstuff" of their October 2005 publication. The column, with the headline "Brit & Kev: Secret Sex Tape? New parents have a new worry: racy footage from 2004." claimed that Spears and her husband had made a sex video and feared it would be distributed. Spears denies the existence of any such tape while the magazine claims to have a credible source, which they failed to mention in the article. In November 2006 it was reported that the case was dismissed.
On June 28, 2006, after her televised Dateline interview a pregnant (and brunette) Spears posed nude for the August 2006 cover of Harper's Bazaar, in a photo similar to Demi Moore's September 1991 cover of Vanity Fair. In one photo, Spears is shown with only a g-string and open fur coat, and in another she is completely nude with her hands covering her breasts. Her son, Sean, is also featured in the photospread.
In August 2006, a video of Britney began circulating the Internet. In the 3-minute video, which was already released as a bonus on the Britney & Kevin: Chaotic DVD, Britney is seen having a conversation with her husband Kevin, who is filming Spears as she is sitting at a table eating. In the video, Spears seems very disoriented and confused. She also casually burps throughout the clip. The video begins with Spears making random comments about herself before she instructs Kevin to put the camera down and to "stop acting like a cameraman". She then begins to ask to go to the movie theatre to see a film which, according to Kevin, has already been out on DVD for 4 months and has already been played "on the bus". Spears then begins to claim that she is "missing out on life" and that she is generally behind everyone else. Kevin tells her it is because of all the partying, to which Spears strongly disagrees with and begins to bang the table. Britney then begins to try and legitimately convince Kevin that the concept of time travel that is portrayed in the Back to the Future series is real. Kevin says that if it's possible, that the people responsible wouldn't tell anyone.
At the end of September 2006, Britney was one of 20 influential music acts chosen to pose for the covers of music magazine 'Q's 20th Birthday edition. The magazine released 20 different collectible covers featuring each act. Britney's cover showed the then-pregnant superstar sporting long blonde hair, a red and white polka-dot bikini and licking a red lollipop. The magazine contained new photos of the pop princess and an exclusive new interview in which she talked of her favourite artists, songs and moments of the past 20 years. She also mentioned that she would be returning to the spotlight next year, stating 'It's been two years since I've performed, but next year I'm going to try and get it on again. So we'll see...'.
Source:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia