Britney Spears' campaign to regain control of her life—which scored a huge victory on Wednesday when the singer's father was suspended from her conservatorship—has been chronicled in several documentaries. But Amanda Knox is questioning whether these films actually helped Spears or simply exploited her.
Knox, who was convicted and then acquitted of a murder in Italy, posted a lengthy Twitter thread about the 39-year-old pop star on Wednesday.
It began: "With all these new #BritneySpears documentaries out, I'm asking myself: Did Britney participate in any of them? Did she consent to them? Did she want them to exist? Does anyone care?
"The answer to the first two questions is NO. She did not participate, or grant her approval. And while I'm sure the documentary film-makers would have preferred that she gave them her approval, when they didn't, they ploughed ahead anyway. Is that OK?"
The best-known of the Spears documentaries—and arguably the blueprint for the ones that followed—is Framing Britney Spears, released in February by The New York Times, FX and Hulu.
Another Hulu film, Controlling Britney Spears, premiered on Friday. In addition, Netflix is streaming a documentary called Britney vs. Spears and CNN has aired a special called Toxic: Britney Spears' Battle for Freedom.
Knox has herself appeared in a Netflix documentary about the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia and the legal battles that followed. She says, however, that she was asked to participate in the 2016 film in a way that allowed her to use her own voice.
She compared this with how documentaries have been made about the "Toxic" singer, raising the question of consent.
With all these new #BritneySpears documentaries out, I'm asking myself: Did Britney participate in any of them? Did she consent to them? Did she want them to exist? Does anyone care?
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) September 29, 2021
/a thread
"And it's a large reason why I participated in their film. They had the ethical sense to understand that I would be deeply impacted by that film, and that my consent and participation mattered. They decided it was better to make no film than one without me," Knox tweeted.
"Now, in Britney's case, it's complicated, because her own voice and authorship of her life has been silenced and limited by the conservatorship. Doc filmmakers rightly worry that their requests for an interview may never reach her, that they get blocked by the gatekeepers."
Knox added that while such documentaries may have helped Spears by raising awareness of the injustices she faced, "they still didn't include her or get her approval to tell a story about her."
Knox pointed out that Spears said she had "cried for two weeks" over Framing Britney Spears.
"My life has always been very speculated... watched... and judged really my whole life," Spears wrote in March, in a now deleted Instagram caption.
The caption also said she felt "judged" and "insulted" by the media, according to Rolling Stone.
"I didn't watch the documentary but from what I did see of it I was embarrassed by the light they put me in," Spears continued. "I cried for two weeks and well.... I still cry sometimes !!!!"
Newsweek has contacted Netflix, CNN and Hulu for comment.
