Earlier this month, Britney Spears made headlines as the painful battle to end her court-ordered conservatorship came to an end. This week we focus on the pop princess’ Louisiana roots and wish her a happy 40th birthday.
Born Dec. 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, Britney Jean Spears was raised in nearby Kentwood, Louisiana. Her talents as a singer, dancer and actress were evident early on — dancing since she was age two and singing since she was five. She won dozens of beauty pageants, talent shows and gymnastics competitions.
In 1992, the 11-year-old was selected for a Disney Channel reboot of “The Mickey Mouse Club.” She first auditioned for the show when she was eight, but was deemed too young. But she caught the eye of a casting director, who referred her to an agent, landing her a spot on the talent competition “Star Search” and a starring role in an off-Broadway play. She tried out again for Disney the next year and joined “The Mickey Mouse Club.”
She signed her first record contract at 15, releasing her first two albums, “…Baby One More Time” and “Oops!...I Did It Again,” in 1999 and 2000. The title song from the first album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, while the second album set a record for first-week sales at more than 1.3 million copies. Since then, the Grammy winner has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the world’s best-selling music artists.
As her success and international stardom grew, she also made tabloid headlines for her relationships and personal problems — challenges detailed in the recent court fight over the 14-year-long conservatorship under which she was involuntarily placed in 2008. In often-painful testimony, Spears accused her management team and family of abuse. We’ll leave the details of that to other media outlets, but there’s no denying the power of the #FreeBritney movement and the support Spears’ fans gave her during her battle. It ended earlier this month when a judge agreed to terminate the conservatorship.
The 1.5-million-gallon City Park swimming pool opened in 1925.