In the wake of #FreeBritney, all eyes are still on Britney Spears.
Major players in her conservatorship drama remain in the spotlight: her dad is still fighting for control of her massive wealth, she's still isolated at home taking strange selfies, and everyone from past boyfriends to major media outlets are starting to make amends for doing her dirty.
While people like Justin Timberlake and Diane Sawyer are being made to apologize, criticism has shifted to another guilty party: the paparrazzi who hounded Britney to the point of her breakdown.
They're the people behind some of Britney's most career-damaging pics. Remember when she went barefoot in a public bathroom? What about when she drove with a kid on her lap? Those images were both the evidence for AND the reasoning behind her unravelling mental health. Here's how the paparazzi are justifying their actions.
They Say She Was In On It
In an interview by Insider, some of the paps who bult their careers on Britney Spears are now telling their side of the story. They say she isn't as much of a victim as that 'Framing Britney Spears' doc suggests.
"Britney was just as involved in when and how she was seen," Meg Handler told Insider. (She worked at the photo desk for The Star in Britney's late '00s heyday.) "Those photographers were called. Most of the time, her people called. 'Britney's going to be here.' 'Britney's going to be there.' That's how it worked."
Was It Her, Or Her Handlers?
Would Britney really ask to be hounded? If her management called the paparazzi, and she had a strained relationship with that management, it's hard to believe that anyone was acting on Britney's own orders.
Managers calling paps is a system that's been in place for decades, and is currently used by everyone from the Kardashians (according to their former bodyguard) to Taylor Swift, who fans believe tipped paparazzi off on where to spot her on dates with Harry Styles and Tom Hiddleston.
"If someone's entertained, then the system is working," said LA-based paparazzo Rick Mendoza - but years of smashed cameras and damaged careers like Britney's might prove the opposite.
The Paps Admit They Don't Treat Celebrities Right
A few photographers who spoke up did realize their mistakes. Taking accountability is another story.
"Some photographers are good and some are bad. And some of us were not good people," paparazzo Giles Harrison told Insider when talking about Britney. "You might as well have thrown red meat to a shark."
"I'm in it for the money and the history," said Rick Mendoza (pictured above), who proves Harrison's point. "You think I give a f--k about somebody getting up on the wrong side of the bed, and they don't want their photograph taken? I don't give a s--t."