This week Britney Spears released her new memoir, and is the latest celebrity to open up about the trauma of being a young famous woman in the 2000s. Post-MeToo and the Russell Brand allegations, there has been a collective re-evaluation of how stars like Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan were treated. So why did we want to see them humiliated? And why did so many of us think it was normal?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties by Sarah Ditum (Fleet £22). Buy at timesbookshop.co.uk. Discount for Times+ members

Guest: Sarah Ditum, writer for The Sunday Times, and author of Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Book extract: Being Britney Spears: inside the teen dream that turned toxic: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britney-spears-book-the-woman-in-me-justin-timberlake-jhnhgcxd6

Stories of our times episodes:

Russell Brand accused of rape: https://pod.fo/e/1eeeb0
Russell Brand investigation: What happened next:https://pod.fo/e/1f03f7

Clips: BBC Woman’s Hour, CBS, MTV VMAs, 60 Minutes/9Now, Channel 4 News, I am Paris, CBS News, …Baby One More Time/Britney Spears/SME, Blurred Lines/Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell/UMG, CNN, KRON4, BBC News, Pop Idol/ITV, The Simple Life/Fox, Saturday Night Live/NBC, This is Paris/YouTube.

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