Britney Spears Documentary: How to Watch the ‘New York Times Presents’ Special

Everyone is talking about Britney Spears in the wake of the new unauthorized documentary Framing Britney Spears, an entry in The New York Times Presents series. The eye-opening doc examines the #FreeBritney movement, the pop princess’ media portrayal over the years, and the complicated conservatorship that she is under.

If you’re looking to get in on the conversation but miss the original airtime on FX, the documentary is available to stream on Hulu. However, if you’re looking for it, use the full title “The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears” as your search term, as the documentary is technically an episode of the larger series.

A source told ET that Spears is aware of the documentary but has not watched it. “She’s always made aware of any important new releases that pertain to her life and career, and this was no different,” the source explained. “She hasn’t seen the documentary because she never likes to focus on what others say about her.” Spears may have made a vague reference to the documentary in an Instagram video where she said “The moment we’ve all been waiting for last week,” before sharing her thoughts about the Super Bowl instead.

“The main thing that’s getting expressed by the #FreeBritney movement is asking us to question the conservatorship system,” Framing Britney Spears producer and director Samantha Stark told Variety. “The central mystery of our film is that she’s living the life of a busy pop star, and yet we’re being told that she’s at risk constantly. She’s making millions of dollars, and yet, we’re told she’s incapable of making decisions that are in her own best interest. That’s such a conflict, so it’s hard to understand why it’s happening, and so many of the court records are sealed.”

There has been an overwhelming amount of support for Spears online since the documentary aired. “Y’all..it’s plaguing me that nobody knows if [Britney Spears] is truly okay,” country star Kacey Musgraves tweeted. “Really hoping that if she isn’t she can formally vocalize it in some way and that she knows all of us on the outside really give a s— about her well-being.”

Stark addressed this very concern in her Variety interview, explaining that it’s impossible to tell how Spears is actually doing from her public persona. “The thing about that is you can’t ask Britney if she needs help because there’s such a tight cone of silence around her that is enabled by the conservatorship,” Stark explained. “One of the things that a conservator of Britney’s person can do is limit who visits her, they can provide 24/7 security for her, so if you call Britney’s publicist or manager, you’re not going to get an interview. It feels like her Instagram is the only place you can actually hear from her. I look at Britney’s Instagram every day to see if there’s a new post and if I can look into it. We don’t know what’s in her head, and she never talks about the conservatorship, so I understand why fans are wondering if she’s sending messages through her social media.”