General Hospital Alum Amber Tamblyn Shares Her Own Version of Britney Spears’ Saga: ‘I Was Everyone’s ATM’
“It was deeply painful for all three of us.”
As General Hospital‘s Emily Bowen Quartermaine, Amber Tamblyn was the poor girl who, upon the death of her beloved mom, got swept up into the world of money and power occupied by the family who took her in. Even as this storyline was unfolding, the actress bringing it to life was herself dealing with the ways in which money changes everything.
This week, Tamblyn — moved by the testimony of Britney Spears, who has been attempting to get out from under the conservatorship which has, in essence, given dad Jamie complete control of her life — shared her own story. In an editorial published in the New York Times, Tamblyn explained that as a young woman on the cusp of fame, she’d turned the management of her finances over to her parents… and it nearly tore the family apart.
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“My father acted as my co-manager, and my mother managed my finances,” wrote Tamblyn. “My money paid for our vacations, dinners out and sometimes even the bills. When it finally came time to disentangle our personal and professional relationships, it was deeply painful for all three of us.”
Tamblyn was quick to point out that she is not comparing her home life to that of Spears, saying that that she had “a loving and healthy relationship with my parents, for the most part. I haven’t experienced anything comparable to the scale of abuse [Spears] seems to have endured over the years,” the actress added, though “there are some parallels.” She details the difficulty that comes in having family members as paid employees and the struggle that came with trying to navigate the already complicated parent/child dynamic under such unusual circumstances.
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“I was everyone’s ATM,” the Joan of Arcadia star continued. “A bank that was, nonetheless, unconditionally loved. Still, as I got older, it got harder to trust the source of that love.”
Ultimately, Tamblyn’s is a message of support and encouragement for not only Spears but other women who might find themselves in a similar situation. “As someone who has experienced a small taste of what Britney has gone through, I know that what she has done is a profoundly radical act,” concluded Tamblyn, “one that I hope will ripple through the bodies and bank accounts of women across industries for generations to come.”
As we contemplate Tamblyn’s brave and hopeful message, why not check out the gallery below in which we look at some of daytime’s all-time strongest female characters.
