Cher comes out swinging for Britney Spears as she weighs in on controversial conservatorship
Cher has become one of the most high-profile figures to wade into the backlash building against how Britney Spears’ conservatorship is being handled. (Getty)
Cher, in a capital letter-ladened tweet, said the conservatorship which has controlled Britney Spears’ life for the last 12 years has reduced her to a “cash cow”.
The 74-year-old singer, who invented music so we would all buy her records, took to Twitter to blast the complex, vastly private legal arrangement which has seen Spears’ financial affairs, as well as her mental wellbeing, be managed by family members, estate managers and a licensed professional conservator since 2008.
She wrote: “She worked hard, was the golden goose, made lots of ??, got sick, now she’s THE CASH COW.
She Worked Hard,Was The Golden Goose,Made Lots Of
💰💰,Got Sick,Now She’s The CASH COW.Does anyone Who’s Making💰Off Her Being Sick,Want Her Well⁉️Someone Who Doesn’t Want Anything From Her Should Look Into Her Dr.& Her Meds.
🦆🦆🦆……Is It a Duck⁉️ https://t.co/hniE8yFrHZ
— Cher (@cher) August 26, 2020
“Does anyone who’s making ? off her being sick want her well!?
“Someone who doesn’t want anything from her should look into her doctor and her meds.
“Is it a duck!?” she concluded.
Britney Spears will remain in conservatorship until 2021.
Cher is perhaps one of the most high-profile people to pundit Spears’ guardianship which, to the chagrin of her father, Jamie, has been increasingly dragged into the spotlight.
Many of the grievances listed by Cher are shared by the #FreeBritney Movement, a years-long grassroots campaign by the pop princess’ devoted fanbase to untangle Spears from her dense guardianship.
The arrangement, typically used for the old, infirm or disabled, has been scrutinised by disability rights lawyers as one that erodes agency. Those with detailed knowledge of the case have stressed that conservatorships often greatly limit what say, if any, the person under the arrangement has on who their guardians are.
Indeed, Spears attempted to strip her father Jamie – who has been in charge of her affairs for much of the past 12 years – from the conservatorship with a flurry of legal filings.
Through her legal counsel, Samuel D Ingham III, Spears said she was “strongly opposed” to her father being re-installed as a personal conservator, in which he oversaw her mental health care, among other things, after he briefly stepped down due to health reasons in 2019.
Instead, in a devastating blow, the courts moved to extend her guardianship through 1 February, 2021.
