Cher wants Britney Spears’ father to ‘move over’ and let her have a life
Cher (L) and Britney Spears. (Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Music Choice)
Pop music legend Cher has called on Britney Spears’ father to release the singer from her conservatorship and let her have full control over her life.
Britney Spears and her father, Jamie, have been embroiled in a controversial conservatorship since 2008 when she went through a mental health crisis. Under the terms of the arrangement, Jamie Spears has maintained significant control over his daughter’s career and estate.
Britney has been fighting to be freed from the complex court-order conservatorship for much of the past year, and now another pop icon has stepped up in support of the “Till the World Ends” singer.
Cher told the Press Association that she believed Jamie should step down from his role in controlling his daughter’s life. She said: “I think her father should move over and let her have her life.
“I believe she’s been paying long enough.”
Britney’s case has faced renewed attention due to the critically-acclaimed Framing Britney Spears documentary. The film explored the “Toxic” singer’s rise to fame, the belligerent treatment she suffered from the press and her conservatorship.
Cher is part of a growing list of celebrities who have called for an end to Britney’s conservatorship, including Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus.
Britney Spears made a fresh bid for freedom last month when her lawyer said he would petition the court to bring on another party as a permanent conservator. Samuel D Ingham III said he intended to file a petition to bring Jodi Montgomery as a permanent conservator for Britney. Montgomery was briefly in charge of the pop star’s estate in 2019 after Jamie Spears took a break for personal health reasons.
Ingham’s petition does not appear to remove Jamie Spears from conservatorship, but it would simply bring Montgomery on as a conservator. The courts will review the new petitions and other filings in a hearing on 27 April.
Jamie Spears has claimed that his daughter could end her conservatorship at “any time”, according to his attorney Vivian L Thoreen. She said: “Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right, but in 13 years has never exercised it.”
She added that Jamie Spears has “diligently and professionally carried out his duties as one of Britney’s conservators, and his love for his daughter and dedication to protecting her is clearly apparent to the court”.
