Britney Spears has been trying to end conservatorship for years, say explosive court documents
Jamie Spears, Britney’s dad, has reportedly had a leg amputated. (Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty Images)
Britney Spears has been trying to end her conservatorship for years and is “sick of being taken advantage of”, according to explosive leaked court documents.
The singer has been embroiled within the complex legal arrangement since 2008, which gives her father Jamie Spears significant control over her personal life and finances.
It has now emerged that Britney Spears has been fighting to be freed from the conservatorship for much longer than was originally believed, documents obtained by The New York Times revealed.
Those court documents show that Britney has been expressing significant discontent with the arrangement as far back as 2014 and has pleaded repeatedly with the courts to grant her independence and autonomy once more.
In a hearing that was closed to the public in 2014, Britney’s court-appointed lawyer Samuel D Ingham III reportedly said the singer wanted her father to be removed as her conservator due to a “shopping list” of grievances, which included his drinking.
Britney Spears said her father was “obsessed” with her and wanted to control all aspects of her life – including what friends she made and whether she painted her kitchen cabinets, the Times reported.
She went on to claim in court documents that the conservatorship “comes with a lot of fear” and that she faced “very harsh” consequences for making mistakes.
Britney Spears feared that her concerns about her father would be swept under the rug
According to the Times, in 2016, an investigator concluded that Britney should remain under the conservatorship as she could be susceptible to influence from others. The investigator also reportedly singled out her “intermittent” drug use as a problem.
However, the investigator is also believed to have said that a “pathway to independence” should be established for the singer, with the “eventual termination of the conservatorship” being the ultimate goal.
Furthermore, The New York Times reported that Britney told a lawyer she consulted in 2008 that she didn’t want her father appointed as her conservator. Despite this, a judge later ruled that he was “a suitable and qualified person” for the role.
In 2014, Ingham reportedly told a court that Britney Spears believed Jamie was drinking alcohol despite the fact that he had a history of problematic alcohol use.
However, lawyers representing Jamie denied that he was consuming alcohol, documents state, citing the results of a random alcohol test. His representatives said it would be “inappropriate” for him to be tested again for alcohol use – a comment that the judge readily agreed with.
“Absolutely inappropriate,” the judge replied, according to the court document seen by the newspaper. “And who is she to be demanding that of anybody?”
During that same hearing, Ingham reportedly told the court that Britney anticipated her “shopping list” of grievances would be swept under the rug.
Ingham said the singer was worried that her concerns would be “ignored”, and stressed that she urgently wanted the conservatorship to be terminated in its entirety.
He went on to state that Britney was thinking of retiring from the music industry and changing her lifestyle – but the judge and lawyers on both sides reportedly suggested that her boyfriend might be adding to her discontent with the arrangement.
The leaked court documents are just the latest to emerge in the singer’s lengthy conservatorship battle, which has come under a media spotlight in recent months after the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears took the world by storm.
She was placed under the conservatorship following public mental health crises, but her attempts to have the arrangement ended – or to have her father removed – have so far proven unsuccessful.
Britney is scheduled to address a Los Angeles court on Wednesday (23 June). It is not yet clear if her remarks will be made public.
