Britney Spears’ mum has ‘mixed feelings’ about controversial conservatorship
Britney Spears and mom at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California (Photo by Barry King/WireImage)
Britney Spears’ mum Lynne says she has ‘mixed feelings’ about her daughter’s controversial conservatorship.
In a report from The New Yorker published Saturday (3 July), Lynne told reporters Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino in June that she was concerned about her daughter’s current conservatorship. The arrangement was put in place in 2008 and, under its terms, Britney Spears’ father Jamie maintains control over her personal and financial affairs.
According to the report, Lynne “spoke in a whisper” and said she “might have to hang up abruptly” if any family members walked in and “discovered her speaking to a reporter”.
“I got mixed feelings about everything,” Lynne told The New Yorker. “I don’t know what to think… It’s a lot of pain, a lot of worry.”
She added: “I’m good. I’m good at deflecting.”
However, the article said Lynne “declined to answer detailed questions about the case”.
Britney Spears has been under the conservatorship for 13 years and spoke out against it for the first time publicly on 23 June. During her heartbreaking testimony before the court, Spears laid bare a host of horrific allegations and begged the court to end her conservatorship for good.
She claimed the arrangement is “abusive” and that she has been threatened to be isolated from her friends and loved ones. The “Toxic” singer also alleged that she is unable to remove a contraceptive device implanted in her body and that she cannot get married.
Britney Spears’ conservatorship was created in ‘maybe 10 minutes’, claims former friend
According to The New Yorker, Spears reportedly called the police the day before her explosive court testimony to “report herself as a victim of conservatorship abuse”.
Sources added Spears’ management team was texting each other shortly after the call to Venture County police, “worried what Spears might say the next day and discussed how to prepare in the event that she went rogue.”
A former friend of Spears, Jacqueline Butcher, told The New Yorker that the conservatorship was created in “maybe 10 minutes”. She added that she thought “we were helping” the singer at the time, but she admitted that her mindset had changed in the years since.
“At the time, I thought we were helping,” she said. “And I wasn’t, and I helped a corrupt family seize all this control.”
Jamie Spears, Britney Spears, her brother Bryan and her mother Lynne. (Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty)
Britney Spears’ father is a conservator over his daughter and has remained in charge of her person and finances for over a decade. He stepped back from the role briefly in 2019 due to health reasons when Jodi Montgomery took over as conservatorship.
Wealth management firm Bessemer Trust was a co-conservator over the “Stronger” singer’s finances, but the company recently requested to resign from the conservatorship.
The firm asked a Los Angeles court to withdraw from the arrangement because it became aware that Spears “objects to the continuance of her conservatorship and desires to terminate the conservatorship”.
As such, Bessemer Trust said it has heard her and “respects her wishes”.
