Britney Spears’ father lashes out as star finally freed from his control: ‘It’s a loss for Britney’
Britney Spears with her father, Jamie, in Hollywood, California in 2008. (Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage)
Britney Spears’ father has hit back at the court ruling suspending him from her conservatorship, calling it a “loss for Britney”.
Jamie Spears, 69, will no longer exercise control over Britney’s finances, which he has done so for more than 13 years, after Californian probate judge Brenda Penny suspended him from his role as conservator Wednesday (29 September).
“The current situation is untenable,” Penny said in court. “It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of James Spears.”
Breaking his silence on the decision, Jamie’s attorney issued a lengthy statement on his behalf branding the decision “disappointing”.
“Mr Spears loves his daughter Britney unconditionally,” Vivian Thoreen, Jamie’s lawyer, wrote in a statement shared to the press.
“For 13 years, he has tried to do what is in her best interests, whether as a conservator or her father. This started with agreeing to serve as her conservator when she voluntarily entered into the conservatorship.”
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Thoreen credited Jamie with “helping [Britney] revive her career and re-establish a relationship with her children”.
But in her incendiary court testimony in June, Britney claimed that she was forced to tour in 2018 and did so “out of fear”.
“My manager said they would sue me if I didn’t follow through with the tour,” she said, adding that she was “handed paperwork when she got off stage in Vegas” and “out of fear, I did that tour”.
According to Forbes, Jamie had pocketed at least $5 million from Britney’s conservatorship.
Per court documents viewed by the outlet, Britney has been paying her father a monthly salary of $16,000 since 2009. He also took a cut profits from gross ticket and merchandise sales from her Piece of Me residency.
Jamie Spears’ statement continued: “For anyone who has tried to help a family member dealing with mental health issues, they can appreciate the tremendous amount of daily worry and work this required.
“These facts make the outcome of yesterday’s hearing all the more disappointing, and frankly, a loss for Britney,” Thoreen added.
“Respectfully, the court was wrong to suspend Mr Spears, put a stranger in his place to manage Britney’s estate, and extend the very conservatorship that Britney begged the court to terminate earlier this summer.”
Thoreen argued it was Jamie’s “initiative” to terminate the arrangement altogether “when neither Britney’s former court-appointed counsel nor her new privately-retained attorney would do so”.
Britney’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart, however, has called Jamie Spears’ request that the court end the conservatorship a plot to evade accountability.
Jamie Spears, Britney Spears, her brother Bryan and her mother Lynne. (Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty)
After Wednesday’s court hearing, Britney will be free from her father’s control or the first time since 2008.
“This man does not belong in her life, your honour, for another day,” argued Rosengart, Britney’s chosen lawyer, in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
“Please hear the plea of my client,” he urged, adding that it would be a “disaster” for Jamie to remain as conservator of her estate.
Jamie Spears has now been temporarily replaced by finance professional and accountant, John Zabel.
Jodi Montgomery, appointed by the courts in 2019 as temporary conservator of the person, will continue in that role.
Britney did not participate in Wednesday’s hearing. Back in June, she told the court: “It is my wish and dream for all of this to end.
“I want my life back.”
