Judge Dissolves Britney Spears Conservatorship After 13 Years
A California judge on Friday dissolved Britney Spearsâ conservatorship, bringing an end to the legal arrangement that put strict limits on her personal and financial freedoms for more than 13 years.
Spears was placed under a conservatorship in 2008 after a series of mental health episodes were captured by tabloid paparazzi who had hounded the singer, then a young mother of two.
AdvertisementThe arrangement consisted of two parts â" one related to her finances and one related to her person â" that impeded her ability to make medical decisions and decide how to live her life independently.
As news came down of the judgeâs decision on Friday, Spears fans who had gathered in the street outside the courthouse cheered in celebration.
And the #FreeBritney fans are so excited. Pink confetti flying on Grand Ave pic.twitter.com/S1HA83rYLd
â" Stephanie K. Baer (@skbaer) November 12, 2021Until this year, Spears rarely acknowledged that she was locked in an arrangement usually reserved for people with severe health problems and the incapacitated elderly.
For most of the conservatorshipâs duration, her father, James âJamieâ Spears, was assigned as her conservator â meaning he had the final say over her schedule, how often she could see her children, what vacations she took and even allegedly what she could have to eat or drink. According to one report, Jamie Spearsâ control over his daughterâs life extended even to the color of her kitchen cabinets.
AdvertisementIn court papers filed last week, Jamie Spears said he supported ending the conservatorship but defended its creation, saying it had been ânecessary to protect Britney in every sense of the wordâ at a time when her âlife was in shambles.â
The singerâs attorneys filed a 110-page document asking the court to depose her father in late October to unearth the full extent of how he exerted control over his celebrity daughter. A recent New York Times documentary alleged that the private security firm Jamie Spears hired to monitor his daughterâs movements and communications went so far as to set up audio recording in her bedroom â a charge her father denies. His attorneys have consistently denied any wrongdoing over the course of the conservatorship.
This weekâs pivotal decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny came less than five months after Britney Spears condemned the conservatorship in shocking terms during a hearing she had requested in order to address the judge directly.
While concerned fans had been critical of Spearsâ conservatorship for several years, often using the hashtag #FreeBritney, the late June hearing was the first time Spears herself had spoken openly about the situation and confirmed their fears. She called the arrangement âabusiveâ and slammed her family and attorneys for their parts in it.
AdvertisementâIâve told the world Iâm happy and OK,â Spears said at the time. âIâm traumatized. Iâm not happy. I canât sleep.â
She was particularly disparaging of her father, saying the conservatorship âhas allowed my dad to ruin my life.â
Since then, life has changed dramatically for Spears, who turns 40 on Dec. 2.
Penny allowed her to hire her own attorney for the first time, bringing entertainment lawyer Mathew Rosengart into the picture. Rosengart immediately pledged to do everything in his power to dissolve the conservatorship.
Jamie Spears initially pushed back on his daughterâs campaign for independence but eventually bowed to the mounting pressure. His attorneys filed a petition to dissolve the conservatorship in early September, although they maintain that Jamie has only ever had his daughterâs best interests at heart. By October, Penny had suspended Jamie Spears as conservator.
Attorneys for Britney Spears say that her father used his position to rake in millions for himself and people who managed her career. Jamie Spears and the singerâs mother, Lynn Spears, are still demanding that the court require their daughter to cover their enormous legal bills.
Britney Spears has begun to talk more about her life and her fractured relationship with her family since speaking her mind this summer.
She revealed in mid-September that she was engaged to Sam Asghari, the boyfriend of four years she met while he was a backup dancer for a music video she was filming. Spears had alleged in June that she wished to marry Asghari and have more children but that her conservators opposed the union and refused to take her to see a doctor to remove her birth control implant.
âLord have mercy on my familyâs souls if I ever do an interview!!!â Spears wrote on Instagram last month. She has periodically posted, and then sometimes deleted, criticisms of the conservatorship and her family members on the platform, where she counts some 36 million followers.
Related...Britney Spears' Mother Makes Legal Claim, Heightening Family DramaBritneyâs Mom Heightens Family DramaBritney Spears Blames Mother For ConservatorshipBritney Spears Makes Ominous Warning To Family Even If Conservatorship Ends
0 Response to "Judge Dissolves Britney Spears Conservatorship After 13 Years"
Post a Comment