Britney Spears addresses conservatorship ‘situation’ in frank new video: ‘The cat is outta the bag’
In a new video, Britney Spears revealed how she’s fairing amid new developments in her year-long conservatorship battle. (Screen captures via Instagram)
Britney Spears has said “things are way better” just hours after her attorney accelerated moves to oust her father from her conservatorship.
In a candid Instagram video uploaded Thursday evening (5 August), the 39-year-old levelled with her nearly 33 million followers now that the world knows about her “situation”.
“I’m sure a lot of you guys are wondering what I’m doing and since the cat is outta the bag – literally, out of the bag – and you guys know my situation I wanted to let you guys know that things are way better than what I ever anticipated,” she said.
The “Toxic” hitmaker then briefly answered questions from fans “apart from the drama of the conservatorship”, such as her favourite potato chip or Miley Cyrus song.
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Britney’ update came mere moments after her high-powered Hollywood lawyer Mathew Rosengart asked the court to hasten the hearing on her request to remove or suspend her father to end his “abuse” once and for all.
According to the petition, Rosengart argued it is in his client’s “best interests” for Jamie to be stripped from the decision-making role that gives him thumping control over his daughter’s estate.
He wrote in the paperwork that Britney “continues to suffer ongoing harm each day that Mr Spears remains in place as the Conservator of the Estate – emotionally, psychologically, and financially”.
🚨 NEW 🚨 In a pleading filed today Matthew Rosengart has requested the Court to move up the hearing on the removal of Jamie Spears to as early as August 23rd! #FreeBritney pic.twitter.com/TDvPLR7pFS— Britney Law Army (@BritneyLawArmy) August 5, 2021
Britney Spears asks for ‘ultimate removal’ of Jamie as the ‘first step to rectify the abuse’
For the last 13 years, the conservatorship has closed like a vice on Britney. From her spending to the colour of her kitchen cabinets, many of the day-to-day decisions Britney makes are instead overseen by her conservators.
In the two-pronged conservatorship, her finances are controlled by Jamie while her personal and physical wellbeing, such as medical decisions, are scrutinised by her court-appointed conservator Jodi Montgomery.
The filings echoed Britney’s grievances about the arrangement, stressing that Jamie “has also enriched himself at the expense of his daughter”.
It notes that Jamie pays himself $16,000 a month as conservator – some $2,000 more than what he gives his daughter as an allowance – on top of a further $2,000 for office expenses.
“Most recently, and by way of one illustration only, Mr Spears objected to his daughter’s wish in late July to take a short vacation, disapproving of the expenditure that would have come from his daughter’s own, hard-earned money,” the petition read.
The scuffle to jet off to Maui, Hawaii, caused “anguish” for the pop princess, the filings claim – seemingly capturing how despite Britney laying bare to the courts in raw, public court testimony how she is languishing in the arrangement, she still very much remains in it.
Britney Spears with her father, Jamie, in Hollywood, California in 2008. (Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage)
Jamie’s handling of Britney’s nearly $60 million estate is also scrutinised by Rosengart. His oversight on her money is harming her, the paperwork says, as Britney has refused to perform again until Jamie is out.
An example of this, the petition states, is the bloated salaries of Jamie’s legal counsel which comes out of Britney’s pocket.
The filing notes that one set of his lawyers recently billed Britney more than $1.3 million for about eight months of work. More than $450,000 was tallied for “media matters” in which Jamie’s team defended his role in the arrangement.
Rosengart also trained focus onto how Jamie paid his daughter’s management company an excess of $300,000 in 2019 despite no additional services being tied to the payment. This was the same year Britney first declared her work hiatus.
This demonstrates, the paperwork states, that the “contravention of Mr Spears’s fiduciary obligations and responsibility as conservator to elevate Ms Spears’s best interests over his own or those of others in his circle”.
“An investigation is warranted but can only commence fully once Mr. Spears is removed,” the motion said.
The petition called on the courts to pencil in an additional hearing ahead of the next scheduled on 29 September. If this can’t be done, Jamie’s power’s should be paused.
“Although a proper conservatorship exists to protect a conservatee from undue influence, it is apparent that this conservatorship has allowed would-be influencers to take control of the Estate and exploit Ms Spears, often for their own benefit,” the filing said.
“The suspension and ultimate removal of Mr Spears will be the first step towards rectifying that abuse.”
