If you, like many others, have not stopped thinking about Britney Spears since Framing Britney Spears came out, you may be eager to learn that there should be some very important updates in the conservatorship happening soon. On Tuesday, Vanity Fair reported that Britney Spears will speak to the court about her conservatorship. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge set a hearing for June 23 to allow Britney to talk about the “status of the conservatorship”, which may be one of the most significant updates since #FreeBritney began. Her lawyer, Samuel Ingham III, did not indicate what the pop star plans to say at the hearing, although TMZ is reporting she may declare that she wants her father out as her conservator.
That seems likely, as it’s not exactly a secret that Britney and her father don’t see eye to eye, especially when it comes to the conservatorship. In November 2020, Igham said during a hearing, “My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” and warned, “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.” He also said Britney is a “high-functioning conservatee” who has not spoken to her father “in a very long time.” (Jamie Spears’ attorney argued the reason Britney and Jamie haven’t spoken is because Ingham prevented it.)
Recently, Britney has been advocating for her father to be removed as her conservator. In March, she petitioned to remove Jamie from his role as conservator and replace him with Jodi Montgomery, the temporary conservator who took over when Jamie stepped down as conservator of Britney’s person due to health reasons in September 2019. (He remained co-conservator of her estate along with Bessemer Trust.) A judge denied the petition to remove Jamie but appointed Bessemer Trust as co-conservator, which has yet to actually take effect because the attorneys are still arguing over it.
Since the conservatorship came under renewed public scrutiny in 2019, Britney has remained largely silent on the matter, posting cryptic videos on her Instagram in smudged eyeliner and various crop tops, the color of which some fans believed to be a code signifying she needed help. In March 2021, Spears broke her silence regarding the Framing Britney Spears documentary, saying on Instagram that although she “didn’t watch the documentary”, she was “embarrassed by the light they put me in”. She said she “cried for two weeks.”
And what about Britney’s mom? In November 2020, Lynne Spears advocated for the end of the conservatorship, saying in a statement that her daughter’s relationship with her ex-husband had become “toxic” and that it was “time to start fresh.” But her motives might not be so pure, either. Earlier this week, Jamie Spears’s lawyers came for Lynne after she attempted to object to the firm’s $890,000 in attorney fees, writing in a court filing obtained by PEOPLE that she “not acting in the best interests” of Britney. The filing also states, “Despite having zero involvement in her daughter’s conservatorship until very recently, Lynne Spears is asserting claims as if she were a party directly involved in the litigation (which she is not).” Legal burn.
The response also accuses Lynne of taking advantage of Britney’s personal troubles: “Lynne Spears is the one who exploited her daughter’s pain and trauma for personal profit by publishing a book about the Conservatee.” The book in question is titled Through The Storm, and in it, Lynne reveals the age at which Britney lost her virginity and alleges the singer used cocaine shortly after.
In March, after Jamie’s role as conservator came under fire yet again after House Republicans called for a Congressional hearing on conservatorships, citing the #FreeBritney movement, an attorney for Jamie Spears said, “Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right, but in 13 years has never exercised it.” The attorney added, “Britney knows that her daddy loves her, and that he will be there for her whenever and if she needs him, just as he always has been — conservatorship or not.” True or not, I don’t want to hear the word “daddy” come out of a lawyer’s mouth—just not my kink.
Even though legal experts have argued that a conservatorship is highly unusual for someone as young and active as Britney, and disability rights advocates have pointed out that guardianships (such as a conservatorship) can be very harmful and lead to abuse, her father has consistently maintained that Britney reserves the right to petition the court to end the conservatorship at any time, and has chosen not to. Hopefully, after hearing from Britney herself, we will finally have answers and can (my brain: don’t say it, don’t say it) leave Britney alone feel assured that she is making the decision she feels is best for her.
Images: DFree /Shutterstock.com
