Samantha Lewis
Britney Spears has finally gained freedom from her decade long conservatorship, in which her father, Jamie Spears, controlled her estate and finances.
She has not been vocal about the conservatorship up until this year, nor been able to make decisions for herself for the past 13 years.
In 2008, after a series of public incidents the year prior which led to concerns over her mental wellbeing, she was admitted to hospital under a psychiatric hold; it was around this time that a temporary conservatorship was established.
Britney initially expressed her unhappiness with her fathers role in the conservatorship seven years ago, though her battle against it did not succeed until this year, where she spoke out in court – finally freeing her from Jamie’s ruling.
Controlling conservators
Prior to her fame, Jamie Spears was not overly involved in Britney’s life; in fact, it was known that he went to rehab after suffering from alcohol abuse, and even attempted to open several businesses, which resulted in him filing for bankruptcy.
Fast forward a few years and he gained control of her finances: according to a 2016 New York Times report, Britney was required to pay her conservators. This means that her father received an annual salary of $130,000, and even took home 1.5% gross revenues from the Las Vegas residency between 2013-2017.
Spears’ financial empire flourished as she continued to record albums and perform on stage. Her net worth is $59 million (£46m), yet she was unable to control any of it; in fact, she spent $1.1m on legal and conservator fees.
“This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good, I deserve to have a life.”
For years she never commented on the conservatorship battle or the Free Britney campaign – she was under tight jurisdiction – and even her social media presence was upbeat. It is only recently that she was allowed to address the courts in what was a long and treacherous battle for freedom. The controlling nature of the conservatorship finally came to light.
Why was she under a Conservatorship?
Multi-platinum album artist, Britney Spears, has long been making the headlines – even before the conservatorship in 2008.
In the year leading up to being placed under a temporary psychiatric assessment ruling, 26-year-old Britney had divorced the father of her two children, shaved her head and wore wigs, hit a photographer’s car with an umbrella and shouted at the paparazzi in a British accent.
It was a month later that Jamie Spears petitioned the courts for a temporary conservatorship.
Conservatorships are designed to give someone else enormous power over another adult who does not have the brain function to look after themselves.
However, whilst Britney was under the conservatorship, she held a successful Las Vegas residency, playing nearly 250 performances, released four studio albums, made numerous TV appearances, did a stint as a judge on the X Factor and secured multiple merchandise deals. In other words, a conservatorship was clearly not what she needed.
What this meant for Britney
After having almost never discussed it publicly, Britney finally made it known that she wanted out of the legal agreement, through tightly controlled interviews.
People under conservatorships are not guaranteed to be able to hire their own lawyers – indeed, Britney was not allowed to. Her unchosen lawyer, Sam Ingham, was paid $529,000 annually and resigned on July 6, following Britney’s testimony.
On 23rd June 2021, when she was allowed to address the court directly, she asked the judge to end the abusive conservatorship so that she could get married and have more children, during her 20 minute emotional testimony.
She condemned the arrangement, saying that it forced her to use birth control to prevent her from getting pregnant: “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good, I deserve to have a life.”
Shocking claims she made to the court included: having an IUD she cannot take out, being put on lithium against her will, having a weekly allowance of $2,000 and been forced to perform: “I’m so angry it’s insane”, she said.
Although the idea of a conservatorship is to protect an individual, this arrangement that Britney could not get out of was causing further distress – the Britney’s Gram podcast explored how her social media posts contained subliminal messaging. It seems clear that the conservatorship was viewed as a hybrid business model rather than a way of protecting the individual.
The battle to ‘Free Britney’
With very little control over her life, Britney’s battle to freedom was difficult.
She was supposed to announce a second residency in Las Vegas but walked straight passed fans without a word – shortly after this her father stepped down as her personal conservator for health reasons.
Britney could no longer bare the conservatorship to the point that she refused to continue performing, and even called 911 the day before her 2021 trial, claiming to be a victim of conservatorship abuse.
After addressing the courts in June, she did so a second time a month later and it was ruled that she would finally be allowed to retain her own. On August 12, Jamie complied to work with the court to “prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.”
With Jamie Spears no longer having full control over his daughter, on 7 September 2021, he filed a petition to end the conservatorship.
For the past 13 years, Britney has been under tight rules that have affected what she wants and who she wanted to be. Now she is free and has regained control over her life.
Featured image courtesy of Meromex via Pixabay. Image licence can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Sam Lewis
Samantha Lewis is a journalism graduate with a first class honours. She is currently a freelance journalist based in Leeds