Free(ing) Britney
September 7, 2021 8:52 PM   Subscribe

Jamie Spears has filed a petition to end his daughter's conservatorship "If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance,” the filing said."

Per the Jezebel link above, "How utterly shocking, that this slimeball of a man who recently referred to himself in a court filing as the “unremitting target of unjustified attacks” over his treatment of his daughter within her conservatorship would turn around and attempt to claim that he was actually just attempting to act in her best interest all along! The tone of this filing is especially egregious considering that it’s barely been a month since Jamie Spears’ lawyers filed court documents suggesting that Britney’s mental health was deteriorating and that she might need to once again be placed under a psychiatric hold.
Although it’s undoubtedly good that Britney will be getting her wish of having her conservatorship dissolved, this filing reads like a transparent attempt by Jamie Spears to get ahead of the bad press he’s received as a result of the #FreeBritney movement by claiming responsibility for ending his daughter’s conservatorship."


Related: Toxic, a podcast from the creators of Britney's Gram on Britney and conservatorship.

Previous post on Free Britney here.
posted by jenfullmoon (32 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Honestly, I could see the value of having someone else take over for a very short amount of time during which Britney was having some real problems, but I'm not sure a conservatorship was ever what was needed, and even if it was it has gone on far far far far longer than it should have. And most likely (duh!) being used as a cash cow for those using her and her talents during her (is this too loaded a term?) enslavement.

I have long wished and continue even more strongly now to wish her nothing but the best. I hope she does something completely amazing next, whatever form that might take.
posted by hippybear at 9:04 PM on September 7, 2021 [15 favorites]


Rosengart (Britney's new attorney) is saying that this is an attempt by Jaime to avoid discovery and a sworn deposition, though I know nothing about what the context for a deposition might be.
posted by gsteff at 9:16 PM on September 7, 2021 [18 favorites]


If the books are at all out of order, there will be hell to pay.
posted by azpenguin at 9:22 PM on September 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


Is there anyone living who believes all the columns add up?
posted by hippybear at 9:25 PM on September 7, 2021 [29 favorites]


I think the problem is, from what I've read extensively about this, is that conservatorships are not meant to end. Usually through elderly conservatorships or for people who are incapacitated. In either case, faculties are not expected to return and our legal system is not setup to reverse it. It takes a lot to strip a person's legal rights.

I've been in unfortunate situations where family members have definitely wanted strip away someone's rights due to alcohol or drug abuse. It is stressful for all involved but the reality is that if you want to curl up in a bottle and die, you're more or less legally allowed to do that. I've seen family and friends really distort situations too. I think three beers for lunch and putting away a dozen beers after that is pretty hard to watch... repeatedly everyday, but adults are adults

I was reading an interview about Britney where she was with one of her so-called bad influences where she wanted to buy an expensive car but she bemoaned she wasn't allowed to do that. He said something to the effect, you're making $100k a day, buy two. Buy the whole dealership if you want. And we can all sit here and say, yeah that's Joe Walsh "Life's Been Good To Me" sort of excess but we're more than willing to let rich people squander their money on libertarian bitcoin cruise ships, why not let Britney make bad financial choices?

If Britney was a man like River Phoenix or Frusciante there'd be people swooping into take care of the children and we'd be nailing their hagiography to a wall. She obviously had some sort of mental health problems maybe? Who knows what a normal person would do under her pressure. What is obvious is that she's not being offered to be in a television show or the next Iron Man and she's nearly 40 and just got out under her father's thumb.
posted by geoff. at 9:45 PM on September 7, 2021 [26 favorites]


accountantcy conservator ship shape
scam scare sends shares soaring.
If i ran the idea factory, do a zoom intervention with Dolly Parton or fly her to Dollyworld, do a song for the folks at closing time.
posted by clavdivs at 9:48 PM on September 7, 2021 [3 favorites]


Sigh. It's such a common gaslighting tactic. Utterly transparent to everyone else, but a lot harder to dismiss by the victim themselves. I hope she manages to recover from all this
posted by the tulips are too red in the first place at 12:57 AM on September 8, 2021 [7 favorites]


the reality is that if you want to curl up in a bottle and die, you're more or less legally allowed to do that

This is the strongest argument for me as to why it's bizarre that Britney is still stuck in this conservatorship. The vast majority of other adults are legally permitted to make bad choices for themselves, to be mentally ill or using substances and even to be in a state where they're not dealing with those things especially well, without losing their basic freedoms.

But then, most of us aren't incredibly lucrative in ways that can benefit the people around us if we're controlled in very specific ways. And I suspect it takes a particularly controlling kind of parent to jump to this kind of legal structure as an obvious or appropriate solution when their child is experiencing those things or making those kinds of decisions.

Heck, my own parents were plenty controlling, and there were definitely times as an older teenager and a young adult where I was making bad choices and my mental health & substance use were out of control, but no one ever suggested those were anything other than my own problems to deal with, and the negative impacts of them mostly only impacted me and my own life. But, as I say, there was no money to be made out of taking away my ability to continue making whatever choices I wanted to make.
posted by terretu at 2:50 AM on September 8, 2021 [27 favorites]


Charlie Sheen was never placed into a conservatorship. Nor was Robert Downey Jr.
posted by bonehead at 5:52 AM on September 8, 2021 [88 favorites]


I've little interest in Britney Spears as a performer but I've tons of empathy for her as a human. This whole ordeal seems surreal, and it has amazed me that it's taken her this long to free herself of this.

I really hope the rest of her life is of her own choosing (to the extent any of our lives are...) and she's got the tools to make the best choices for her. Whether she continues to perform or (if her father hasn't run through all her money) she just decides to retire and putter around the rest of her days doing whatever seems interesting.
posted by jzb at 6:02 AM on September 8, 2021 [5 favorites]


I've little interest in Britney Spears as a performer but I've tons of empathy for her as a human. This whole ordeal seems surreal, and it has amazed me that it's taken her this long to free herself of this.

It's only quite recently that the tone of the news stories about her changed to being much more sympathetic and empathetic. For years the public attention was almost exclusively pointing and laughing at the crazy antics rather than her as a person.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:13 AM on September 8, 2021 [44 favorites]


This may be a stretch, but I think the movie "I Care a Lot" showed how shitty conservatorships were. It came out right before this started, and our world is so stupid that I can see the line from a journalist watched that then started looking at this closely.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 6:27 AM on September 8, 2021 [6 favorites]


Charlie Sheen was never placed into a conservatorship. Nor was Robert Downey Jr.

Nor was Chris Farley. Johnny Depp has burned through a substantial fortune, but his stans pretend that his problems began and ended with Amber Heard. Other examples abound.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:38 AM on September 8, 2021 [33 favorites]


Women were routinely declared insane and put away by husbands and fathers, not all that long ago.

Not saying she didn't have issues at one time, but to grant a conservatorship for years and years, while she was able to work and support all of them? How can she be crazy if she can work?

I empathize, because a few times in my life, when circumstances drove me to my knees, I suffered at the hands of condescending mental health professionals, ex-husbands, and family members. I've found more help by talking with my peers, other women who have gone through similar struggles and come out the other side, than trying to get empathy from family members.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:23 AM on September 8, 2021 [20 favorites]


Women were routinely declared insane and put away by husbands and fathers, not all that long ago.

That's where the term "hysterical" comes from.
posted by mhoye at 7:29 AM on September 8, 2021 [4 favorites]


Unfortunately, it's not just men who take advantage of the patriarchy -- there's a woman named Lou Taylor whose business model is to get women celebrities into conservatorships, with, of course, her attached tick-like to feed on the profits. She succeeded with Spears and Amanda Bynes, failed with Courtney Love and another I can't recall.
posted by tavella at 9:41 AM on September 8, 2021 [3 favorites]


I think the problem is, from what I've read extensively about this, is that conservatorships are not meant to end. Usually through elderly conservatorships or for people who are incapacitated. In either case, faculties are not expected to return and our legal system is not setup to reverse it.

The main takeaway I get from this is that even when a conservatorship is (say) for an Alzheimer patient who will not get better, it should still be the standard that the conservator WILL be reassigned every N years with the succeeding conservator auditing the predecessor, and that when the ward of the conservatorship dies, the estate will be cleaned up by someone who is not the last conservator.
posted by ocschwar at 10:13 AM on September 8, 2021 [11 favorites]


If you had Alzheimers would you want your spouse or child legally barred from being your conservator for more than N years, requiring you to employ a professional fiduciary and bring them into the most private parts of your life, at a cost to the household and/or eventual estate which may already be under-resourced in terms of your care, in preference to a family member who has been doing a fine job?

Bad facts make bad law. And even on these facts, and in most exemplary cases, it would be enough to give a right to change conservators after N years or require participation of an additional third-party monitor, rather than making it mandatory and imposing audit costs that most conservatorships don't need.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2021 [7 favorites]


It's only quite recently that the tone of the news stories about her changed to being much more sympathetic and empathetic. For years the public attention was almost exclusively pointing and laughing at the crazy antics rather than her as a person.

When Spears' conservatorship and how she was treated in the public eye during her ~2007 struggles have come up recently, I've often thought about Craig Ferguson's monologue about it from the time, explaining why he wasn't comfortable mocking her about it; and how his studio audience seemed to not be ready to take it seriously (being more generous, perhaps it was just nervous laughter).

I don't remember my feelings then, so I can't claim any kind of moral superiority, but now the whole story just makes me feel quite sad. Clearly Spears needed help and it's not clear she truly got any; it also seems clear she's been used quite badly.
posted by conorh at 1:48 PM on September 8, 2021 [5 favorites]


In addition to the many other problems people have highlighted, I have an issue w/ the fact that she was performing being held up as a success criteria. It's such a conflict of interest.

Stories of child stars who have had issues and then moved on often include them getting out of the crazy world of celebrity culture and just not performing. But of course only celebrity level income is going to be enough to keep all the conservatorship machinery in place. Did anyone explore the idea of not being a star with her? I doubt it: only celebrity income was going to keep funding the machinery of her conservatorship.

It puts me in mind of an NFL team doctor getting someone on the field despite crumbling knees, ankle strains and a "mild" concussion. That's their measure of success, getting someone just functional enough so you could use them to make money, until they were used up.
posted by mark k at 2:17 PM on September 8, 2021


I'm not convinced that Spears ever had any problems bigger than anyone else's. They were just magnified more.

The umbrella to the car, with photographers and paps repeatedly following her, even to her Ex's house, where suddenly she was barred from seeing her own children? Talk about something that's not just humiliating, but should also be private! That it wasn't was understandably angering, especially when the folks making money off you are leeches of a sort, even if their job is legal.

The shaved head? Imagine how many months worth of hairdressing that girl has gotten, and how hard she's been trained to objectify herself. Lesson 1: Start with blonde hair.

The drugs and drink and fast crowd? Lots of folks do that in their early 20s. As a small-town Southern Christian she might even want to go at it harder than most since she probably had less opportunity when she was younger.

What's nuts about her situation is what's nuts about Megan and Harry's situation: In the latter case, international press interpret 4 seconds here, a minute there, and analyze whatever happened, didn't happen, might have happened not only in gossip columns, news articles and TV shows, but also for the length of several books and movies. Britney isn't quite that interesting to the press, but she's only a tier or two below. And like them, people still continue years, even decades, after an "incident," interpreting, wondering, whispering. That's the horror story side of fame right there.
posted by Violet Blue at 5:20 PM on September 8, 2021 [7 favorites]


Rolling Stone: “Having exposed his misconduct and improper plan to hold his daughter hostage by trying to extract a multi-million-dollar settlement, Mr. Spears has now effectively surrendered,” Rosengart continued. “There is no settlement. To the extent Mr. Spears believes he can try to avoid accountability and justice, including sitting for a sworn deposition and answering other discovery under oath, he is incorrect and our investigation into financial mismanagement and other issues will continue.”

Britney Spears could be free from her conservatorship by the end of the month
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:03 PM on September 8, 2021 [2 favorites]


Yes
YES
The Britney is out
posted by acb at 1:14 AM on September 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Yes
YES
The Britney is out
posted by acb at 4:14 AM on September 9 [+] [!]


Ok, just in case anyone else got super excited, no it is not officially over yet.
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:09 AM on September 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I don't understand why he changed tack?
posted by Omnomnom at 4:27 AM on September 9, 2021


I don't understand why he changed tack?

Her attorney suggested, in his remarks to the press, that "it appears that Mr. Spears believes he can try to avoid accountability and justice, including sitting for a sworn deposition and answering other discovery under oath."

In other words, if the conservatorship is ended then the current legal process surrounding it terminates as well and Britney would have to initiate her own lawsuits to pursue the inquiry.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:45 AM on September 9, 2021 [5 favorites]


Basically, Jamie has realized the potential for him getting legally busted for something and is now pulling the ripcord before it happens. We shall see if that works..
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:11 AM on September 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


In other words, if the conservatorship is ended then the current legal process surrounding it terminates as well and Britney would have to initiate her own lawsuits to pursue the inquiry.

Is that really true, though? If you steal all your conservatee's money, and then bail, does the state just go "well, conservatorship no longer exists, guess we can't do anything about the crime!"
posted by tavella at 9:13 AM on September 9, 2021


I don't practice in this area, but the idea is that it ends the present proceeding (which I presume is in probate or family or some other specialized court) and the discovery being sought pertains to the present conservatorship. She can then sue her father and the other professionals involved for violation of fiduciary duty, malpractice, fraud and etc. Not sure about Jamie, but the professionals will then have the benefit of being defended by their insurers (or will at least try to tender the insurable claims).

The court doesn't have to grant the petition if it thinks there's something remaining under its jurisdiction that needs to be investigated or adjudicated.

And of course civil liability is separate from what the state can do if it decides to investigate potential criminal misconduct.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:10 AM on September 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


I have often wondered whether part of the complication in her case that with the kinds of money she has and the way in which she is generating it, then of course she needs to have help managing everything to do with it. If she had never had a conservatorship, she would probably still have people managing her business affairs, her diary and bookings, helping look after her children, etc. But the situation she, and others in her position, find themselves in can more easily be described in ways that make them seem more incompetent than they actually are; when the reality is that their affairs are much more complicated than average and there's little distinction between their business and personal lives.

It sounds like Britney has only recently realised that she actually could leave her conservatorship, ie one or the other or both of being capable of directing her own affairs, and having a decent chance of overturning the conservatorship itself.
posted by plonkee at 7:18 AM on September 10, 2021


Britney's engaged.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:28 AM on September 13, 2021 [2 favorites]


A Judge Suspends Britney Spears' Dad From Her Conservatorship

"At Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon, Judge Brenda J. Penny decided to suspend Jamie Spears as the conservator of his daughter's estate. John Zabel, a certified public accountant, will step into that role for now. Penny installed Zabel as the new temporary conservator of Spears' estate only until the next court hearing, which is scheduled for Nov. 12. At that point, the judge plans to terminate the conservatorship — freeing the 39-year-old star.
With this ruling, Penny granted Britney Spears' most adamant request: to remove her father immediately. According to The Associated Press, the judge said during the hearing, "The current arrangement is untenable. It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of James Spears."

posted by jenfullmoon at 7:22 PM on September 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


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