The uncomfortable legal battle being waged between pop icon Britney Spears and her father, Jamie Spears, has taken yet another turn. Fans around the globe have been tuned into the singer’s efforts to free herself from a conservatorship, which gives her father the legal rights to control Britney’s personal, economic, and legal decision-making. Spears has existed under this conservatorship for 13 years, triggering the recent fan campaigns to “Free Britney.” Now, Spears is filing more legal paperwork against her father, this time claiming extortion.
In new paperwork filed by her attorneys on Monday, Britney Spears is claiming that her father, Jamie, is demanding near $2 million as a “quid pro quo” for agreeing to exit the conservatorship, which he did last month. According to a statement obtained by the NY Post, Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, said:
Britney Spears will not be bullied or extorted by her father. Nor does Mr. Spears have the right to try to hold his daughter hostage by setting the terms of his removal.
Jamie Spears recently agreed to step down from the conservatorship that gave him complete control over his daughter, on the contingency that he could work with the court system to ensure an orderly transition. Now it appears that in order to obtain that “orderly transition,” he needs $2 million from his famous daughter to pay for his legal fees.
Britney Spears has been fighting against the restrictions of the conservatorship, even letting it be known that she was forced to take medications, birth control pills, and to perform because her father demanded it. Perhaps leaning into the guilt of the situation, but also appealing to Jamie’s fatherly instincts, Britney’s lawyer concluded this new statement with the following:
Even putting aside the legal issues requiring his prompt removal, if he loves his daughter, Mr. Spears should resign now, today, before he is suspended. It would be the correct and decent thing to do.
Decency has been a little hard to come by as this court case has grown more and more unwieldy. When Jamie agreed to step down from the conservatorship, Britney’s mother (and Jamie’s ex-wife), Lynne, submitted a sworn statement to the L.A. courts stating that Jamie does not, and can not, put the best interests of their daughter ahead of his own. That provoked Jamie to fire back and Lynne, claiming that she benefits from Britney’s pop-star fortune as much as anyone. Britney, in the meantime, is “celebrating” her pending freedom with topless Instagram pictures, and this TikTok video that claims she “may dance in my living room now but I sure as hell know who I am.”
We expect a few more twists and turns before all is said and done in this saga, so keep it here on CinemaBlend for the latest.
