Britney Spears settles long-running legal dispute with estranged father
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-orderd termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed by the attorneys for the pop star and her father, who confirmed the settlement to CNN.
“It has been our honor and privilege to represent, protect, and defend Britney Spears,” the singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said in a statement to CNN.
“Ms. Spears is and always will be an icon and a brilliant and brave artist of historic and epic proportion,” Rosengart’s statement continued. “Although the conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, her wish for freedom is now truly complete. As she desired, her freedom now includes that she will no longer need to attend or be involved with court in this matter.”
Alex Weingarten, attorney for the singer’s father, told CNN, “Jamie is thrilled that this is all over.”
“Jamie loves his daughter very much and worked tirelessly to protect her,” Weingarten said. “He wants the best for Britney, nothing less.”
Spears’ conservatorship was terminated back in November 2021. But the legal battles have persisted with lawyers for the singer and her father going head-to-head in frequent court visits over attorney’s fees and allegations of improper behavior in handling the conservatorship. Her father has consistently denied the accusations.
The star was placed under the court-ordered conservatorship in 2008 with her father serving as her conservator for the majority of the 13-year arrangement, overseeing and controlling all of his adult daughter’s finances and medical decisions.
In June 2021, Spears gave explosive testimony, marking the first time she had spoken in open court throughout the 13 years. She pleaded with the judge to break her free from the conservatorship, which she categorized to the judge as “abusive.”
In her testimony, Spears claimed that while she was under the conservatorship, she was forced by her management to go on tour against her will, was put on lithium that made her feel “drunk” and was not allowed to get married or have a baby as she wished and was forced to use an IUD for birth control.
“I just want my life back. It’s been 13 years and it’s enough,” Spears said during the emotional hearing.
After that testimony, Spears was granted the ability to hire her own lawyer, rather than work with a court-appointed attorney, which she had done for the 13 years prior. It was then that she retained Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor and attorney who has represented many Hollywood stars.
In September 2021, less than two months before her conservatorship was terminated, a judge suspended Spears’ father, Jamie, as his daughter’s conservator.
Since her conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, Spears has been very active on her social media, frequently posting videos of herself dancing and writing lengthy captions to her fans. She has released two songs, “Hold Me Closer” with Elton John” and “Mind Your Business” with Will.i.am. She also released an instant best-selling memoir, “The Woman In Me.”
In her memoir, she wrote about the “soul-crushing” years of her conservatorship, writing that she felt “like a shadow of myself.”
“The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child,” Spears wrote in the book. “I became more of an entity than a person onstage. I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me.”
(CNN)
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