Pop star singer Britney Spears made a series of explosive charges in a Los Angeles court Wednesday pleading an end to an oppressive conservatorship that’s lasted nearly 13 years.
“After I’ve told the whole world I’m happy and okay, it’s a lie. I’m not happy, I can’t sleep, I’m depressed, I cry everyday,” Spears reportedly said in her first public rebuke of the arrangement since its inception in 2008. “I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized… I just want my life back.”
Britney: “After I’ve told the whole world I’m okay, it’s a lie. I’m not happy, I can’t sleep, I’m depressed, I cry every day.” #FreeBritney
— #FreeBritney Live (@FreeBritneyLive) June 23, 2021
Spears demanded an end to the more than decade-long conservatorship where her entire life has been under the guardianship of her father, Jaime, in what began as a temporary arrangement turned permanent by a California judge. Under the court-appointed arrangement, Jaime, — along with attorney Andrew Wallet who served as co-conservator from 2008 until his resignation in 2019 — has had authority over every aspect of Britney’s life and career, including her housing, finances, and health decisions.
Throughout her testimony, Britney made a series of bombshell allegations against her family and court-appointed attorney, who she said she wished she could sue, and likened herself to a sex trafficking victim.
“I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” Britney told the judge. “They’ve done a pretty good job exploiting my life … The people who did this to me should not be able to get away and walk away easily.”
Britney said her legal guardians prohibited her from having more children through forced birth control in the form of an IUD, and has been unable to obtain permission to see a doctor to have it removed.
“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” she said. “But [my team doesn’t] want me to have any more children.”
On why she had remained publicly silent until now, Britney said she was concerned no one would believe her.
“I thought people would make fun of me,” Britney said. Behind closed doors, a new report from the New York Times published Tuesday shows, the princess of pop had been pushing to end the conservatorship as early as 2014.
While conservatorships are routinely reserved for those who suffer debilitating conditions, which include severe mental issues or old age, a look at Britney’s life and career since her entrapment shows no incapacitated individual. Since 2008, Britney, with a Forbes’ estimated net-worth of $60 million, has released four albums, gone on three world tours, completed a four-year residency in Las Vegas, starred as a host on the “X Factor” and made cameo appearances on “Glee” and “How I Met Your Mother.”
Britney told the judge no one had ever told her she could petition for the arrangement’s termination.
The Wednesday court appearance marks the potential beginning of the end of a controversial conservatorship that’s provoked fan-based backlash known as the “FreeBritney Movement.” The grassroots movement has also sparked a push to reform the legal system in the area of conservatorships, with Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz on the House Judiciary Committee demanding New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler hold hearings on the issue.
“In recent years, there has been growing public concern about the use of conservatorships to effectively deprive individuals of personal freedoms at the behest of others through the manipulation of the courts,” they wrote in March, honing in on Britney’s publicized case. “Ms. Spears is not alone. There are countless other Americans unjustly stripped of their freedoms by others with little recourse.”
According to the Department of Justice, 1.3 million adults are under conservatorships dictating an estimated $50 billion in assets.
Nadler however, Jordan’s office told The Federalist, has blown off the request with no hearings on the horizon.
March letter from @JudiciaryGOP: “In recent years, there has been growing public concern about the use of conservatorships to effectively deprive individuals of personal freedoms at the behest of others through the manipulation of the courts.”#FreeBritney https://t.co/rcIbk2eDtA
— Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) June 23, 2021
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