{"id":1023112,"date":"2021-11-17T11:14:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T16:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1023112"},"modified":"2021-11-17T11:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T16:14:42","slug":"how-britney-spears-retook-control-of-her-life-and-what-her-victory-could-mean-for-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-britney-spears-retook-control-of-her-life-and-what-her-victory-could-mean-for-others\/","title":{"rendered":"How Britney Spears Retook Control Of Her Life (And What Her Victory Could Mean For Others)"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-britney-spears-retook-control-of-her-life-and-what-her-victory-could-mean-for-others%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1023112&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>It took 13 years and a viral fan movement, but Britney Spears\u2019 conservatorship has finally come to an end. And what a long, sad trip it was.<\/p>\n<p>The troubles that led to the singer\u2019s guardianship first came to the world\u2019s attention in 2007, when she began behaving erratically in full tabloid view. She famously shaved her head, attacked a photographer with an umbrella, and had a standoff with police where she allegedly refused to surrender her sons to her ex-husband Kevin Federline according to the custody arrangements outlined in their divorce agreement.<\/p>\n<p>These and other red flags over the state of her mental health led to two separate hospitalizations for psychiatric evaluations in 2008. As a result, a court established a temporary conservatorship, controlled by her father, Jamie Spears. The legal arrangement included two parts\u2014one that gave the senior Spears control over his daughter\u2019s estimated $60 million dollar estate and one that granted him decision-making powers over her as a person.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, this kind of court-ordered control is reserved for people who have dementia or severe psychiatric disorders, and there were questions from the beginning over whether the pop star met this criteria. Those questions grew as she went on to release four albums, embark on a global concert tour that grossed tens of millions of dollars, and spent four years starring in a grueling Las Vegas residency.<\/p>\n<p>The granular oversight her conservators employed went so far as requiring her to pre-submit social media posts. As<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/american-chronicles\/britney-spears-conservatorship-nightmare\"> The New Yorker<\/a> reported, tweets and Instagram posts that \u201craised legal questions,\u201d like discussing her guardianship, were deemed \u201ctoo sensitive to post.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her conservatorship team of roughly ten people \u2014 headed by Jamie Spears \u2014 oversaw all aspects of her professional life, meeting regularly to discuss her legal affairs, public relations, and, of course, her financial situation, including merchandise deals and song-license requests. And nearly all of it was done without her.<\/p>\n<p>So the arrangement continued for 13 years. But the change, when it came, was swift.<\/p>\n<p>The first domino to fall in bringing about the conservatorship\u2019s end was a New York Times documentary that traced the singer\u2019s early career, including how, with her parents\u2019 collaboration, the media machine sexualized and shamed her when she was barely old enough for a driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n<p>As \u201cFraming Britney Spears\u201d revealed, Jamie Spears was known to enthusiastically tell music executives how wealthy he expected his daughter to become. \u201cThe only thing Jamie ever said to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It took 13 years and a viral fan movement, but Britney Spears\u2019 conservatorship has finally come to an end. And what a long, sad trip it was.The troubles that led to the singer\u2019s guardianship first came to the world\u2019s attention in 2007, when she began behaving erratically in full tabloid view. She famously shaved her head, attacked a photographer with an umbrella, and had a standoff with police where she allegedly refused to surrender her sons to her ex-husband Kevin Federline according to the custody arrangements outlined in their divorce agreement.These and other red flags over the state of her mental health led to two separate hospitalizations for psychiatric evaluations in 2008. As a result, a court established a temporary conservatorship, controlled by her father, Jamie Spears. The legal arrangement included two parts\u2014one that gave the senior Spears control over his daughter\u2019s estimated $60 million dollar estate and one that granted him decision-making powers over her as a person.Typically, this kind of court-ordered control is reserved for people who have dementia or severe psychiatric disorders, and there were questions from the beginning over whether the pop star met this criteria. Those questions grew as she went on to release four albums, embark on a global concert tour that grossed tens of millions of dollars, and spent four years starring in a grueling Las Vegas residency.The granular oversight her conservators employed went so far as requiring her to pre-submit social media posts. As The New Yorker reported, tweets and Instagram posts that \u201craised legal questions,\u201d like discussing her guardianship, were deemed \u201ctoo sensitive to post.\u201dHer conservatorship team of roughly ten people \u2014 headed by Jamie Spears \u2014 oversaw all aspects of her professional life, meeting regularly to discuss her legal affairs, public relations, and, of course, her financial situation, including merchandise deals and song-license requests. And nearly all of it was done without her.So the arrangement continued for 13 years. But the change, when it came, was swift.The first domino to fall in bringing about the conservatorship\u2019s end was a New York Times documentary that traced the singer\u2019s early career, including how, with her parents\u2019 collaboration, the media machine sexualized and shamed her when she was barely old enough for a driver\u2019s license.As \u201cFraming Britney Spears\u201d revealed, Jamie Spears was known to enthusiastically tell music executives how wealthy he expected his daughter to become. \u201cThe only thing Jamie ever said to me was \u2018My daughter\u2019s gonna be so rich, she\u2019s gonna buy me a boat,\u2019\u201d one marketing professional recalled. What did not concern him, according to the film, was the toll having to field questions from media outlets about her virginity and breasts might take on a teenager.The documentary, released on February 5, was an immediate success, drawing millions of viewers in multiple countries. Within weeks, the phrase \u201cWe are sorry Britney\u201d began trending on social media. Called to account, celebrities who had once mocked and disparaged Spears publicly asked for forgiveness. Her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who notoriously claimed to have had sex with her while Spears maintained she was a virgin, posted an apology on Instagram, saying, \u201cI am deeply sorry for the times in my life when my actions contributed to the problem.\u201dAt that point, the #FreeBritney movement took wing.Perhaps emboldened by social media support, in April 2021, Spears petitioned to testify in open court about her guardianship. On June 23, she was granted this opportunity.According to the New Yorker, the night before the hearing, Spears made a 911 emergency call to report that she was a victim of conservatorship abuse. Though recordings of emergency calls are generally public record in California, the county has kept the contents of that call sealed, citing an ongoing investigation. But her conservator\u2019s behavior on the eve of the court date suggests how worried they were about what she would reveal. The New Yorker reported that they spent those hours \u201cfrantically\u201d texting one another: \u201cThey were worried about what Spears might say the next day, and they discussed how to prepare in the event that she went rogue.\u201dGo rogue, she did.The emotional testimony Spears provided to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny transfixed the public, who finally had access \u2014 via court transcript \u2014 to her side of the story. Far from sounding unable to manage her affairs, a lucid, angry Spears furiously described the emotional toll the arrangement was taking on her.\u201cI\u2019ve lied and told the whole world I\u2019m OK and I\u2019m happy. It\u2019s a lie,\u201d she said, before adding, \u201cI\u2019ve been in denial. I\u2019ve been in shock. I am traumatized. Fake it \u2019til you make it, but now I\u2019m telling you the truth, OK? I\u2019m not happy. I can\u2019t sleep. I\u2019m depressed. I cry every day.\u201dThe 39-year-old also claimed that her father was keeping her from marrying her long-time boyfriend (now fianc\u00e9) Sam Ashgari and that he and his team had forced her to wear an IUD to prevent her from having any more children:\u201cI was told right now in the conservatorship, I\u2019m not able to get married or have a baby. I have an I[U]D inside of myself right now so I don\u2019t get pregnant. I wanted to take the IUD out so I could start trying to have another baby, but this so-called team won\u2019t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don\u2019t want me to have children, any more children.\u201dThe crucial part of Spears\u2019 statement came, however, when she addressed the judge directly, saying, \u201cThe people who did this to me should not get away. Ma\u2019am, my dad, and anyone involved in this conservatorship, and my management, who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no \u2014 Ma\u2019am, they should be in jail.\u201dShortly after that hearing, as public outcry grew, the court allowed Spears to choose her own attorney to represent her.Her choice, prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, had little experience in probate law, the legal area a guardianship would fall under. What he did have was a reputation for being a fierce advocate for his clients. He aggressively moved to have Jamie Spears suspended as conservator of Spears\u2019 estate and waged war in the press while initiating investigations into alleged abuse against her. Many of Spears\u2019 fans began calling him by the nickname \u201cRosenGod.\u201dWith the public overwhelmingly rallying behind Spears, Rosengart petitioned to end the conservatorship once and for all. A few days before the hearing, Spears, who evidently had regained the ability to post what she wanted on her social media accounts, said on Instagram, \u201cThis week is gonna be very interesting for me! I haven\u2019t prayed for something more in my life.\u201dOn Nov. 12, Judge Penny answered those prayers, granting the pop star\u2019s request to have the arrangement terminated.Through his legal team, Jamie Spears still maintains that he had no financial motive for continuing the conservatorship. In a Nov. 1 filing, he insisted he has nothing to hide and will \u201cunconditionally cooperate in transferring all files regarding the estate to Britney\u2019s counsel without delay.\u201dRosengart, however, has promised that the reckoning isn\u2019t over. Last month, he filed a 110-page petition asking to depose Jamie Spears over allegations that he illegally placed recording devices in her bedroom without her consent.While Spears is now free from her conservatorship, her experience could have broader implications for others in a similar position.A bipartisan effort that includes such politically disparate figures as Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is calling to reexamine conservatorships in light of Spears\u2019 case.In July, Republican Nancy Mace and Democrat Charlie Crist introduced The Freedom and Right to Emancipate from Exploitation (Free) Act to the House. The legislation would allow an individual under conservatorship to petition to request a court-appointed conservator be replaced with a public conservator, family member, or private agent without needing to prove they\u2019ve been abused. It would also provide state funding for caseworkers to oversee such arrangements.A press release announcing the bill said, \u201cMs. Spears is not alone. Her case exemplifies rampant abuses affecting thousands of elderly and disabled Americans. The #FreeBritney movement is hopeful that federal legislation proposed by Congressman Crist will serve as an important first step toward addressing this injustice.\u201dThe views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}