Pop icon Britney Spears, long trapped in a conservatorship she has maintained is exploitative and abusive, is finally free: Her father Jamie Spears agreed to eventually step down from the conservatorship in a response to his daughter’s petition for his suspension filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, as Variety reports.
Though his removal won’t be immediate—Spears’ father “intends to work with the Court and his daughter’s new attorney [Mathew Rosengart] to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator,” per the filing—this is a huge win for the pop star, and for the #FreeBritney movement, burgeoning since February’s release of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney, which brought widespread attention to the conservatorship, in place since 2008. Prior to that, Spears had been struggling for years behind the scenes to regain control of her own finances and personal/professional life by ending her conservatorship, condemning it as an “oppressive and controlling tool against her,” per court records.
Through his attorney, Spears’ father maintains that there are “no actual grounds for suspending or removing” him, citing the “public battle with his daughter” as the impetus for his stepping aside, and adding that “it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests.” The document also claims that “before Ms. Spears’ new attorney arrived, Mr. Spears had already been working on such a transition with Ms. Spears’ former court-appointed counsel, Sam Ingham.”
Rosengart, who took over as the pop star’s attorney in July, told Variety in a statement, “We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed. It is vindication for Britney. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others.
“We look forward to continuing our vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years, while he reaped millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate, and I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future.
“In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter,” Rosengart concludes, “Mr. Spears should remain silent and step aside immediately.”
Spears is active on social media nowadays, but doesn’t appear to have reacted publicly to the news just yet. Earlier this afternoon, though, she did post a video of her dancing on Instagram, captioning it in part, “I’m very hesitant when dancing but letting go is freedom !!!!”
