Britney ‘bursts into tears’ and celebrates ruling to end her father’s 13-year conservatorship

928

View
comments

Britney Spears reportedly ‘burst into tears’ on Wednesday after she learned that her father Jamie has been suspended as the conservator of her personal life and $60 million estate after 13 years.  

The pop star celebrated the judge’s ruling by sharing an Instagram post showing her flying a prop plane for the first time. It was unclear when the singer took the flying lesson, but the post is symbolic of her newfound freedom. 

The post was captioned: ‘On cloud 9 right now !!!! First time flying a plane and first time in a prop plane !!! Geez I was scared !!! Pssss bringing the ship home, JL … Stay classy beautiful people !!!! New pics coming soon !!!!’ 

A second video captures the view as the small plane flies over a strip of green land cutting through blue waters which was followed by an unsteady photo of palm trees. 

‘Britney burst into tears upon hearing the judge’s decision,’ an anonymous source told Page Six. ‘For the longest time, she had begun to think that she would never see the day that her father’s domineering control over every single aspect of her life would end, but it finally happened.’  

‘She’s in shock and at a loss for words but literally jumping for joy,’ the source added. ‘She hasn’t felt joy like this in 13 years.’

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles judge kicked Jamie off the conservatorship that’s been controlling Britney since 2008. 

It’s a huge victory for the 39-year-old singer in her long battle to regain control of her personal and financial affairs.

Britney just legally got behind the wheel of a car and drove alone for the first time in 15 years this July after a judge lifted the driving restrictions imposed on her by her father’s conservatorship. 

But full freedom won’t be immediate. While LA Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny ordered Jamie to step down today, she also appointed a temporary replacement conservator, accountant John Zabel.

Zabel – a Certified Public Accountant will take over Britney’s financial affairs until the court decides she’s ready to look after herself again and the conservatorship can be completely terminated – which could happen in just a few months.

In making her ruling, Judge Penny told the court, ‘I do believe that the suspension of James Spears is in the best instants of Ms. Spears.’

She added that pleadings from Britney’s legal team, ‘reflect a toxic environment that requires the suspension of Mr. Spears.’ 

Britney’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart, addressed her fans after the ruling was announced thanking them for their adamant support of the pop star. 

‘Today’s a great day. It’s a great day for Britney Spears and it’s a great day for justice. And there’s definitely something to celebrate. But it’s also a solemn day. Britney Spears has been faced with a decade-long nightmare orchestrated by her father and others,’ Rosengart during a news conferencing following Wednesday’s hearing.  

‘I’m so proud of her for her courage, her strength… and she’s so pleased and so thankful to all of you,’ he said addressing the public. 

‘I think the support of the Free Britney movement has been instrumental.’ 

Rosengart noted that while today’s ruling was a ‘substantial step toward (Britney’s) freedom’ there are still further allegations of Britney’s mistreatment that are being investigated by state and federal authorities. 

He told TMZ that Britney should ‘absolutely’ sue her father if there is evidence that proves that Jamie misappropriated money. 

Outside the court in downtown LA today, dozens of #FreeBritney supporters – filmed by an army of TV cameramen and photographers – gathered, waving banners saying ‘Stop the abuse’, and chanting ‘Free Britney’ and ‘Jamie for jail’.

And the fans of the embattled stars also signed a giant pink card – bearing the single word ‘Love’ in white – for their idol.  

Now, the pop icon can pursue her desperate quest to end the conservatorship altogether and live her life as she wants – including marrying and having another child – without her father’s approval.   

Britney was not in attendance at the hearing where a judge heard arguments for ending the conservatorship. Both of her parents Jamie and Lynn attended virtually via Zoom. 

Rosengart delivered a powerful testimony, telling the judge that Jamie ‘cannot be in my client’s life for one more day.’

Britney’s team was seeking a suspension, rather than a termination of the conservatorship, to keep Jamie, 69, from receiving a settlement and to allow an investigation into his time as Britney’s conservator. 

The suspension will require Jamie to hand over all books and files he kept during the 13 years he ran his famous daughter’s conservatorship. 

But Jamie – who had originally fought against terminating the conservatorship – doesn’t want to open the books to prying eyes, Rosengart told the court.

‘He did a 180…..Now he’s saying let’s terminate the entire conservatorship. He wants to terminate because he doesn’t want to be deposed under oath or give discovery.’

‘What he is afraid of is the revelations of his corruption.’

Jamie’s lawyer, Vivian Thoreen, countered, saying that Jamie had ‘faithfully and loyally’ worked on his daughter’s behalf while running the conservatorship and there is ‘not a shred of evidence’ of wrongdoing against him.

But Rosengart said there was ‘a mountain of evidence mandating Jamie’s suspension’ as conservator.

The hearing came hours after Britney’s lawyer called her father ‘a reported alcoholic and gambling addict’ in new legal documents.

Jamie has always insisted that he has only been protecting his daughter and looking out for her interests while running the conservatorship that pays him a monthly salary of $16,000.

And in documents filed by his attorneys prior to today’s hearing, he’s taken the position that there’s no reason to replace him since there is no evidence he did a poor job……And if the conservatorship is soon to be dissolved, there is no point in replacing him with a caretaker conservator, namely Zabel.

Jamie blasted Zabel’s nomination, calling him a ‘layperson’ not qualified to supervise the finances of an internationally renowned entertainer like Britney.

He claimed Zabel had been swindled out of $1 million in a bogus real estate scam and asked, if he cannot protect his own money how is he going to look after Britney’s $60 million?

But Britney’s attorney – who nominated Zabel for the job – hit back in his own court filing, saying Zabel is a ‘nationally-recognized CPA (certified public accountant)…..in stark contrast to Mr. Spears, a reported alcoholic and gambling addict with zero financial background or experience in financial matters, who previously filed for bankruptcy and has a domestic violence restraining order currently in effect against him.’

Rosengart also weighed in on reports that the FBI has launched an investigation into claims in a New York Times documentary that Jamie hired a security firm to monitor and record Britney’s communications and spy on what went on in her bedroom, without her knowledge or consent 

‘We learned recently that Mr. Spears and his representatives did something unfathomable.

‘They eavesdropped on some of the most intimate communications of Ms. Spears and her children and her boyfriend. And worse than that, her (conversations with) her legal counsel.

‘Jamie and his security team, ‘plotted and schemed to place a listening device in my client’s bedroom,’ Rosengart added. ‘It’s shocking. She sleeps in the same room the her father allegedly bugged.’ 

Jamie has claimed that Britney knew about the surveillance at her home in California where both parties must consent to their conversation being recorded.

His lawyer bashed the New York Times story, saying, ‘Mr. Rosengart is intent on bringing this issue to the court. This is not evidence. It’s pure rhetoric. We dispute the allegations.’ 

Rosengart continued his attacks telling the court, ‘Britney Spears was being abused by this man not just in the last decade but since childhood….

‘He has reaped millions of dollars from her estate. Something very traumatic to her is that he took more money from her estate per month than he allowed her.

‘Mr. Spears has zero experience in business or finance. In fact he filed for bankruptcy. He has a restraining order against him in connection with her ex husband and two children.’

Asking Judge Penny to ‘end this Kafka-esque nightmare,‘ Rosengart insisted that ‘it’s time for Mr. Spears to be suspended and added that if Britney wakes up tomorrow and her father’s ‘toxic presence ‘ is still there as her conservator, ‘she would be extraordinarily distraught.’

Rosengart also referenced the New York Times’ claims in a court filing Monday, saying, ‘Mr. Spears has crossed unfathomable lines,

‘While they are not evidence, the allegations warrant serious investigation, certainly by Ms. Spears as, among other things, California is a ‘two-party’ consent state.’

‘Placing a listening device in Britney’s bedroom would be particularly inexcusable and disgraceful, and corroborates so much of her compelling, poignant testimony.

‘These actions must be fully and aggressively investigated.’ 

Rosengart followed up his court filing with a statement condemning the surveillance, saying, ‘Unauthorized recording or monitoring of Britney’s private communications…..represent an unconscionable and disgraceful violation of her privacy rights and a striking example of the deprivation of her civil liberties.’

Another hearing to address the request to terminate Britney’s conservatorship completely is scheduled for November 12. 

For more than a year, Britney has been calling for her father to be fired as her conservator and for an end to the conservatorship which she’s called ‘abusive.’

She has said that she’s ‘afraid ‘ of her dad and declared that she would not perform again until he was no longer in charge of the conservatorship he’s been overseeing since her much-publicized breakdown in 2008.

One of her most heart-wrenching revelations came during a tearful phone appearance at Judge Penny’s court last June when she said that she wanted to have a baby with her fiancé, personal trainer Sam Asghari, but the strict conservatorship wouldn’t allow her to remove her IUD birth control.

‘I feel ganged up on and bullied and alone,’ Britney told the court during that emotional statement. ‘I just want my life back.’

She also told the judge that she felt ‘enslaved’ by her dad, whom she, added, ‘should be in jail.’

Last year, at her father’s request, the conservatorship (the one dealing with Britney’s personal affairs, not the conservatorship controlling her finances) was temporarily transferred from Jamie to her long-time caregiver Jodi Montgomery.

While he blamed his stepping down on health issues, Jamie’s decision came amid accusations that he had gotten into an altercation with Britney’s then 14 year-old son Sean Preston, now 16.

Kevin Federline – Britney’s ex and the father of Sean and his brother Jayden James, 15 – made a police report and took out a restraining order against his former father-in-law after the incident in which, reportedly, a ‘very angry’ Jamie broke down the door of a room Sean had locked himself in and ‘shook’ the frightened teen.

Britney was said to be furious over what happened and worried that the incident could jeopardize the joint custody agreement she has with Federline that already gives him a much larger percentage of time with the boys than she has.

The Spears family have been torn apart by fights over the pop singer’s career and fortune. Last year, she began the legal process to remove him from handling her personal affairs and in June testified in court, but her request was denied.

But the family resentment exploded this summer when Britney addressed a court and pleaded to end the arrangement, claiming that she had been taken advantage of by her entire family. 

Jamie argued in court in early August that he should not be removed but days later filed a petition for the conservatorship to come to an end.  

Rosengart, said at the time it was ‘a vindication for Britney’.

‘We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed,’ he said. ‘It is vindication for Britney.’   

Meanwhile Britney’s former best friend Sean Phillips has said the pop star is itching to return to performing after refusing to appear on stage until the conservatorship was ended. 

‘She’s a performer at heart’, he said. ‘She’s a genius at performing, she’s so good at what she does, she does it so effortlessly and I know that’s what she loves to do.

‘But I do believe that she’s doing the right thing, she needs to have control over her own career and I would do the same thing if I was her with that talent. So I would hold out until I knew I had complete control of it.’ 

Philips said he thought Spears’ had coped well with ‘strange… external influences’ and added he was ‘proud of her for what she’s doing now and trying to take control of what’s going on.

‘I hope Britney gets control of her life, she gets confidence in controlling her career and her family. Somehow, even if it’s down the road, that’s what I hope happens.’ 

Britney Spears’ lawyer BLASTS father Jamie Spears as a ‘reported alcoholic and gambling addict’ in battle over her conservatorship  

Britney Spears‘ lawyer Mathew Rosengart called her father Jamie Spears a ‘reported alcoholic and gambling addict’ in legal documents, as they fight over who should take over the singer’s conservatorship. 

Jamie, 68, filed legal documents trying to challenge the person Rosengart has chosen to replace him to oversee Britney’s estate – according to TMZ – CPA John Zabel who has an ‘impeccable record of serving in positions of trust.’

Despite Zabel also being described as a ‘highly-esteemed, nationally-recognized, and an award-winning CPA,’ Britney’s father has been trying to challenge the appointment. 

However, Rosengart has hit back at Jamie’s concerns, saying he has ‘zero financial background or experience in financial matters, who previously filed for bankruptcy and has a Domestic Violence Restraining Order currently in effect against him.’

Rosengart goes further in his response, saying Jamie is ‘incompetent’ and complains about his ‘abuse of his daughter (which evidently goes back to her childhood), and the dissipation of Estate assets.’

The legal documents filed by Rosengart are also said to mention the recent allegations that Jamie engineered secret recordings in Britney’s bedroom. 

Meanwhile TMZ also reported Tuesday that renowned psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy was approached by Britney’s team to see if she was being over-medicated. 

Sophy claimed that there was a concern Britney was being ‘excessively pumped full of drugs’ to the point where she was ‘not able to clearly speak for herself.’ 

However, Sophy said he declined the opportunity to evaluate her.

Meanwhile, on Monday it was reported that Britney’s father Jamie could be investigated by the FBI after it was claimed that he hired a security company to monitor his daughter’s communications  – including what went on in her bedroom – without her knowledge or consent.

Deadline reported that the FBI are looking into whether the law was broken, with Jamie insisting his daughter knew of the surveillance arrangements. 

Under Californian law, both parties must consent to a conversation being recorded.

They have triggered a furious response from Britney’s lawyers who say the allegations are further evidence as to why her conservatorship should be urgently ended. 

‘Mr. Spears has crossed unfathomable lines,’ said the singer’s lawyer in a court filing on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s hearing on the conservatorship.

‘While they are not evidence, the allegations warrant serious investigation, certainly by Ms. Spears as, among other things, California is a ‘two-party’ consent state.’

His furious remarks were a reference to a New York Times documentary released on Hulu on Friday detailing the surveillance claims. 

Alex Vlasov, a former employee of Black Box Security, told The New York Times in a new documentary that the 39-year-old’s phone calls and messages were secretly recorded as part of her 13-year conservatorship, overseen by her father. 

Rosengart further told the paper that the allegations made by Vlasov warranted urgent inquiry.

He said it was yet further evidence of the mistreatment of the singer, who on June 23 told the court she was forced to have birth control implants; was forbidden from driving her car; and had no say in her most basic life decisions. 

‘Placing a listening device in Britney’s bedroom would be particularly inexcusable and disgraceful, and corroborates so much of her compelling, poignant testimony.

‘These actions must be fully and aggressively investigated.’

He said in Monday’s court documents that he intends to depose the 69-year-old, and that if he plead the Fifth Amendment it would be damning. 

It is unclear whether the court which managed the conservatorship had approved the recordings.

Britney has not commented on the specific allegations that she was secretly recorded, but in an Instagram post on Monday said that the documentary, Controlling Britney Spears, had many factual errors.

‘I watched a little bit of the last documentary and I hate to inform you but a lot of what you heard is not true!!!’ she said.