Entertainment- A new court filing submitted by
Britney Spears ' lawyer included a statement from her mother. - "[Jamie] is incapable of putting [Britney's] interests ahead of his own,"
Lynne Spears wrote. - The statement also mentioned a "physical altercation" between Jamie and one of Britney's children.
As part of the latest court filing in Britney Spears' ongoing conservatorship case, the pop star's mother made an incendiary declaration in support of her daughter's request to remove her father, Jamie, from the guardianship.
"Since this conservatorship has been in place, the relationship between the conservatee and Mr. Spears has dwindled to nothing but fear and hatred of Mr. Spears by the conservatee due to Mr. Spears' behavior," Lynne Spears wrote in a new statement filed to the court obtained by Insider.
Britney's mother says that behavior included Jamie's "complete control over [Britney], his mistrust of her, his coercion of her, his 'bartering' with her over what she can and cannot do for whatever reward or punishment he is willing to mete out, his constant threats, and his decision-making over all aspects of her life."
Attorneys for Jamie Spears did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During a June court hearing, after Britney Spears spoke, Vivian Lee Thoreen, an attorney for Jamie said he "is sorry to see his daughter in so much pain. [He] loves his daughter and misses her very much."
Lynne Spears said she has mostly abstained from commenting publicly on the conservatorship - until now
On July 3, the New Yorker published a bombshell investigation of Britney Spears' 13-year conservatorship.
Reporters Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino wrote that they spoke with Lynne over the phone and that she "spoke in a whisper and apologized that she might have to hang up abruptly if other family members walked in and discovered her speaking to a reporter."
"I got mixed feelings about everything," Lynne reportedly told them. "I don't know what to think ... It's a lot of pain, a lot of worry."
But her new statement, written on July 22, is much more direct.
"I became involved in this conservatorship during what I will term a 'time of crisis' that began at the end of 2018 and continued into 2019," Lynne's statement read. "I wanted to ensure that everything in my daughter's life was handled in the best interests of [Britney], which I did not believe at the time (and I still do not today) to be the case."
The following were the most damning parts of Lynne's new statement submitted to the court:
- "[Britney] was being treated by a sports enhancement doctor hired by Mr. Spears, [who] was prescribing what I and many others thought to be entirely inappropriate medicine to my daughter, who did not want to take the medicine."
- "I witnessed my daughter be compelled by that doctor, with the knowledge and encouragement of Mr. Spears, to enter a health facility that she did not want to enter, where she was threatened with punishment if she did not stay for medical treatment that she did not want to endure."
- "Mr. Spears has relied on members of the conservatee's household staff, medical aides on site at the conservatee's home, and her own security detail to inform on and report back to him each and every detail of every action that takes place in the conservatee's home and her life. Such scrutiny is exhausting and terrifying, like living in custody."
- "Of the actions that solidified the failure of my daughter's and Mr. Spears' relationship,the physical altercation between Mr. Spears and the conservatee's minor children, my grandchildren, was perhaps the most appalling and inexcusable, and understandably destroyed whatever was left of a relationship between them."
"It is clear to me that [Jamie] is incapable of putting [Britney's] interests ahead of his own on both a professional and a personal level," the statement concluded. "And that his being and remaining a conservator of my daughter's estate is not in the best interests of my daughter."
The next hearing is scheduled for September 29, at which time the judge will presumably make a decision regarding this petition to have Jamie removed from the conservatorship.