BRITNEY’S NO SLAVE FOR U
Superstar struggles to wrest from control of her earnings dad 12 years after breakdown led to legal guardian order
CHER has accused people of treating Britney Spears like a “cash cow” as she waded into the row over whether the pop star is being controlled.
Cher is the biggest name yet to get behind the movement to “free Britney”, which was started by fans who want to see her win back control of her finances, career and children.
The Believe singer tweeted: “She worked hard, was the golden goose, made lots of $$, got sick, now she’s the cash cow.”
Cher’s endorsement has added more momentum to the campaign, which has its own hashtag, #freebritney.
Control of most aspects of Britney’s life came about after she was put in a psychiatric unit after a very public breakdown, during which she shaved her head and tried to smash up a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
In March 2008, a judge awarded her father Jamie conservatorship over his daughter’s life after the court heard she was “struggling with drug abuse”.
The legal powers put her father and lawyer Andrew Wallet in charge of her wealth, earnings, daily routine and her medical welfare. It boiled down to Britney having no more legal rights than a child, and if she even buys a coffee it is logged in court documents.
Last month, the singer, 38, tried to end her 68-year-old father’s conservatorship at a Los Angeles court.
Due to health reasons, Jamie was last year forced to temporarily hand over the conservatorship to his daughter’s care manager Jodi Montgomery. Britney is now fighting to keep Montgomery as her conservator but last month the court made no immediate changes to the conservatorship.
The closed door court hearing extended the current arrangements until February 2021, according to a court document posted online by fans.
It’s also been revealed Britney’s sister Jamie Lynn, a trustee of the singer’s estate for two years, has taken control of her care until next year.
The Mississippi-born, Louisianaraised singer was a child star when she joined The Mickey Mouse Club in 1993 aged just 12.
She released her worldwide No1 Baby One More Time in 1999 and became
the biggest pop star on the planet. But her first eyebrow-raising behaviour was in 2004, when she married childhood friend Jason Alexander only to get an annulment 55 hours later. Concern mounted in 2006, following her marriage to backing dancer Kevin Federline and the birth of their eldest son, Sean. Child services repeatedly checked on the family and Britney was seen driving a car with her son on her lap rather than in a car seat. She then divorced Federl ine two months after the birth of their second son, Jayden. Britney hit the self-destruct button in 2007. She checked into rehab but checked back out 24 hours later. Not long after that, she showed up at a Los Angeles beauty shop and shaved off her hair as paparazzi took pictures. She then attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
It was at this point she went back to rehab and lost custody of her children to Federline.
At the start of 2008, she was pictured strapped to a gurney after a three-hour standoff where she barricaded herself in a bathroom with her youngest son and refused to come out. This time she was admitted to a psychiatric unit.
As reported by the New York Times in 2016, Britney’s most mundane purchases are tracked “as part of the plan to safeguard the great fortune she has earned but does not ultimately control”. The I’m A Slave For U singer’s most recent financial documents show she’s worth £43.8million.
Throughout her conservatorship she has worked hard – dropping an album every two or three years and undergoing a four-year Las Vegas residency. She has also launched perfume and clothing lines.
But in April last year she put her Vegas residency on hold and went to rehab, claiming she was dealing with her father’s serious health issues.
In March this year, Britney’s youngest son Jayden, 13, was asked by a fan on Instagram Live to “help your mom break free” and he replied: “That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Jamie has hit back at the Free Britney movement calling it a “conspiracy theory”. But his ex-wife and Britney’s mum, Lynne, filed a request in July to be involved in her daughter’s finances and has liked social media posts with the #freebritney hashtag.
The only time Britney has talked about it herself was in April last year, when she put out a video message saying she was OK.
She stated: “My situation is unique, but I promise I’m doing what’s best at this moment. I am strong, and stand up for what I want. What I need right now is a little bit of privacy to deal with all the hard things that life is throwing my way.”
She was the golden goose, now she’s the cash cow CHER TWEETING HER SUPPORT FOR BRITNEY