Jamie Spears: Court ‘wrong’ to boot me
Britney Spears’ father says he’s a doting dad, not a toxic tyrant.
Jamie Spears criticized a California court for suspending his conservatorship over his pop star daughter, saying “the court was wrong” to do so.
“Mr. Spears loves his daughter Britney unconditionally,” Jamie Spears said Thursday in a statement released through his lawyer, Vivian Thoreen.
He’d had nothing but her best interests at heart for the 13-year period, he said, starting with agreeing to fill the role when she voluntarily entered into the conservatorship.
“This included helping her revive her career and reestablish a relationship with her children,” he said a day after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny ruled that the 39-year-old singer should no longer live under her father’s rule.
“For anyone who has tried to help a family member dealing with mental health issues, they can appreciate the tremendous amount of daily worry and work this required,” the dad added.
A temporary conservator, certified public accountant John Zabel, was appointed to replace Jamie, a choice suggested by Britney and her legal team. He will assume temporary control over her estate until next steps are determined.
Jamie Spears (inset l.) was bounced from the arrangement on Wednesday afternoon after a protracted court battle in play since a court first ordered that she enter into conservatorship in 2008. In his statement, he said that the entire conservatorship should instead have been terminated.
Penny called the arrangement between the pop star (inset r.) and her father “untenable” and said it constituted a “toxic environment.”
“I believe that the suspension is in the best interests of the conservatee,” Penny said Wednesday. “The current situation is untenable.”
Jamie Spears took issue with the court’s characterization of the relationship, saying that part of his duties entailed “biting his tongue and not responding to all the false, speculative, and unsubstantiated attacks on him by certain members of the public, media, or more recently, Britney’s own attorney,” his statement said. “These facts make the outcome of yesterday’s hearing all the more disappointing, and frankly, a loss for Britney. Respectfully, the court was wrong to suspend Mr. Spears, put a stranger in his place to manage Britney’s estate, and extend the very conservatorship that Britney begged the court to terminate earlier this summer.”
Britney Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, had contended that the only reason Jamie Spears wanted it terminated was to avoid scrutiny and culpability of his handling of her affairs, claiming last summer that he had “reaped millions of dollars” from the conservatorship.
Rosengart said he and his client agreed that the conservatorship needs to end soon but that her father’s attempt to end it immediately was an effort to avoid scrutiny and culpability.