Britney Spears’s fans urge star to consider a pre-nup
BRITNEY Spears and long-term boyfriend Sam Asghari are engaged, the couple announced Sunday – days after the singer made progress in the long-running battle to resume control over her own life and end her father’s financial conservatorship over her.
Spears, 39, announced the news in a video on her Instagram account, where she posed alongside Asghari, 27, and held a four-carat diamond up to the camera.
Thousands flocked to congratulate the couple, who have been dating for almost five years.
The ring, already branded “The Britney”, is engraved with the word “Lioness” – Asghari’s nickname for the star.
Among the celebratory comments came pleas from fans – and other celebrities – for the best-selling singer to implement a prenuptial agreement to protect her estimated $60 million (about R850m) fortune.
The engagement comes shortly after the popstar’s father, Jamie Spears, filed to end the financial conservatorship that has been controlling her life for over a decade.
“If Ms Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr Spears believes that she should get that chance,” the filing said.
Spears’s battle to break free from the legal arrangement has been closely followed by fans around the world for years, sparking a “Free Britney” movement. Concerned fans have long pointed out that within a year of being placed in a conservatorship because of erratic behaviour, Spears was back on tour performing and even launched a residency in Las Vegas.
“I shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work,” Spears told a court in June.
Conservatorships are designed to protect the monetary and personal interests of the elderly and people who are seriously ill. Britney’s family and close aides maintain that the structure was put in place in 2008 to protect her as she battled with her mental health. Following her breakdown, Spears lost custody of her two children and was hospitalised twice under psychiatric holds.
Spears told a Los Angeles court this
summer that the “abusive” conservatorship had left her “traumatised” and begged the judge to help her regain control of her life. The singer said that initially she had been unaware that she was able to appeal to end the conservatorship.
“I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day,” she said, telling the court that although she wanted a baby with Asghari, she had been forced to keep an IUD.
Asghari is an actor and personal trainer from Iran who immigrated to the US at the age of 12. The couple are believed to have met on set for a music video in 2016.
Asghari’s manager Brandon Cohen said the pair “made their long-standing relationship official on Sunday and are deeply touched by the support, dedication and love expressed to them”.
Among the wellwishers on social media, many – including actor Octavia Spencer – urged Spears to take steps to protect her wealth.
“Make him sign a pre-nup,” Spencer wrote – a remark that did not go unnoticed by Asghari who replied with the emoji “100”, in apparent agreement.
Alongside a laughing emoji on his Instagram story, Asghari wrote on
Monday morning: “Thank you everyone who is concerned about the prenup! Of course we’re getting ironclad pre-nup to protect my jeep and shoe collection in case she dumps me one day”.
Spears has been married twice. In 2004, she tied the knot with longtime friend Jason Allen Alexander – a marriage that lasted 55 hours. Later that year, she married dancer Kevin Federline, with whom she had two sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston. The pair split in 2007.
The next court hearing regarding the star’s conservatorship is scheduled for September 29. | The Washington Post