The Mercury News

Spears rips ‘abusive’ conservato­rship during virtual court hearing

- By Nancy Dillon

LOS ANGELES >> Britney Spears slammed her conservato­rship during an emotional and unpreceden­ted court hearing Wednesday, telling her judge she feels “enslaved” by the stringent structure and wants to get married and have a baby with her boyfriend.

“I am traumatize­d,” she told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny during the virtual video hearing. “I’m not happy, I can’t sleep. I’m so angry I’m insane.”

The pop star who’s been under a court-ordered conservato­rship for 13 years said she wants to end the guardiansh­ip “without being evaluated.”

“It is my wish and my dream for all of this to end,” she said.

Spears, 39, said it makes no sense that she can work and make millions of dollars that line other people’s pockets but she is put on a stringent budget that’s contingent upon her meeting with therapists she doesn’t trust.

“I truly believe that this conservato­rship is abusive,” she said. “I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”

She said she wants to be able to drive in a car with boyfriend Sam Asghari and have her IUD removed to expand her family with him.

“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” she said. “I want to take the IUD out.”

When a lawyer for her current care manager Jodi Montgomery tried to close the hearing to public access before Spears started speaking, the “Toxic” singer piped up and said she wanted to be heard.

“They’ve done a good job at exploiting my life,” she said. “(This) should be an open court hearing and they should listen and hear what I have to say.”

Spears, 39, has been under the control of the conservato­rship for 13 years, ever since a series of highprofil­e mental health crises in 2007 and 2008 ended with involuntar­y hospitaliz­ations.

Last year, her lawyer went public with the “Toxic” singer’s requests to have her dad Jamie Spears removed from any positions of power overseeing her $60 million fortune.

In a court filing obtained by the Daily News, her lawyer Samuel Ingham said Spears believed her bid for more “personal autonomy” shouldn’t be “hidden away in the closet as a family secret.”

 ?? JORDAN STRAUSS — INVISION/AP, FILE ?? Britney Spears said in a court hearing on Wednesday she feels “enslaved” by the structure of her conservato­rship.
JORDAN STRAUSS — INVISION/AP, FILE Britney Spears said in a court hearing on Wednesday she feels “enslaved” by the structure of her conservato­rship.

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