NEW YORK: The heartbreaking testimony of the former world’s most powerful celebrity during her latest conservatorship hearing has made headlines and blew smoke after the pop singer spoke her heart out about the personal and financial restrictions as her father, Jamie Spears, has been appointed to manage her finances since 2008.
Britney is estimated to have earned tens of millions in her decades-long music career, but her fortune is much less than other singers who gained fame around the same time she did.
But how much his father got from the net worth of Toxis singer which is said to be around $60 Million. Reports in international media cited that the 39-year-old used to pay his father a monthly salary – to manage office space beside a cut of her celebrity.
Forbes quoting sources claimed that Britney’s father was paid at least $5 million before taxes since February 2008. The singer also had to pay thousands of dollars in the guise of the legal fees for both herself and her conservators.
The report quoting court documents further suggests that she has bound to pay him at least $16,000 per month since 2009 while that compensation for over a decade made a total of around $2.4 million.
The list didn’t end here, as a report of the New York Times, revealed that his father also got a portion of her touring revenue. Those payouts for Mr. Jamie included 1.5 percent of the gross ticket and merchandise sales from Piece of Me residency that continued from 2013–17. That show garnered around $137.7 million leaving Jamie Spears’ cut at $2.1 million.
Another report revealed that Jamie also got a 2.95 percent commission off of her 2011 tour and the man-made around $500,000 from that single tour. Besides all these, she has to pony up for several other expenses.
The past 13 years that Britney Spears has been under her conservatorship makes her bound to pay all the expenses while the total Criminal singer spent on legal fees is not public.
The court records from 2018 and 2019 showed that the law firm which represented her father charged her about $170,000. Another document detailed fees for her own court-ordered attorney Samuel which was around $331,940.
Regardless of raking in millions, the singer has not been in control of her finances for more than a decade which stemmed due to a conservatorship ruling that gave her father and a lawyer legal authority over her assets.
The 39-year-old stopped doing commercials for the last 6 years and has not even released any music in half a decade. She hasn’t had a tour since 2018 and turned down a Las Vegas residency deal the following year.
Her legal team earlier in November last year told the court that ‘she will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.’
Recently, in a 24-minute statement to Judge Brenda Penny, Britney spoke her heart out that she is done with the conservatorship rule that has given control of her life to her father. She prayed to the court to gain back control of her life and put an end to the arrangement that has allowed his father to force her career and her $60 million fortune.
‘Considering my family has lived off my conservatorship for 13 years, I won’t be surprised if one of them has something to say, she told the judge saying that ‘I just don’t like feeling like I work for the people who I pay.’
The American pop icon also said that ‘It makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me, with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people and pay so many people, trucks, and buses on tour, on the road with me, and be told I’m not good enough, it’s been a long time since I’ve owned the money I earned, and it’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end.’
‘My father wanted more than just the money. I cried on the phone for an hour, and he loved every minute of it, she alleged saying that ‘The control he had over someone as powerful as me. He loved the control to hurt his own daughter. 100,000 percent, he loved it.’
Meanwhile, his father did not share any statement directly, though his attorney said, ‘He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain. Mr. Spears loves his daughter and misses her very much.’
Later, the Los Angeles Superior Court judge turned down a request from the singer’s lawyer to have Jamie Spears dropped as his daughter’s co-conservator.
In addition to this, his father filed a petition and called for a probe into Britney’s allegations of mistreatment against her conservatorship. Mr Jamie also noted that he has not managed his daughter’s personal or medical affairs for the past two years.
How conservatorships work in the US?
The conservatorship or guardianship is a legal mechanism set up for individuals who failed to manage their personal/financial affairs. In California, a judge appoints a responsible person or organization to care for another adult who cannot care for himself or herself or manage his or her own finances.
If a court grants the conservatorship, the conservator can assume the powers authorized under the order for the duration and scope that is established but a conservatee does not lose all rights with the ruling. Experts believe that in many situations, the whole process is extreme as once a judge puts a person under a conservatorship, it can only be revoked by the court of law.
In Britney’s case, the singer believed that the conservatorship appears to cover all aspects of her personal affairs and her property management, and it does not look like the court has entertained the least restrictive alternatives.
