NEWS
Britney Spears' dad James Spears in 2011.
Bauer-Griffin/GC ImagesLOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears’ father has asked the court overseeing his daughter’s conservatorship to investigate her statements to a judge last week on the court’s control of her medical treatment and personal life, which she called overly restrictive and abusive.
James Spears emphasized in a pair of documents filed late Tuesday night that he has had no power over his daughter’s personal affairs for nearly two years.
His filing says the court must investigate “serious allegations regarding forced labor, forced medical treatment and therapy, improper medical care, and limitations on personal rights.”
“Given the nature of the allegations and claims, it is critical that that the court confirm whether or not Ms. Spears’ testimony was accurate in order to determine what corrective actions, if any, need to be taken,” the documents said.
The filings come a week after Britney Spears spoke for the first time in open court in the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money for 13 years. She condemned those with power over her, saying she has been forced to perform live shows, compelled to use an intrauterine device for birth control, made to take lithium and other medications against her will, and prevented from getting married or having another child.
“I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” Spears said.
James Spears controlled his daughter’s personal life for most of the existence of the conservatorship, but he now oversees only her money and business dealings along with an estate-management firm. A court-appointed professional, Jodi Montgomery, has had power over Britney Spears’ personal decisions since her father relinquished that role in 2019.
“Mr. Spears is not the conservator of the person. He has not been the conservator of the person since September 2019,” one of the court filings says. “Ms. Montgomery has been fully in charge of Ms. Spears day-to-day personal care and medical treatment.”
Montgomery, whose appointment Britney Spears supported, is serving temporarily. The court was expected to make her role permanent, but one of James Spears’ filings says his daughter’s criticism of Montgomery last week suggests that she doesn’t want her in the role.
James Spears says that when he was conservator over his daughter’s personal decisions, he did everything in his power to support her well-being, including consenting to her getting married in 2012 and sharing conservatorship duties with her fiance. Spears was engaged to former manager Jason Trawick in 2012, but the couple broke it off in 2013.
The filing is also critical of Britney Spears’ personal attorney Samuel L. Ingham III, saying that he wrongly asserted in a recent filing that the court had found Spears did not have capacity to consent to medical treatment and is using that as a pretext for a court order taking away her right to give informed consent.
Emails sent to Ingham and to an attorney for Montgomery seeking comment were not immediately returned.
While Britney Spears was critical of both Montgomery and Ingham in her impassioned speech of more than 20 minutes, she singled out her father for some of her most scathing criticism.
She accused him of relishing his power over her, as he showed when she failed a series of psychological tests in 2019 and forced her to go into a mental hospital.
“I cried on the phone for an hour, and he loved every minute of it,” Spears said. ”The control he had over someone as powerful as me, as he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%.”
James Spears said through his lawyer at the hearing that he was sorry to see his daughter was in so much pain.
He said in his court filings that it is imperative that “all parties be provided a full and fair opportunity to respond to allegations and claims asserted against them.”
“Either the allegations will be shown to be true, in which case corrective action will be taken,” the documents say, “or they will be shown to be false, in which case the conservatorship can continue its course. It is not acceptable for the Conservators or the Court to do nothing.”
Spears told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that she wanted the conservatorship to end, but she has not filed a petition with the court to end it.
“I want changes going forward,” she said. “I deserve changes.”
Ingham said in court that she had not asked him to. Britney Spears said in court that she was unaware she could petition to end it.
Penny called Spears comments courageous, but gave no clue about the actions she’ll take. An investigation and many more legal moves are likely before she makes decision.
Not for the first time, Moby is speaking out against Donald Trump’s administration with clear frustration.
“The U.S. is collapsing under a deeply corrupt and shockingly ineffective administration,” the longtime electronic musician shared on social media. “These are unbelievably dark times.”
Moby went deeper into his thoughts through a video message, where he explained that people outside the United States keep asking Americans what is actually happening in the country.
“So many of my friends outside the United States keep asking me, ‘what the hell is happening over there?’ And honestly, we don’t even know,” he said. “The country is being controlled by one of the most corrupt, dangerous and incompetent administrations imaginable. Nobody fully understands what’s happening right now. These are very dark times in America.”
Moby joins a growing list of artists publicly criticizing Trump and MAGA politics, including Bruce Springsteen, Jack White, Eminem and Billie Eilish.
Earlier this year, Moby uploaded another statement to social media where he addressed how people should respond following the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “The real question isn’t whether people should feel horrified or outraged by what’s happening in the United States,” Moby explained in the Jan. 26 clip. “The question is what are we actually going to do about it?”
The musician and activist also encouraged people to protest, saying demonstrations are a constitutional right and something he believes Trump’s administration is attempting to weaken.
In the end, he urged people to vote regularly, “not only during the upcoming midterms, even though those matter, but also in every special election throughout the year.” He also encouraged supporters to “stop giving money to the scumbag corporations backing Trump and ICE. We all know who they are. Boycott them.”
His newest remarks arrive as the U.S. Justice Department unveils a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump allies who claim they were unfairly investigated. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut down following military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in late February without approval from Congress, leading to rising gas prices across the globe.
Throughout his independent music career, Moby has earned 10 entries on the Billboard 200 along with two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and an enormous catalog of sync placements. Overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, he is viewed as one of the defining artists of his era. He scored two No. 1 albums there with Play from 1999 and 18 from 2002, alongside 18 top 40 singles and two nominations for Best International Male at the BRIT Awards.
Check out Moby’s newest social media post below.
