Britney Spears’s father says ‘no grounds whatsoever’ to challenge his conservatorship
Britney Spears’s father is fighting back against a challenge to his control of her money and affairs, saying there are “no grounds whatsoever” for removing him from the conservatorship.
In a new court document, Jamie Spears said he had “dutifully and faithfully served as the conservator of his daughter’s estate without any blemishes on his record”.
Mr Spears’s filing also claimed that Jodi Montgomery – a court-appointed professional who oversees Britney Spears’s life decisions, while her father handles her money – last month phoned him, “distraught”, seeking his help with his daughter’s mental health.
Singer Britney Spears at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards in New York
In response, Ms Montgomery and her lawyer argued that Mr Spears had “misrepresented and manipulated” the call.
The filing is the latest instalment in a long-running dispute over the management of Britney’s affairs. The popstar was placed in a controversial conservatorship scheme in 2008 following some concerns about her mental health.
Concerns over the conservatorship has sparked the ‘Free Britney’ movement
Her father has largely controlled her life since then, but the singer recently said she would never perform again as long as the status continued, and has repeatedly called for his removal.
Mr Spears’s filing was a response to court papers filed they day before by Britney’s new lawyer Matthew Rosengart, which requested an emergency hearing to suspend him from the conservatorship.
The singer has alleged “forced medical treatment and therapy, improper medical care, and limitations on personal rights” under the scheme – claims which Mr Spears denies, calling them “untested”.
Mr Spears had controlled his daughter’s life decisions as well as her finances up until 2019, when Ms Montgomery took charge of those responsibilities.
Entertainment
Deadpool 3: Ryan Reynolds teases cameo of Wrexham striker Ollie Palmer in new Marvel film
Ryan Reynolds appears to have confirmed that Wrexham striker Ollie Palmer is in his next film, Deadpool 3.
The Hollywood star, an owner of the Welsh football club, shared the trailer on social media, writing: “Found the guy who killed Bambi’s mom”.
A still from the Deadpool 3 trailer. Pic: Marvel/Disney
An eagle-eyed Wrexham fan, who calls himself Beardy on Twitter, quickly noticed a man wearing a denim jacket in the background of one of the scenes, identifying him as “one Ollie Palmer”.
A podcast dedicated to the football club, Fearless In Devotion, backed up his claim, sharing the still from the trailer along with a screenshot of Palmer, 32, commenting on Reynold’s post: “If you squint…”
Reynolds, 47, commented on the podcast’s post: “Keen eyesight”.
The podcast team went on to say they had verified the claim, saying in another comment on the post: “I’ve asked him. He’s confirmed it is him”.
The new Marvel film – which will be out in the UK on 26 July – brings Deadpool and Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) together to defeat a common enemy.
Palmer appears to make his brief background appearance in the first scene of the trailer, in which Deadpool walks over to Wolverine at a bar.
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He’s wearing a white shirt, jeans and denim jacket, and has dark hair and a bushy dark beard.
Palmer joined Wrexham from AFC Wimbledon in January 2022, a year after Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia co-creator Rob McElhenney, 46, took over the club.
Since then, the Welsh football club has secured two successive promotions, which along with the popular Welcome To Wrexham docuseries, has propelled it into the global spotlight.
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Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds celebrate with the National League trophy. Pic: Reuters
In 2022, Reynolds and McElhenney were honoured by the Welsh government, the Football Association of Wales and S4C for promoting the country and its language with the Dragon Award.
They’ve also met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the King and Queen and the Prince of Wales.
Sky News has contacted Palmer’s representative for comment.
Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway has described a “gross” past audition where she had to “make out” with 10 men.
The 41-year-old star described the experience which she said happened in the early 2000s as “a very different time”.
She told V Magazine: “Back in the 2000s – and this did happen to me – it was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry, which is actually the worst way to do it.
“I was told, ‘We have 10 guys coming today and you’re cast. Aren’t you excited to make out with all of them?’ And I thought, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’ because I wasn’t excited. I thought it sounded gross.
“And I was so young and terribly aware how easy it was to lose everything by being labelled ‘difficult’, so I just pretended I was excited and got on with it. It wasn’t a power play, no one was trying to be awful or hurt me.
“It was just a very different time and now we know better.”
Hathaway did not specify which film the audition was for or who any of the male actors were.
She compared the casting process with that of her upcoming romantic comedy The Idea Of You, in which she plays a 40-year-old single mum who becomes involved with a 24-year-old boy band singer.
“We asked each of the actors coming in to choose a song that they felt their character would love, that they would put on to get my character to dance, and then we’d do a short little [improvisation]”, Hathaway said.
Describing the casting with 29-year-old British actor Nicholas Galitzine – who won the role – she said he chose a song by Alabama Shakes and the audition was “just easy”.
(R-L) Nicholas Galitzine and Hathaway in The Idea Of You. Pic: PA
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
She explained: “I heard [the lead singer of Alabama Shakes] Brittany’s voice and I just started smiling. And he saw me smile, so he relaxed, and we just started dancing.
“Nobody was showing off. Nobody was trying to get the gig. We were just in a space dancing. I looked over and Michael Showalter, our director, was beaming. Spark!”
Galitzine has previously starred in Sky Atlantic’s Mary & George opposite Oscar-winner Julianne Moore, Prime Video comedy Red, White & Royal Blue playing Prince Henry.
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(R-L) Ella Rubin and Hathaway in The Idea Of You. Pic: PA
Hathaway first made her name in 2001 after the release of the original The Princess Diaries film opposite Dame Julie Andrews. In the interview, she addressed rumours of a third film in the franchise.
“We’re in a good place…That’s all I can say. There’s nothing to announce yet. But we’re in a good place,” she said.
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March: Anne Hathaway on her ‘worst fear’
The sequel to the original – The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement – came out three years after the first in 2004.
Hathaway also said “there’s no hiding” the fact that she would love to appear on Broadway during her career.
“[Being on Broadway] was my first dream, you know? And so many amazing, extraordinary things have happened to me but not that one yet. It’s a goal that is very, very much alive inside of me,” she added.
The Idea Of You is streaming from Thursday 2 May on Prime Video.
Entertainment
Fashion designer Nancy Gonzalez jailed for smuggling crocodile handbags into US for New York Fashion Week
A celebrity handbag designer whose products have been used by Britney Spears and on Sex And The City has been jailed for smuggling crocodile handbags into the US for fashion shows.
Nancy Gonzalez, 71, admitted recruiting couriers to carry as many as four products each on commercial flights from her native Colombia to the US for New York Fashion Week, among other high-profile events.
Gonzalez, who was arrested in 2022 in Cali, and later extradited to the US, was sentenced to 18 months in a federal court in Miami on Monday for breaking US wildlife laws.
The handbags, made from the hides of caiman and pythons bred in captivity, were worth as much as $2m (£1.6m), prosecutors said, but the designer’s lawyers said each skin cost only around $140 (£113).
Sometimes she failed to obtain the proper import permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, something backed by a widely ratified international treaty governing the trade in endangered and threatened species, the court heard.
Holding back tears, Gonzalez told the court before sentencing that she deeply regretted not fully complying with US laws.
She said: “From the bottom of my heart, I apologise to the United States of America. I never intended to offend a country to which I owe immense gratitude. Under pressure, I made poor decisions.”
Salma Hayek, Britney Spears and Victoria Beckham are among celebrities who bought Gonzalez’s carefully crafted handbags.
Her work was also included in a 2008 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
In court, her lawyers played a 2019 video of top buyers from Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and others praising the designer’s creativity, productivity and humanity.
But prosecutor Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald said the retailers “must be regretting they were ever put up to that and if they heard it was presented in court they would cringe”.
“They have their own brand to protect,” he added.
Mr Watts-Fitzgerald, who compared Gonzalez’s behaviour to that of drug traffickers, said her activities were “all driven by the money”.
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Her lawyers pleaded for leniency for the woman, who, they said, created “the very first luxury, high-end fashion company from a third world country,” which later competed with industry giants like Dior, Prada and Gucci.
They also argued that only 1% of the merchandise she imported into the US lacked proper papers and were samples for New York Fashion Week and other events.
Prosecutors had been seeking a stiffer sentence of 30 to 37 months. But the judge said he was taking into account the nearly 14 months she spent in a Colombian prison awaiting extradition.
She was ordered to begin her sentence on 6 June.
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