Victory for the #FreeBritney movement looks to be near – but wider questions remain about conservatorships
It will be for Judge Brenda Penny alone to decide if Britney Spears’ conservatorship does finally come to an end.
But the application filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court by the singer’s father Jamie seems to signal that the controversial arrangement is now on its last legs.
Jamie Spears has always been seen as the villain of this story to the fans who built their support for the star into a global #FreeBritney movement.
For 13 years Mr Spears, 69, has been the court-appointed decision-maker with extensive control over his daughter’s finances and private life.
Spears has been under a conservatorship agreement since 2008. Pic: AP
To Britney Spears’ fans her father Jamie has always been the villain. Pic: AP
The arrangement, usually reserved for those unable to make their own decisions, was put in place in 2008 after Spears went through a series of high-profile crises.
But unease has continued to grow among supporters who alleged she was being held against her will in that arrangement. The documentary Framing Britney Spears this year added impetus to their campaign.
They wondered, how could a performer who was grossing millions of dollars in record sales and sell-out concerts not be able to make decisions about her own life?
It was this summer, during two extraordinarily intense court hearings in Los Angeles, that the world finally heard from Spears herself as to what she thought of the conservatorship.
It was “abusive”, she said, during her first impassioned address to the court. She said she had even been kept on birth control against her will.
Mr Spears has denied all of those allegations and said he had only ever acted in his daughter’s best interest.
Last month he offered to stand down from his role as conservator even as his lawyer told the court: “The public does not know all the facts and they have no right to know.”
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For the #FreeBritney movement it was vindication and, they hoped, the beginning of the end to an arrangement that had curtailed a stellar career.
But as important, they say, is the light they have thrown on the wider questions about conservatorships and the complex and labyrinthine court processes that operate around them.
It is estimated that 1.3 million people in the US are living under conservatorship or guardianship arrangements with some $50 billion of assets tied up in them.
Not many of them can count on an army of fans to make a noise on their behalf and that is why #FreeBritney is about far more than Britney Spears alone.
The past 12 months have been the gift that’s kept on giving when it comes to newly-coined words and phrases entering our lexicon.
But how well do you know the terminology that’s been all over socials in 2024? Can you sort your brats from your clean girls?
Test your knowledge with our quiz below and let us know how you do!
Entertainment
Dayle Haddon: Former Sports Illustrated model dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning
Dayle Haddon – the actor, activist and former Sports Illustrated model – has died from what authorities believe was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Authorities found the 76-year-old dead in a second-floor bedroom on Friday morning after emergency dispatchers were notified about a person unconscious at the house in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.
A 76-year-old man, later identified as Walter J Blucas, of Erie, is in a critical condition.
Responders detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property.
Investigators believe the leak was caused by “a faulty flue and exhaust pipe on a gas heating system”.
As a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Esquire in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1973 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
She also appeared in about two dozen films from the 1970s to 1990s, including 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, starring John Cusack.
Haddon (left) with Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde (right) during a meeting of the Gender Equality Advisory Council. Pic: AP
Haddon left modelling after giving birth to her daughter, Ryan, in the mid-1970s, but then had to re-enter the workforce after her husband’s 1991 death.
This time, she found the modelling industry far less friendly: “They said to me, ‘At 38, you’re not viable’,” Haddon told The New York Times in 2003.
Read more on Sky News:
Olivia Hussey, star of 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, dies at 73
Working for an advertising agency, she began reaching out to cosmetic companies, telling them there was a growing market to sell beauty products to aging baby boomers.
She eventually landed a contract with Clairol, followed by Estee Lauder and then L’Oreal, for which she promoted the company’s anti-aging products for more than a decade.
She also hosted beauty segments for CBS’s The Early Show.
In 2008, Haddon founded WomenOne, an organisation aimed at advancing educational opportunities for girls and women in marginalised communities, including in Rwanda, Haiti and Jordan.
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Haddon’s daughter, Ryan, said in a social media post that her mother was “everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many”.
“A pure heart. A rich inner life. Touching so many lives. A life well lived. Rest in Light, Mom,” she said.
Actress Olivia Hussey, best known for playing Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 production of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.
She died peacefully at her home in California, surrounded by her loved ones on Friday, according to a post shared on her official Instagram account.
The message, posted with a sunset photo of Hussey in her youth, paid tribute to “a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her”.
It went on: “Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality, and kindness towards animals”.
Calling her a “truly special soul”, her family said while her “immense loss” was grieved, they would also “celebrate Olivia’s enduring impact on our lives and the industry”.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1951 to an Argentinian father and English mother, Hussey returned to London aged seven with her mother and studied at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
Spotted by Italian director Zeffirelli in a stage show of The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave, Hussey’s performance as Juliet aged just 15 made her a star and won her a Golden Globe.
Sixteen-year-old actor Leonard Whiting played her Romeo, with the pair going on to sue Paramount Pictures in 2022 for sexual abuse due to the Oscar-nominated movie’s nude scene.
(L-R) Franco Zeffirelli, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in 1968. Pic: AP/Eustache Cardenas
The case was dismissed by a judge the following year.
Hussey would work with Zeffirelli again, playing the Virgin Mary in the 1977 TV miniseries Jesus Of Nazareth.
Appearances in horrors including Black Christmas and Psycho prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning established Hussey as a scream queen over the years.
Other notable appearances included Hercule Poirot movie Death On The Nile and Mother Teresa biography Madre Teresa.
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Hussey was reunited with Whiting in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, which was loosely based on Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.
Her daughter, actress India Eisley, played her on-screen daughter in the movie.
It was Hussey’s final screen role, according to IMDB.
Hussey leaves behind three children, Alex, Max, and India, her husband of 35 years David Glen Eisley, and grandson, Greyson.
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