Britney Spears’ father files to end star’s conservatorship after 13 years

Published

3 years ago

September 7, 2021

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Jamie Spears has filed a legal petition to end a controversial conservatorship which has controlled the affairs of his daughter for the last 13 years.

Legal documents submitted to Los Angeles Superior Court by Spears on Tuesday state that his daughter Britney “is entitled” to have a judge “seriously consider” whether the arrangement is required.

The documents add that Britney Spears’ circumstances have changed “to such an extent that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship may no longer exist”.

“She wants to be able to make decisions regarding her own medical care, deciding when, where and how often to get therapy. She wants to control the money she has made from her career and spend it without supervision or oversight,” the legal documents state.

“She wants to be able to get married and have a baby, if she so chooses. In short, she wants to live her life as she chooses without the constraints of a conservator or court proceeding.”

And Jodi Montgomery, the care-giver who oversees the star’s personal affairs, should also be discharged from her role, Mr Spears said.

Britney Spears, 39, has attempted to remove her father as the overseer of her $60 million estate twice in the last two years, even refusing to perform while he retains control.

In July, the singer told Judge Brenda Penny that it was her top priority that Mr Spears, 69, be removed and charged with “conservatorship abuse”.

She also accused her father, who is a recovering alcoholic, of ruining her life and alleged that he “loved” to hear her in pain while he exerted his power over her.

At the height of her fame, Spears was one of the world’s biggest pop star. She is famous for hits including Baby One More Time, Oops!… I Did It Again, I’m A Slave 4 U, Toxic and Womanizer, although she has not performed since 2018.

She has been under the control of the conservatorship – usually reserved for the old and infirm – since 2008, when it was put in place as a temporary measure following her high-profile reported breakdown.

She told a court in June the “abusive” legal arrangement was stopping her from getting married and having a baby and that it was her “wish and dream” for it to end.

She alleged that she was being compelled to take certain medications and to use an intrauterine device for birth control against her will.

In a court filing in August, Mr Spears said he was willing to step back as the conservator of her finances, but offered no timetable.

Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart, a high-powered Hollywood lawyer, then accused Jamie of attempting to “extort” his daughter, alleging he asked for about $2 million (£1.45 million) in payments to his legal team and former business manager Tri Star.

A petition to remove Mr Spears from his role was to be heard at the next hearing in the case on 29 September. Ms Penny will now need to approve the move to terminate the arrangement for good.

Mr Spears’ filing represents a significant win for the #FreeBritney movement which has gathered momentum in recent months.

His lawyers have sought to defend him from claims he wanted to keep the arrangement in place for his benefit.

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The filing adds: “As Mr Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter.

“If Ms Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr Spears believes that she should get that chance.”

Mr Spears gave up his control over his daughter’s life decisions in 2019, handing the role to court-appointed Ms Montgomery, but he kept control of her finances.

In July, Spears was allowed to hire Mr Rosengart as her lawyer, replacing Samuel Ingham, the man appointed by the court in 2008. He has promised to help her end the conservatorship for good.

Entertainment

Damon Albarn makes surprise Glastonbury appearance with Bombay Bicycle Club

Published

8 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Damon Albarn makes surprise Glastonbury appearance with Bombay Bicycle Club

Damon Albarn has made a surprise appearance at Glastonbury – addressing politics and the Israel-Hamas war as he turned up on stage to perform with Bombay Bicycle Club.

The band performed on the Other Stage this afternoon, ahead of artists including Anne-Marie, D-Block Europe and Idles.

Blur and Gorillaz star Albarn features on Bombay Bicycle Club’s 2023 song Heaven, and speculation he would join them had been rife ahead of their Glastonbury set.

They had teased a special guest, without revealing a name, and the @secretglasto Twitter account hinted beforehand that the mystery artist “could make Bombay Bicycle Club’s set go by in a Blur”.

Albarn headlined the festival with Blur in 2009 and again with Gorillaz the following year, as a last-minute replacement for U2 due to frontman Bono injuring his back.

After joining Bombay Bicycle Club at this year’s festival, he spoke on stage about Palestine, the general election, and world politics.

“Three things: you have to show me how you feel about it – are you pro Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war?” he said.

“The importance of voting next week – I don’t blame you for being ambivalent about that but it’s still really important. And thirdly – maybe it’s time we stopped putting octogenarians in charge of the whole world?”

Speaking to Sky News about their collaboration, Bombay Bicycle Club said it had all been unexpected.

“We were never expecting to have him on the record or to be playing a show with him, but… we just kind of asked, and he was really up for it. You don’t ask, you don’t get.”

There wasn’t much time to rehearse, they added, with about an hour to get things right for the live performance. “But, you know, with him, that’s all you need.”

Kasabian, Liam Gallagher, Harry Styles, Kings Of Leon and Pulp are all among the artists rumoured to potentially make surprise appearances on stages around the festival site throughout the weekend.

Bombay Bicycle Club are among the music acts kicking off the first full day of the festival, which will be headlined by Dua Lipa.

Squeeze opened the show early on Friday, with K-pop act Seventeen, Olivia Dean and The Snuts also among the early performers.

Elsewhere, just days after the birth of his fourth child, Joe Wicks led a fitness session – and set his sights on taking his workouts to the Pyramid Stage.

“You don’t often think about a fitness workout being at a music festival but yesterday I did a workout and about 2,000 people turned up and it was amazing,” he told Sky News, ahead of a second session on Friday.

Wicks says people still want to look after themselves at festivals.

“It’s hard sleeping in a tent so if they’re awake, I’ve said, come and join me, start the day right.”

Coldplay will headline tomorrow, while Shania Twain fills the Sunday afternoon “legends slot” and SZA closes the weekend.

Entertainment

Holly Willoughby kidnap plot trial: Gavin Plumb says TV presenter was his ‘celebrity crush’

Published

14 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Holly Willoughby kidnap plot trial: Gavin Plumb says TV presenter was his 'celebrity crush'

A security guard accused of planning to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby has told a jury the television presenter was “my celebrity crush”.

An undercover US police officer on Thursday told Chelmsford Crown Court he believed 37-year-old Gavin Plumb posed an “imminent threat” to the former This Morning Host.

Plumb shared a video of his “abduction kit” with the officer, referred to as David Nelson, and said he would use chloroform to snatch Willoughby, 43, from her home to sexually assault her before slitting her throat, the jury has heard.

He alerted UK police who found two bottles of liquid, alongside items including handcuffs, rope, shackles and cable ties, at Plumb’s home in Harlow, Essex – but they were found not to contain the substance.

Plumb denies three charges of soliciting murder and encouraging kidnap and rape between 21 December 2021 and 5 October last year.

Giving evidence for the first time on Friday, he told the jury he spent his life online engaging in “wholesome chat” but also fantasising about having sex with celebrities, including Willoughby, who he had seen on daytime TV after he became housebound, having gained weight and reaching 35.5 stone.

“She was my celebrity crush,” said Plumb, who sat down in a chair to give his evidence, wearing a light grey sweater and dark trousers, after telling the judge he would not be able to stand.

Asked how many times he thought about her a day, Plumb said: “It would depend how many times I would chat about her. Sometimes it would be once, other times it would be four, five, six times.”

But the chats became “darker” from 2021, he said, being questioned by his barrister Sasha Wass KC.

He admitted he found the conversations “exciting” at the time but added: “Looking back at it now it’s massively regrettable because it’s not the sort of chat I would normally participate in.”

Plumb added: “It was kind of like gratification. It was something I knew was never going to happen.”

He told the jury he had bought most of the items in what has been described as an “abduction kit” following a four-month sexual relationship in which he was introduced to “BDSM and rough sex”.

“The whole kit is meant for someone who is consenting,” he said.

Plumb told jurors his weight started to fluctuate from the age of 13, which “really affected my mental health” because he could not play sport and was often put “in the friend zone” with girls.

Plumb said he has only had one serious relationship, which he described as “extremely toxic”, and lasted four-and-a-half years, during which there were “constant arguments” and he was “constantly put down”.

“I don’t want to be in a relationship anymore,” he said.

The court has heard he has two convictions for attempted kidnap from 2006, after trying to abduct two women off the Stansted Express train, later claiming they were members of cabin crew. He had rope and an imitation firearm when he was arrested.

Plumb said he was travelling between car parks where he worked handing out tickets and although he admitted he “had a stewardess fantasy back then” he said he did it “to get out of the relationship”.

He was handed a suspended sentence and in 2008 said he used a box cutter to hold two “shouting and screaming and crying” 16-year-old girls in a warehouse where he worked, taping one of their hands behind her back.

Plumb said he committed the offences to “get away from the relationship”, which ended while he was in jail after he was sentenced to 32 months in prison, serving half, after admitting two charges of false imprisonment.

He told jurors once released he spent 99.9% of his life online, communicating with others about gaming, football and “normal fantasy chat” about having sex with various celebrities, including “briefly” Willoughby, but it was “completely different” to the “dark” material he later shared.

Willoughby, who is not attending the trial and is not a witness, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show, but has since hosted Dancing On Ice 2024, and is due to present a Netflix show.

Entertainment

Singer Michael Jackson ‘$500m in debt’ when he died

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Singer Michael Jackson '0m in debt' when he died

Michael Jackson was more than $500m (£395.3m) in debt when he died in 2009, new court documents allege.

The King of Pop was in a deep financial hole when he died aged 50 of acute propofol intoxication, according to a petition the executors of his estate filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and seen by Sky’s US partner network NBC News.

“At the time of Michael Jackson‘s death, Michael Jackson’s most significant assets were subject to more than $500 million of debt and creditors’ claims, with some of the debt accruing interest at extremely high interest rates, and some debt in default,” the filing said.

The pop superstar had been preparing for a 50-show concert residency called This Is It at London’s O2 Arena before he died on 25 June 2009 – 18 days before the first performance had been scheduled.

His death left his estate financially liable for $40m (£31.6m) to the tour promoter, AEG, the filing said.

The filing requests that money from Jackson’s estate be used to reimburse the executors’ lawyers for legal services and other expenses.

Jackson was also facing lawsuits in several states and countries when he died, the petition said. More than 65 creditors’ claims had been filed, which prompted more lawsuits.

The executors, however, have settled or disposed of most of the creditors’ claims and litigation, the filing said.