“I Don’t Know If She’d Be Alive”: Jamie Spears Defends Conservatorship

Britney Spears’s father, Jamie Spears, spoke with Britain’s Daily Mail, going on the record for the first time in over a decade, and one year after the controversial conservatorship of his daughter ended. He defended the 13-year court decision, opposition to which led to the #FreeBritney movement on social media. 

“Not everybody’s going to agree with me,” he said, adding, “I love my daughter with all my heart and soul. Where would Britney be right now without that conservatorship? And I don’t know if she’d be alive. I don’t.”

He referred to the court order as “a great tool,” and said that it helped protect her and her kids. “Without it, I don’t think she would have got the kids back.”

The conservatorship was set up in 2008, following erratic public displays by the performer. It put decisions about her estate and finances into her father’s hands, as well as many decisions about her personal life, including, she claimed, her reproductive rights. It is believed Jamie Spears earned $16,000 a month during this time, as well as taking a percentage of concert revenue. A Los Angeles court ended the arrangement in November 2021, after a 30-minute testimony from the performer in which she claimed the situation was abusive. 

Jamie currently lives in rural Louisiana with his younger daughter, Jamie Lynn Spears, whose past feuding with her sister appears to be thawing if recent Instagram updates are to be believed. The Daily Mail describes a storage unit packed with Britney memorabilia, even if he and the 41-year-old performer and her father are not currently speaking. 

He said he is wary of making public statements, lest he sends her “further down the hole,” though confessed he greatly misses having access to his two grandsons, the 17 and 16-year-old boys Britney had with Kevin Federline. “’I miss my two boys really, really bad,” he said. “We were very, very close. They were around that age where you could start having a good time with them. But they were developing a mind of their own. God makes things happen for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is, but it’s been a tough three years without them. The family’s a mess. All we can do is keep praying.”

“My relationship with Kevin gave [the children] a sense of peace, and of protection,” he added. “Kevin will tell you this too—it was us who raised the kids. I just did what I was supposed to do, or felt like I needed to do.”

Britney, who regularly updates Instagram posts, has not responded to the Daily Mail interview. 

In June, the singer married Sam Asghari at their home. Neither of her parents nor her sister attended. The wedding was briefly disrupted by her former husband, Jason Alexander, who trespassed the event while live-streaming.  

Britney’s highly anticipated book is expected to be released next month. Her deal with Simon & Schuster was estimated at $15 million, and there will reportedly be three different versions.