Britney Spears’s father has fought back against attempts to remove him from the conservatorship that controls her money and affairs, saying there are ‘no grounds whatsoever’ to do so and describing the singer as ‘mentally sick’.
Jamie Spears claimed in a court filing that Britney is struggling so much with her mental health that court-appointed professional Jodi Montgomery, who overseas the popstar’s life decisions, recommended hospitalizing her on emergency psychiatric hold.
In court documents filed in Los Angeles on Friday, Spears said Montgomery had called him, distraught, last month and sought his help with his daughter’s mental health struggles.
He claimed that Montgomery had explained that Britney was not taking her medications properly and refused to see some of her doctors and that she was ‘spiralling out of control’.
But Montgomery and her lawyer said in response that Spears ‘misrepresented and manipulated’ the call to use it to his own advantage’.
The court filings come as Britney’s former bodyguard claimed she is living ‘like an inmate in a golden prison’ as the singer has her phone calls monitored and is not allowed out unsupervised.
Jamie Spears claimed in a court filing that Britney (pictured together in 2015) is struggling so much with her mental health that court-appointed professional Jodi Montgomery, who overseas the popstar’s life decisions, recommended hospitalizing her on emergency psychiatric hold.
The court filings come as Britney’s former bodyguard claimed she is living ‘like an inmate in a golden prison’ as the singer has her phone calls monitored and is not allowed out unsupervised
The filing by Spears was in response to court papers filed a day earlier by Britney’s new attorney Matthew Rosengart, which requested an emergency hearing as soon as possible to suspend him from the conservatorship.
Spears said Rosengart ‘does not (and cannot) specify what the wrongdoing is’ to prompt such a suspension.
Spears ‘has dutifully and faithfully served as the conservator of his daughter’s estate without any blemishes on his record,’ the filing said.
He stepped aside from the part of the conservatorship that controls his daughter’s life decisions in 2019, with Montgomery taking over, though her official status remains temporary.
The allegations made by Britney at hearings in June and July that seem to have spurred Rosengart’s call for her father’s removal, including ‘serious allegations regarding forced medical treatment and therapy, improper medical care, and limitations on personal rights,’ are ‘untested’ and involve issues that have long been Montgomery’s responsibility, not his, said Spears in the court filing.
Lost: Britney’s parents Jamie and Lynne are seen in November 2012. They had divorced in 2002
Spears says the call for his urgent removal is ‘ironic’ considering the call he received from Montgomery on July 9.
‘Ms. Montgomery sounded very distraught and expressed how concerned she was about my daughters’ recent behavior and overall mental health,’ Spears said in a personal declaration included with his court filing.
‘Ms. Montgomery explained that my daughter was not timely or properly taking her medications, was not listening to the recommendations of her medical team, and refused to even see some of her doctors.
‘Ms. Montgomery said she was very worried about the direction my daughter was heading in and directly asked for my help to address these issues.’
Spears said they discussed the possibility of hospitalizing Britney Spears on an emergency psychiatric hold.
Montgomery acknowledged, in a statement through her attorney Lauriann Wright, having concerns about Britney Spears’ behavior and mental health, but said James Spears’ stepping down would only help.
The statement said ‘having her father Jamie Spears continuing to serve as her Conservator instead of a neutral professional fiduciary is having a serious impact on Ms. Spears’ mental health.’
At no time during the phone call did Montgomery suggest Britney Spears qualifies for a psychiatric hold, the statement said.
Spears said they discussed the possibility of hospitalizing Britney Spears on an emergency psychiatric hold
Montgomery reached out to Spears because she was concerned that an investigation of Britney Spears’ allegations, which he was seeking, would be harmful to her.
‘The concern that Ms. Montgomery did raise to Mr. Spears during their telephone call is that forcing Ms. Spears to take the stand to testify or to have her evaluated would move the needle in the wrong direction for her mental health,’ the statement said.
Montgomery was ‘saddened’ that the call ‘is now being misrepresented and manipulated’ by James Spears ‘to gain some sort of tactical advantage in the pending proceedings to remove him.’
The fighting between those involved in the conservatorship has grown increasingly heated, and increasingly public, since Spears’ dramatic testimony at a hearing on June 23, when she told a judge ‘ I just want my life back.’
A hearing to address Rosengart’s petition to remove James Spears is scheduled for Sept. 29, unless the judge grants his request to hold one sooner.
The court filings come as Britney’s former bodyguard claimed she is living ‘like an inmate in a golden prison’ as the singer has her phone calls monitored and is not allowed out unsupervised.
Fernando Flores alleged the 39-year-old pop superstar was forced to ask for permission to spend her money and banned from contacting her close friends.
Flores, 40, who worked for the singer from February to July 2010, told The Sun that as her bodyguard, he had to hide her phone if she texted people ‘she was not allowed to’ under the rules of her conservatorship.
Fernando Flores (left with Britney in 2010) alleged the 39-year-old pop superstar was forced to ask for permission to spend her money and banned from contacting her close friends
Flores claimed that if Britney was not a millionaire and famous, she would be a ‘bag lady living on the streets’
But the former police officer, who quit his job after eight months, controversially believes Britney is better off with her father Jamie Spears as her conservator amid fears she is open to exploitation due to how vulnerable she is.
Flores told the newspaper: ‘I feel very protective of Britney because I remember how vulnerable she was when I was looking after her. Her state of mind meant she was always at risk of being taken advantage of, and I fear that’s happening again.
‘She was a complete mess before the conservatorship was introduced and, for all its faults, it did get her life back under control. I totally get the #FreeBritney movement but what is the alternative, really? If the conservatorship is removed we risk going back to 2008 again.
‘Britney has grown older and hopefully she has matured, but I don’t believe that she can be left to fend for herself. She still has serious issues that aren’t just going to disappear.’
Flores claimed that if Britney was not a millionaire and famous, she would be a ‘bag lady living on the streets’.
The former police officer, who quit his job after eight months, controversially believes Britney is better off with her father Jamie Spears as her conservator amid fears she is open to exploitation due to how vulnerable she is.
He also alleged her cigarette supply was rationed due to her chain smoking, adding that visitors to her mansion in LA would have their bags searched.
‘If someone came to the house, like a hairdresser, we had to check their bags to make sure there was nothing illicit inside,’ he said.
‘If Britney wanted to go to the store to buy nail polish, we would go with her. One time we went to the W hotel in Hollywood to see Madonna and her stylist, and Britney wanted to stay all night.
‘But her dad said, ‘No, you can go out for a couple of hours but then you’ve got to get back.’ Britney threw a temper tantrum like a little girl and said, ‘I’m not doing this.’
Flores added: ‘If Britney wasn’t a multimillionaire she would be a bag lady living on the streets. She spent her days watching random things on TV and she sang and danced all over the house.
‘She would cry whenever she listened to James Brown’s song It’s A Man’s World.’
Flores, speaking about a time he had to hide Britney’s phone after she texted someone she was not allowed to contact, said: ‘She got mad at me because she wasn’t allowed to have her phone. She started trying to punch me until her dad called and yelled at her.
‘She had her thumb in her mouth and was chewing on her nail while he was telling her off.
‘It was like watching a little girl being scolded.’
The former bodyguard also alleged Britney had tricked him into driving her to see her ex-husband Kevin Federline
The former bodyguard also alleged Britney had tricked him into driving her to see her ex-husband Kevin Federline. An argument ensured and Flores had to ‘grab her’.
He said: ‘When we got to the house she jumped out of the car and kicked the door open. She was angry about something.
‘She was yelling at Federline and I had to go and grab her. Jamie spoke to me later and said, ‘This isn’t allowed to happen again’.’
He also claimed Britney’s ex-boyfriend Jason Trawick once asked him to hide his phone because Britney was ‘trying to go through his phone’.
Flores said: ‘One time he came in the pool house and threw his phone at me and said, hide this.
‘She was trying to go through his phone and was a really jealous person, even with me.’
He also claimed Britney’s ex-boyfriend Jason Trawick once asked him to hide his phone because Britney was ‘trying to go through his phone’.
Flores quit his job as Britney’s bodyguard after he claimed she had made sexual advances to him – he later won a payout from her father.
Flores has previously claimed Britney was given a cocktail of powerful drugs once a week when he worked for her in 2010. He alleged she would be given anti-psychotic medications.
‘I’d explain [to Britney] what everything was — three anti-psychotic medications and birth control pills,’ Flores said.
‘She’d go from sane to talking about parallel universes.’
He added: ‘The day before she would get the medication she would talk about what life was like when she was a little girl and how she got into the industry.
‘But she would still freak out. She would go from sane to talking about parallel universes and stuff like that. I will be honest – it was scary. There were times when I would feel nervous.’
While Britney’s fans are fighting for the #FreeBritney movement, Flores claims she will only be safe if her father still has control as she needs to be protected.
‘Britney is someone that is easily manipulated,’ he said. ‘She is a multi-millionaire and bad influences are drawn to that money. I got to know her dad fairly well and I never got the impression that he was this evil person out to steal her money.
‘He always seemed to me to be a caring parent who was concerned about his daughter.
‘The rules that were introduced were put there for her protection and she could do anything she wanted as long as it did not cause her any harm.
‘If Britney overturns the conservatorship I worry that the madness that surrounded her before will return.’
While Britney’s fans are fighting for the #FreeBritney movement, Flores claims she will only be safe if her father still has control as she needs to be protected
Last month, Britney told a court in LA that she wants her father charged with conservatorship abuse, during a hearing in which a judge agreed to her appointing her own lawyer, to bring about an end to the arrangement.
Speaking on the phone, an emotional Britney said: ‘I would like to charge my father with conservatorship abuse. I want to press charges against my father today. I want an investigation into my dad.’
She described once again the torment of her conservatorship, in a repeat of her explosive June 23 testimony.
Britney claimed her father and others involved in the conservatorship had threatened her, and added: ‘There should be no threats to me at all, ever. I have serious abandonment issues.’
She said that her car keys, hair vitamins and coffee had been taken from her.
She tearfully told Judge Brenda Penny, according to Sky News: ‘Ma’am, that’s not abuse, that’s just f****** cruelty. Excuse my language but it’s the truth.’
Britney then told the court: ‘I thought they were trying to kill me. If this is not abuse, I don’t know what is.’
Breaking down, Britney then requested a short break to compose herself. She called for her father be removed from the complex legal arrangement and be charged with ‘conservatorship abuse’.
She wants the conservatorship terminated without the need for a medical assessment, but said her priority was ousting her father from his role while allowing co-conservator Jodi Montgomery to remain in the meantime.
Britney said: ‘My dad needs to be removed today and I will be happy with Jodi helping me’.
During her testimony, the judge asked Britney to slow down so the court reporter could take it all down: ‘I’m here to press charges. I’m angry and I will go there.’
Before she spoke, supporters of the #FreeBritney movement gathered outside Los Angeles Supreme Court for the hearing, where the star’s hand-picked attorney Mathew Rosengart was appointed to take over her case.
Judge Penny approved his request, meaning that for the first time since the conservatorship was brought in in 2008, Spears has a lawyer of her own choosing representing her.
On June 23, Spears told the court: ‘I haven’t really had the opportunity by my own self to actually handpick my own lawyer by myself. And I would like to be able to do that.’
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