Britney Spears Got All to Agree She Needed to Be Freed
There were no more of the heated arguments or dueling court filings of the past few months, no more tearful testimony or angry accusations.
For one day at least, everyone surrounding Britney Spears agreed. She needed to be freed.
Most important among them was Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny, who at a hearing Friday terminated the conservatorship that controlled the pop singer's life and money for nearly 14 years.
Spears did not attend the 30-minute hearing that was almost anti-climactic after the courtroom drama of recent proceedings, in which Spears demanded first the ouster of her father from power over her, then the removal of the legal shackles on her life.
It felt almost like a formality. The celebration that followed was plenty dramatic, though.
“Best day ever … praise the Lord … can I get an Amen???” Spears said on Twitter and Instagram minutes after the ruling.
Jubilation erupted outside the courthouse, with fans cheering and shouting after the decision was announced. The crowd chanted “Britney! Britney! Britney!” and fans sang and danced to Spears' song “Stronger.”
“Good God I love my fans so much it's crazy!!!” Spears said in her posts. “I think I'm gonna cry the rest of the day!!!!”
The decision capped a stunning odyssey that saw Spears publicly demand the end of the conservatorship, hire her own attorney, have her father removed from power and finally win the freedom to make her own medical, financial and personal decisions for the first time since 2008.
Those surrounding Spears said she is equipped to make those decisions.
“We have a safety net in place for Britney both on the personal side and on the financial side,” her attorney Mathew Rosengart said outside the courthouse. “But Britney, as of today, is a free woman and she's an independent woman. And the rest, with her support system, will be up to Britney.”
Jodi Montgomery, the court-appointed conservator who oversaw the singer's life and medical decisions starting in 2019, developed a care plan with her therapists and doctors to guide Spears into the aftermath.
“There is no reason Ms. Spears can't lead a safe, happy, fulfilling life after this conservatorship,” Montgomery's attorney, Lauriann Wright, said at the hearing.
Penny's decision came with remarkably few caveats.
She gave no orders that Spears should undergo mental evaluations first, something legal experts had assumed would be part of the conservatorship's endgame. The judge said California law did not require her to order further evaluation of Spears if no one requested it.
The judge kept a small part of the conservatorship temporarily in place so that the singer's money can be moved around in the coming months as financial power is transferred back to her.
California law says a conservatorship, called a guardianship in some states, is justified for a “person who is unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter,” or for someone who is “substantially unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence.” The conservator, as the appointee put in charge is called, may be a family member, a close friend or a court-appointed professional.
As recently as last spring, it appeared that Spears' conservatorship could continue for years. Then it unraveled with surprising speed.
Key to the unraveling was a speech Spears made at a hearing in June when she passionately described the restrictions and scrutiny as “abusive” and said “I just want my life back,” a line her lawyer repeated in court Friday.
The consensus on display Friday is unlikely to last.
Rosengart has further vowed to pursue an investigation of James Spears' role in the 13 years he oversaw the conservatorship.He said he and his team have found mismanagement of Britney Spears' finances, suggesting she could pursue further legal action. Court records put her net worth at about $60 million.
He also said law enforcement should investigate revelations in a New York Times documentary about a listening device placed in her bedroom.
James Spears' attorneys said Rosengart's allegations ranged from unsubstantiated to impossible, and that he only ever acted in his daughter's best interest.
The post-conservatorship fight has in some ways already begun. James Spears has parted ways with the attorneys who helped him operate it, and he has hired Alex Weingarten, a lawyer specializing in the kind of litigation that may be coming.
In court filings last week, Britney Spears' former business managers, Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, pushed back against Rosengart's demands for documents about the firm's involvement in the conservatorship from 2008 to 2018. The group also denied any role in or knowledge of any surveillance of the superstar.
Britney Spears was a 26-year-old new mother at the height of her career when her father established the conservatorship, at first on a temporary basis, in February 2008 after a series of public mental health struggles.
It ends a few weeks before her 40th birthday, with her sons in their mid-teens and her career on indefinite hold, as she is engaged to be married a second time.
A turning point came early in 2019, when she canceled a planned concert residency in Las Vegas. Her career has been on hold ever since.
Convinced she was put in a mental hospital against her will, fans began coalescing and demanding that the court #FreeBritney. At first, they were dismissed as conspiracy theorists, but the singer herself gave them validation in 2020 in a series of court filings that said they were correct to demand greater transparency and scrutiny of her legal situation.
Those filings proved to be the first indication from Spears, who had remained silent on the conservatorship for years, that she would seek major changes.
Britney Spears has indicated that she'll focus on family and her newfound freedom for now. She may or may not resume making music.
“Whether Britney performs again will be up to Britney, at the right time,” Rosengart said.
布兰妮斯皮尔斯获得完全的自由权
没有更多过去几个月的激烈争论或决斗法庭文件，不再有泪流满面的证词或愤怒的指责。
至少有一天，布兰妮斯皮尔斯周围的每个人都同意了。她需要被释放。
其中最重要的是洛杉矶高等法院法官 Brenda Penny，他在周五的听证会上终止了控制这位流行歌手近 14 年的生活和金钱的监管。
在最近诉讼的法庭戏剧之后，斯皮尔斯没有参加几乎是反高潮的 30 分钟听证会，其中斯皮尔斯首先要求驱逐她父亲对她的权力，然后解除对她生活的法律桎梏。
这感觉几乎就像一种形式。不过，随后的庆祝活动非常具有戏剧性。
“有史以来最好的一天……赞美主……我能得到一个阿门吗？？？”斯皮尔斯在裁决后几分钟在 Twitter 和 Instagram 上说。
法庭外爆发出欢呼声，在宣布决定后，球迷们欢呼雀跃。人群高呼“布兰妮！布兰妮！布兰妮！”粉丝们随着斯皮尔斯的歌曲《Stronger》载歌载舞。
“天哪，我太爱我的粉丝了，太疯狂了！！！”斯皮尔斯在她的帖子中说。 “我想我要哭一天剩下的时间了！！！！”
这一决定结束了一段惊人的旅程，斯皮尔斯公开要求结束监管，聘请她自己的律师，让她的父亲下台，并最终赢得自 2008 年以来第一次自己做出医疗、财务和个人决定的自由。
斯皮尔斯周围的人说她有能力做出这些决定。
“我们在个人和财务方面为布兰妮建立了安全网，”她的律师马修罗森加特在法院外说。 “但布兰妮，截至今天，是一个自由的女人，她是一个独立的女人。剩下的，凭借她的支持系统，将取决于布兰妮。”
从 2019 年开始，法院任命的保护者乔迪·蒙哥马利 (Jodi Montgomery) 负责监督这位歌手的生活和医疗决定，她与她的治疗师和医生一起制定了一项护理计划，以指导斯皮尔斯进行善后工作。
蒙哥马利的律师劳里安·赖特 (Lauriann Wright) 在听证会上说：“在接受监管之后，斯皮尔斯女士没有理由不能过上安全、快乐、充实的生活。”
佩妮的决定几乎没有任何警告。
她没有下令让斯皮尔斯首先接受心理评估，法律专家认为这将是监管机构最终阶段的一部分。法官说，如果没有人要求，加州法律不要求她下令对斯皮尔斯进行进一步评估。
法官暂时保留了一小部分监管权，以便歌手的钱可以在未来几个月内转移，因为财务权力已移交给她。
加利福尼亚州法律规定，在某些州称为监护权的监护权对于“无法满足其个人对身体健康、食物、衣服或住所的个人需求的人”或对于“基本上是无法管理自己的财务资源或抵制欺诈或不当影响。”接管人，正如被指定负责的人所称，可以是家庭成员、密友或法庭指定的专业人士。
就在去年春天，似乎斯皮尔斯的监管可能会持续数年。然后它以惊人的速度解开。
瓦解的关键是斯皮尔斯在 6 月份的一次听证会上发表的讲话，当时她热情地将限制和审查描述为“滥用”，并说“我只想恢复我的生活”，她的律师周五在法庭上重复了这句话。
周五显示的共识不太可能持续。
罗森加特进一步发誓要对詹姆斯斯皮尔斯在他监督管理的 13 年中的角色进行调查。他说他和他的团队发现布兰妮斯皮尔斯的财务管理不善，暗示她可以采取进一步的法律行动。法庭记录显示她的净资产约为 6000 万美元。
他还表示，执法部门应调查《纽约时报》纪录片中有关在她卧室放置窃听设备的消息。
詹姆斯斯皮尔斯的律师表示，罗森加特的指控从没有根据到不可能，而且他只为女儿的最大利益行事。
在某些方面，接管后的斗争已经开始。詹姆斯斯皮尔斯已经与帮助他运作的律师分道扬镳，他聘请了亚历克斯温加滕，一位专门从事可能即将到来的诉讼的律师。
在上周的法庭文件中，布兰妮斯皮尔斯的前业务经理三星体育和娱乐集团驳回了罗森加特要求提供有关该公司从 2008 年到 2018 年参与监管的文件的要求。该集团还否认在任何超级巨星的监视。
布兰妮·斯皮尔斯 (Britney Spears) 是一位 26 岁的新妈妈，当时她的父亲在经历了一系列公共心理健康问题之后，于 2008 年 2 月建立了监管机构，最初是临时建立的。
它在她 40 岁生日前几周结束，她的儿子们都已经十几岁了，她的事业被无限期搁置，因为她已经订婚了，要第二次结婚了。
转折点出现在 2019 年初，当时她取消了计划在拉斯维加斯举行的音乐会驻留计划。从那以后，她的事业一直处于停滞状态。
确信她违背自己的意愿被送进了精神病院，粉丝们开始联合起来并要求法庭#FreeBritney。起初，他们被认为是阴谋论者，但这位歌手本人在 2020 年的一系列法庭文件中向他们证实了这一点，称他们要求提高透明度并审查她的法律状况是正确的。
事实证明，这些文件是斯皮尔斯的第一个迹象，她多年来一直对监管机构保持沉默，她将寻求重大变革。
布兰妮斯皮尔斯表示，她现在将专注于家庭和她新获得的自由。她可能会也可能不会继续制作音乐。
罗森加特说：“布兰妮是否会再次表演取决于布兰妮，在合适的时间。”
