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      Company Set to Manage Britney Spears’s Estate Asks to Withdraw

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      Bessemer Trust, a professional wealth management firm, said in its filing that it had not known of Ms. Spears’s objection to the conservatorship that governs her life.The wealth management firm that was set to take over as the co-conservator of Britney Spears’s estate, alongside her father, has requested to resign from the arrangement, according to a document filed in court on Thursday, throwing her conservatorship into greater turmoil.Bessemer Trust, a professional wealth management firm that manages more than $100 billion in assets, said in a court filing that it wanted to resign “due to changed circumstances,” citing Ms. Spears’s recent public criticisms of the conservatorship.The firm said in its filing that it had been told that Ms. Spears’s conservatorship was voluntary and that she had consented to the company acting as co-conservator. But in a court hearing on June 23, Ms. Spears excoriated the conservatorship and demanded that it end.“As a result of the conservatee’s testimony at the June 23 hearing, however, Petitioner has become aware that the Conservatee objects to the continuance of her Conservatorship and desires to terminate the conservatorship,” the firm said in the court filing. “Petitioner has heard the Conservatee and respects her wishes.”If the judge approves Bessemer’s request to resign, it is unclear if Ms. Spears’s father will serve as the sole conservator of the singer’s nearly $60 million estate.For 13 years, Ms. Spears has lived under a system that restricts her control over her life and finances. She called the conservatorship “abusive” last week at the hearing, and pleaded with the court to let her out of the arrangement without a medical evaluation.Her court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, has not yet filed a formal request to terminate the conservatorship with the court.Ms. Spears’s father and others involved in the conservatorship have defended the arrangement and said that it rescued her from a low point, and that she could move to end it whenever she wanted. But confidential court records obtained by The New York Times showed how Ms. Spears, 39, has objected to the conservatorship for years.In a quirk of the conservatorship system, Ms. Spears has to pay for lawyers on both sides, including those arguing against her wishes in court.Last fall, Mr. Ingham had requested that the singer’s father, James P. Spears, be suspended as conservator of the estate immediately, claiming Ms. Spears was “afraid of her father,” but the judge declined that request.Bessemer Trust was approved by the court at that time to be added as co-conservator of the estate. But the firm said in its court filing on Thursday that it was still “not currently authorized to act” and had not taken any action as co-conservator or received any of the assets of Ms. Spears’s estate, nor had it taken any fees.Mr. Spears was appointed co-conservator of Ms. Spears’s estate in early 2008, alongside a lawyer, Andrew Wallet. Mr. Wallet, who in a 2018 court filing described the conservatorship as a “hybrid business model,” resigned in 2019.The high-profile court battle over Ms. Spears’s case has put heightened public attention on the conservatorship, or guardianship, system. On Thursday, Time reported that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey were calling for greater federal scrutiny of the system. More

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      Britney Spears’s Father Calls for Inquiry Into Singer’s Control Claims

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      A week after the singer’s impassioned courtroom speech, the man who has long overseen her conservatorship called for an investigation into her claims that she had been abused under it.James P. Spears, the father of Britney Spears and the man who has long had a leading role in overseeing his daughter’s affairs, on Tuesday called for an investigation into the singer’s claims last week that she had been abused under her conservatorship, including being made to perform and take medication against her will.The court filings on behalf of Mr. Spears followed the singer’s first detailed public statement in 13 years about the complex legal arrangement that oversees her personal care and finances, in which she called for an end to the conservatorship without having to undergo a mental evaluation.In her remarks at the hearing on June 23, which were broadcast in the courtroom and streamed online, Ms. Spears placed the blame for how she said she had been treated on her management team, caretakers and family, mentioning her father specifically.Now, lawyers for Mr. Spears have requested an evidentiary hearing and called into question the actions of both Ms. Spears’s current personal conservator and court-appointed lawyer, writing that “it is critical that the Court confirm whether or not Ms. Spears’s testimony was accurate in order to determine what corrective actions, if any, need to be taken.”The filings, made late Tuesday in Los Angeles and obtained by The New York Times, continued: “It is also imperative for the proper functioning of conservatorship proceedings before this Court that all parties be provided a full and fair opportunity to respond to allegations and claims asserted against them.”James P. Spears, known as Jamie, currently oversees his daughter’s finances. He temporarily stepped down as a conservator of her person in 2019.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe two-pronged conservatorship managing Ms. Spears’s personal life and estate was first approved by a Los Angeles probate court in 2008, when Ms. Spears’s father filed to gain control of the singer’s business and well-being amid concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse. The arrangement is typically reserved for people who cannot care for themselves, though Ms. Spears went on to work and perform widely in the years that followed.Mr. Spears currently oversees the singer’s finances, alongside a corporate fiduciary that Ms. Spears requested join the arrangement last year. Her personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, took over on an ongoing temporary basis from her father in September 2019, after Mr. Spears stepped down, citing health problems.But Ms. Spears’s recent statement, along with confidential court records obtained by The New York Times, revealed that in private, Ms. Spears had consistently pushed to end the conservatorship, calling it “too, too much,” according to a court investigator’s report in 2016, and adding that she was “sick of being taken advantage of.”In court last week, Ms. Spears called the setup abusive, comparing it to sex trafficking and describing being forced to tour, undergo psychiatric evaluations and take medication in 2019, before her father relinquished his role as her personal conservator.She also said she could not remove her birth control device despite wanting to get married and have more children. Ms. Spears singled out her father as “the one who approved all of it.”In a second filing on Tuesday, lawyers for Mr. Spears denied the characterization that he was in command, arguing that Ms. Montgomery had been “fully in charge of Ms. Spears’s day-to-day personal care and medical treatment” since September 2019, despite some of Ms. Spears’s claims predating Ms. Montgomery’s appointment.“Mr. Spears is simply not involved in any decisions related to Ms. Spears’s personal care or medical or reproductive issues,” his lawyers wrote. “Mr. Spears is unable to hear and address his daughter’s concerns directly because he has been cut off from communicating with her.”They added that Mr. Spears had no intention of returning as his daughter’s personal conservator, but said he was “concerned about the management and care of his daughter.”Lauriann Wright, a lawyer for Ms. Montgomery, said in a statement on Wednesday that as personal conservator, Ms. Montgomery had “been a tireless advocate for Britney and for her well-being,” with “one primary goal — to assist and encourage Britney in her path to no longer needing a conservatorship of the person.”Ms. Wright pointed to Ms. Montgomery’s role as a “a neutral decision-maker when there are complex family dynamics” and said Ms. Spears’s “choice to marry and to start a family have never been impacted by the conservatorship while Ms. Montgomery has been conservator of the person.”She added that Ms. Montgomery looked forward to “setting forth a path for termination of the conservatorship.”Lawyers for Mr. Spears also raised concerns about the role of Ms. Spears’s court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, who was assigned to the case in 2008, when the singer was deemed incapable of choosing her own representation.In the documents, Mr. Spears’s lawyers questioned whether an earlier move to make Ms. Montgomery’s role permanent reflected the singer’s wishes, or if she was aware of it at all, noting that “Ms. Spears neither signed nor verified” the petition to appoint her personal conservator, which was instead signed by Mr. Ingham.They cited Mr. Ingham’s previous claim that Ms. Spears had been found in 2014 to lack the capacity to consent to medical treatment, and noted, “there was no such finding, and there is no such order.” This, too, requires investigation at a subsequent hearing, the lawyers wrote.In calling for an investigation, Mr. Spears’s lawyers said: “Either the allegations will be shown to be true, in which case corrective action must be taken, or they will be shown to be false, in which case the conservatorship can continue its course. It is not acceptable for Conservators or the Court to do nothing in response to Ms. Spears’ testimony.”Earlier, Ms. Spears had expressed concerns about her father’s level of control over her, according to the investigator’s report from 2016. She cited her inability to make friends or date without her father’s approval; the limits of her $2,000 per week allowance, despite her success as a performer; and the fear and “very harsh” consequences that she said came with any infractions under the conservatorship, according to the investigator’s account.At the time, the probate investigator in the case concluded that the conservatorship remained in Ms. Spears’s best interests based on her complex finances, susceptibility to outside influence and “intermittent” drug issues, according to the report. But it also called for “a pathway to independence and the eventual termination of the conservatorship.”Ms. Spears said in court last week that she had been unaware that she could file to end the conservatorship. “I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that,” she said. More

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      Bill Cosby’s Conviction Is Overturned: Read the Court’s Opinion

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      unconditional promise of non-prosecution, and when the defendant relies upon that

      guarantee to the detriment of his constitutional right not to testify, the principle of

      fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system

      demands that the promise be enforced.

      explained in Commonwealth v. Clancy, 192 A.3d 44 (Pa. 2018), prosecutors inhabit three

      distinct and equally critical roles: they are officers of the court, advocates for victims, and

      administrators of justice. Id. at 52. As the Commonwealth’s representatives, prosecutors

      are duty-bound to pursue “equal and impartial justice,” Appeal of Nicely, 18 A. 737, 738

      (Pa. 1889), and “to serve the public interest.” Clancy, 192 A.3d 52. Their obligation is

      “not merely to convict,” but rather to “seek justice within the bounds of the law.”

      Commonwealth v. Starks, 387 A.2d 829, 831 (Pa. 1978).

      For the reasons detailed below, we hold that, when a prosecutor makes an

      Prosecutors are more than mere participants in our criminal justice system. As we

      As an “administrator of justice,” the prosecutor has the power to decide whether to initiate formal criminal proceedings, to select those criminal charges which will be filed against the accused, to negotiate plea bargains, to withdraw charges where appropriate, and, ultimately, to prosecute or dismiss charges at trial. See, e.g., 16 P.S. § 1402(a) (“The district attorney shall sign all bills of indictment and conduct in court all criminal and other prosecutions . . . .”); Pa.R.Crim.P. 507 (establishing the prosecutor’s power to require that police officers seek approval from the district attorney prior to filing criminal complaints); Pa.R.Crim.P. 585 (power to move for nolle prosequi); see also ABA Standards §§ 3-4.2, 3-4.4. The extent of the powers enjoyed by the prosecutor was discussed most eloquently by United States Attorney General (and later Supreme Court Justice) Robert H. Jackson. In his historic address to the nation’s United States Attorneys, gathered in 1940 at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Jackson observed that “[t]he prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous.” Robert H. Jackson, The Federal Prosecutor, 31 AM. INST. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 3, 3 (1940). In fact, the prosecutor is afforded such great deference that this Court and the Supreme Court of the United States seldom interfere with a prosecutor’s charging decision. See, e.g., United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 693 (1974) (noting that “the Executive Branch has exclusive authority and absolute discretion to decide whether

      [J-100-2020] – 52 More

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      Britney Spears Conservatorship Testimony, Annotated

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      In a 23-minute speech, the singer said she desperately wants to end her conservatorship, calling it an abusive system in which she was drugged and forced to work against her will.In February 2008, a California judge placed Britney Spears in a conservatorship, a legal arrangement that granted oversight of her personal life and finances to her once-estranged father, James P. Spears, amid concerns around her mental health and potential substance abuse. In court on Wednesday, Ms. Spears addressed the judge and the public in an emotional 23-minute statement detailing what she described as mistreatment under the conservatorship, and emphatically asked for it to end.Here is a transcript of her full speech, with annotations.They’ve done a good job at exploiting my life and the way that they’ve done my life, so I feel like it should be an open court hearing and they should listen and hear what I have to say.Ms. Spears had previously stayed largely silent on the conservatorship in public. But from the start of her statement on Wednesday, it was clear that she was ready to change the narrative about her life under its control.OK, well, I just got a new phone, so bear with me. OK, so I have this written down, I have a lot to say, so bear with me. Basically, a lot has happened since two years ago, the last time — I wrote all this down — the last time I was in court. I will be honest with you, I haven’t been back to court in a long time because I don’t think I was heard on any level when I came to court the last time. I brought four sheets of paper in my hands and wrote in length what I had been through the last four months before I came there. The people who did that to me should not be able to walk away so easily. I’ll recap: I was on tour in 2018 I was forced to do. My management said if I don’t do this tour, I’ll have to —JUDGE BRENDA PENNY: Ms. Spears, Ms. Spears? I hate to interrupt you, but my court reporter is taking down what you’re saying, and so you have to speak a little more slowly —The last time Ms. Spears addressed the court was at a closed-door hearing in 2019. She told the court that she had felt forced by the conservatorship into a stay at a mental health facility and to perform against her will.Oh, of course, yes. OK, I apologize, great. The people who did this to me should not get away and to be able to walk away so easily. To recap: I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do. My management said if I don’t do this tour, I will have to find an attorney, and, by contract, my own management could sue me if I didn’t follow through with the tour. He handed me a sheet of paper as I got off the stage in Vegas and said I had to sign it. It was very threatening and scary and, with the conservatorship, I couldn’t even get my own attorney. So, out of fear, I went ahead and I did the tour.When I came off that tour, a new show in Las Vegas was supposed to take place. I started rehearsing early, but it was hard because I’d been doing Vegas for four years and I needed a break in between. But no, I was told, “This is the timeline, and this is how it’s going to go.” I rehearsed four days a week, half of the time in the studio and half of the other time in a Westlake studio. I was basically directing most of the show — with my whereabouts, where I preferred to rehearse — and actually did most of the choreography, meaning I taught my dancers my new choreography myself. I take everything I do very seriously; there’s tons of video with me at rehearsals. I wasn’t good; I was great. I led a room of 16 new dancers in rehearsals.Fans gathered outside of a Los Angeles courthouse to support the pop star.Etienne Laurent/EPA, via ShutterstockThe new Las Vegas show was supposed to begin in February 2019. But a month before the opening, Ms. Spears canceled, and announced an “indefinite work hiatus.” Her statement at the time said that her father, known as Jamie, had “almost died” after suffering a ruptured colon.It’s funny to hear my managers’ side of the story. They all said I wasn’t participating in rehearsals and I never agreed to take my medication, which, my medication is only taken in the mornings, never at rehearsal. They don’t even see me, so why are they even claiming that? When I said no to one dance move into rehearsals, it was as if I planted a huge bomb somewhere. And I said no, I don’t want to do it this way.After that, my management and my dancers and my assistant of the new people that were supposed to do the new show all went into a room, shut the door and didn’t come out for at least 45 minutes. Ma’am, I’m not here to be anyone’s slave. I can say no to a dance move. I was told by my at-the-time therapist — Dr. Benson, who died — that my manager called him in that moment and told him that I wasn’t cooperating or following the guidelines in rehearsals. And he also said I wasn’t taking my medication, which is so dumb because I’ve had the same lady every morning for the past eight years give me my same medication, and I’m nowhere near these stupid people. It made no sense at all.There was a week period where they were nice to me and I told them, I don’t want to do the — no wait — they were nice to me, they said if I don’t want to do the new Vegas show, I don’t have to because I was getting really nervous. I said I can wait — it was like they told me I could wait. It was like lifting literally 200 pounds off of me when they said I don’t have to do the show anymore, because it was really, really hard on myself and it was too much. I couldn’t take it anymore.In January 2019, Ms. Spears tweeted that pulling out of the residency “breaks my heart” but that “it’s important to always put your family first.” In court, she revealed that trouble arose behind the scenes when she had a disagreement over a dance move, and believes she was punished as a result of speaking up.So I remember telling my assistant, but “you know what, I feel weird if I say no, I feel like they’re going to come back and be mean to me or punish me or something.” Three days later, after I said no to Vegas, my therapist sat me down in a room and said that he had a million phone calls about how I was not cooperating in rehearsals, and I haven’t been taking my medication. All this was false.He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium, out of nowhere. He took me off my normal meds I’ve been on for five years, and lithium is a very, very strong and completely different medication compared to what I was used to. You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months. But he put me on that, and I felt drunk. I really couldn’t even take up for myself. I couldn’t even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything. I told them I was scared and my doctor had me on — six different nurses with this new medication come to my home, stay with me to monitor me on this new medication, which I never wanted to be on to begin with. There were six different nurses in my home and they wouldn’t let me get in my car to go anywhere for a month.Not only did my family not do a goddamn thing, my dad was all for it. Anything that happened to me had to be approved by my dad, and my dad only. He acted like he didn’t know, but I was told I had to be tested over the Christmas holidays before they sent me away when my kids went home to Louisiana. He was the one who approved all of it. My whole family did nothing.Ms. Spears asserted that the disagreement in rehearsals led to her being medicated against her will. The public has long speculated about the singer’s mental health, but a diagnosis that led to the conservatorship has not been disclosed. Lithium is a mood stabilizer that is used to treat mood cycling, which is a symptom of bipolar disorder. Ms. Spears made clear that lithium was not her regularly prescribed medication.Over the two-week holiday, a lady came into my home for four hours a day, sat me down and did a psych test on me. It took forever. But I was told I had to. Then, after I got a phone call from my dad saying, after I did the psych test with this lady, basically saying I’d failed the test or whatever. “I’m sorry, Britney, you have to listen to your doctors. They’re planning to send you to a small home in Beverly Hills to do a small rehab program that we’re going to make up for you. You’re going to pay $60,000 a month for this.”I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it. The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control, to hurt his own daughter, one hundred, thousand percent. He loved it. I packed my bags and went to that place. I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking, making anyone work, work against their will, taking all their possessions away — credit card, cash, phone, passport card — and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them. They all lived in the house with me — the nurses, the 24-7 security. There was one chef that came there and cooked for me daily, during the weekdays. They watched me change every day — naked — morning, noon, and night. My body — I had no privacy door for my room, I gave eight gals of blood a week.If I didn’t do any of my meetings and work from eight to six at night, which is 10 hours a day, seven days a week, no days off, I wouldn’t be able to see my kids or my boyfriend. I never had a say in my schedule; they always told me I had to do this. And ma’am, I will tell you, sitting in a chair 10 hours a day, seven days a week, it ain’t fun. And especially when you can’t walk out the front door.And that’s why I’m telling you this again two years later. After I’ve lied and told the whole world “I’m OK, and I’m happy.” It’s a lie. I thought I just maybe I said that enough maybe I might become happy. Because I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. You know, fake it till you make it. But now I’m telling you the truth, OK? I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane, and I’m depressed. I cry every day.Ms. Spears’s speech was the first time that the world had heard the singer address in detail her struggles with the conservatorship granted to her father, James P. Spears, in 2008.Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFor years, Ms. Spears’s Instagram account has been her primary means of sharing her life with the public. It portrays her as joyful and carefree via videos of her dancing in her home, spending time with her boyfriend and posing at the beach. In court, she revealed the turmoil behind the veneer.And the reason I’m telling you this is because I don’t think how the state of California can have all this written in the court documents from the time I showed up and do absolutely nothing — just hire, with my money, another person, and keep my dad on board. Ma’am, my dad, and anyone involved in this conservatorship and my management, who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no — ma’am, they should be in jail. Their cruel tactics working for Miley Cyrus — she smokes on joints onstage at the VMAs — nothing is ever done to this generation for doing wrong things.But my precious body, who was worked for my dad for the past [expletive] 13 years, trying to be so good and pretty, so perfect when he works me so hard, when I do everything I’m told and the state of California allowed — my ignorant father — to take his own daughter, who only has a role with me, if I work with him, they set back the whole course and allowed him to do that to me? That’s giving these people I’ve worked for way too much control. They also threatened me and said if I don’t go, then I have to go to court and it will be more embarrassing me if the judge publicly makes go the evidence we’ve had, you have to go.I was advised for my image, I need to go ahead and just go and get it over with. They said that to me. I don’t even drink alcohol — I should drink alcohol considering what they put my heart through. Also the Bridges facility they sent me to — none of the kids — I was doing this program for four months, so the last two months I went to a Bridges facility — none of the kids there did the program. They never showed up for any of them. You didn’t have to do anything if you didn’t want to. How come they always made me go? How come I was always threatened by my dad and anybody that participated in this conservatorship — if I don’t do this, what they tell me to enslave me to do, they’re going to punish me.Ms. Spears sought to draw a contrast between the way other young pop stars are viewed after acting out in public and her own life under the conservatorship. Several times, she said her conservators should be punished or sued for the ways they exerted control over her.The last time I spoke to you by just keeping the conservatorship going and also keeping my dad in the loop made me feel like I was dead. Like I didn’t matter, like nothing had been done to me, like you thought I was lying or something. I’m telling you again because I’m not lying. I want to feel heard, and I’m telling you this again so maybe you can understand the depth and the degree and the damage that they did to me back then.I want changes, and I want changes going forward. I deserve changes. I was told I have to sit down and be evaluated, again, if I want to end the conservatorship. Ma’am, I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship to be ended. I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that. But honestly, I don’t think I owe anyone to be evaluated. I’ve done more than enough. I don’t feel like I should even be in a room with anyone to offend me by trying to question my capacity of intelligence, whether I need to be in this stupid conservatorship or not. I’ve done more than enough.Vivian Lee Thoreen, a lawyer for Mr. Spears, said in a statement earlier this year that if Ms. Spears wants to end her conservatorship, she should simply petition to do so: “She has always had this right but in 13 years has never exercised it.” In court, Ms. Spears said she never knew that was an option.I don’t owe these people anything. Especially me, the one that has roofed and fed tons of people on tour, on the road. It’s embarrassing and demoralizing what I’ve been through, and that’s the main reason I’ve never said it openly. And mainly, I didn’t want to say it openly, because I honestly don’t think anyone would believe me. To be honest with you, the Paris Hilton story on what they did to her, to that school? I didn’t believe any of it — I’m sorry, I’m an outsider and I’ll just be honest, I didn’t believe it.And maybe I’m wrong and that’s why I didn’t want to say any of this to anybody, to the public, because I thought people would make fun of me or laugh at me and say, “She’s lying, she’s got everything; she’s Britney Spears.” I’m not lying. I just want my life back and it’s been 13 years and it’s enough.It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money, and it’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end, without being tested. Again, it makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me, with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people, and pay so many people, trucks and buses on tour, on the road with me, and be told I’m not good enough. But I’m great at what I do. And I allow these people to control what I do, ma’am, and it’s enough. It makes no sense at all.Mr. Spears manages his daughter’s $60 million fortune alongside a corporate fiduciary, Bessemer Trust. Even as the singer has raised concerns about her father remaining her conservator, she has paid for his legal representation, including media strategy for defending her conservatorship.Now, going forward, I’m not willing to meet or see anyone — I’ve met with enough people against my will. I’m done. All I want is to own my money, for this to end, and my boyfriend to drive me in his [expletive] car.And I would honestly like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you. I also would like to be able to share my story with the world, and what they did to me, instead of it being a hush-hush secret to benefit all of them. I want to be able to be heard on what they did to me by making me keep this in for so long is not good for my heart. I’ve been so angry and I cry every day. It concerns me I’m told I’m not allowed to expose the people who did this to me.For my sanity, I need you, judge, to approve me to do an interview where I can be heard on what they did to me. And actually, I have the right to use my voice and take up for myself. My attorney says I can’t, it’s not good, I can’t let the public know anything they did to me, and by not saying anything, is saying it’s OK. I don’t know what I said here. It’s not OK — actually, I don’t want to interview. I’d much rather just have an open call to you for the press to hear, which I didn’t know today we were doing, so thank you. Instead of having an interview, honestly, I need that to get it off my heart, the anger and all of it.In 2020, Ms. Spears’s court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, filed court papers saying that the singer “is vehemently opposed to this effort by her father to keep her legal struggle hidden away in the closet as a family secret.” In court on Wednesday, Ms. Spears said she didn’t want to grant an interview, but she wanted the world to hear her story.It’s not fair they’re telling me lies about me openly. Even my family, they do interviews to anyone they want on news stations. My own family doing interviews, and talking about the situation and making me feel so stupid, and I can’t say one thing. And my own people say I can’t say anything.It’s been two years. I want a recorded call to you — actually, we’re doing this now, which I didn’t know that were doing this, and to the public knows what they did to me. I told my — I know my lawyer, Sam [Ingham], has been very scared for me to go forward because he’s saying if I speak up, I’m being overworked in that facility, of that rehab place, the rehab place will sue me. He told me I should keep it to myself, really. I would personally like to — actually, I know I’ve had, grown with a personal relationship with Sam, my lawyer. I’ve been talking to him, like, three times a week now, we’ve kind of built a relationship, but 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.At the time the conservatorship was imposed, a judge deemed Ms. Spears incapable of hiring her own counsel and appointed Mr. Ingham. After Ms. Spears’s speech, Mr. Ingham told the judge that he would be willing to step aside if that was the court’s decision.I would like to also — the main reason why I’m here is because I want to end the conservatorship without having to be evaluated. I’ve done a lot of research, ma’am, and there is a lot of judges who do end conservatorships for people without them having to be evaluated all the time. The only times they don’t is if a concerned family member says, “Something’s wrong with this person,” and consider otherwise.And considering my family has lived off my conservatorship for 13 years, I won’t be surprised if one of them has something to say, go forward, and say, “We don’t think this should end, we have to help her.” Especially if I get my fair turn in exposing what they did to me.Also I want to speak to you about, at the moment, my obligations, which, I personally don’t think at the very moment I owe anybody anything. I have three meetings a week I have to attend no matter what. I just don’t like feeling like I work for the people whom I pay. I don’t like being told I have to, no matter what, even if I’m sick, Jodi [Montgomery] the conservator says I have to see my coach Ken even when I’m sick. I would like to do one meeting a week with a therapist. I’ve never before, even before they sent me to that place, had two therapy sessions, a therapy session, and one therapy session with — I have a doctor and then a therapy person. What I’ve been forced to do illegal in my life. I shouldn’t be told I have to be available three times a week to these people I don’t know.I’m talking to you today because I feel again, yes, even Jodi is starting to kind of take it too far with me. They have me going to therapy twice a week and a psychiatrist. I’ve never in the past had — wait, they have me going, yeah, twice a week, and Dr. [unclear] — so that’s three times a week. I’ve never in the past had to see a therapist more than once a week. It takes too much out of me going to this man I don’t know, number one.The Jodi Ms. Spears referenced is Jodi Montgomery, a licensed professional conservator who stepped into the role of managing the singer’s personal life after her father stepped back from the role in 2019. Last year, Mr. Ingham said that Ms. Spears preferred to keep Ms. Montgomery as her personal conservator, saying that she was “strongly opposed” to her father returning to that role.I’m scared of people, I don’t trust people with what I’ve been through. And the clever setup of being in Westlake, one of the most exposed places in Westlake, which today, yesterday, paparazzi showed me coming out of a place literally crying in therapy. It’s embarrassing and it’s demoralizing. I deserve privacy when I go. I deserve privacy when I go and have therapy either at my home, like I’ve done for eight years. They’ve always come to my home. Or when Dr. Benson — the guy, the man that died — I went to a place similar to what I went to in Westlake, which was very exposed and really bad. OK, so wait, where was I? It was identical to Dr. Benson, who died, the one who illegally, yes, 100 percent abused me by the treatment he gave me, too. And I’ll be totally honest with you I was —JUDGE BRENDA PENNY: Ms. Spears, excuse me for interrupting you, but my reporter says if you could just slow down a little bit, because she’s trying to make sure she gets everything that you’re saying.OK, cool. And to be totally honest with you, when he passed away, I got on my knees and thanked God. In other words, my team is pushing it with me again. I have trapped phobias being in small rooms because of the trauma. Locking me up for four months in that place. It’s not OK for them to send me — sorry, I’m going fast — to that small room like that twice a week with another new therapist I pay that I never even approved. I don’t like it. I don’t want to do that. And I haven’t done anything wrong to deserve this treatment.Ms. Spears spoke of Dr. Timothy Benson, a psychiatrist who died in 2019 at age 47. His death came amid increasing scrutiny over the arrangement of Ms. Spears’s conservatorship.It’s not OK to force me to do anything I don’t want to do. By law, Jodi and this so-called team should — honestly, I should be able to sue them for threatening me and saying if I don’t go and do these meetings twice a week, we can’t let you have your money and go to Maui on your vacations. You have to do what you’re told for this program and then you will be able to go. But it was very clever — they picked one of the most exposed places in Westlake, knowing I have the hot topic of the conservatorship that over five paparazzis are going to show up and get me crying coming out of that place. I begged them to make sure that they did this at my home so I would have privacy. I deserve privacy.The whole conservatorship from the beginning was — the conservatorship from the beginning, once you see someone, whoever it is, in the conservatorship, making money, making them money and myself money and working — that whole statement right there, the conservatorship should end. There should be no — I shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work and provide money and work for myself and pay other people. It makes no sense. The laws need to change. What state allows people to own another person’s money and account and threaten them in saying, “You can’t spend your money unless we do what we want you to do.” And I’m paying them.“I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized,” Ms. Spears said.Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMore than a decade after the paparazzi’s constant presence contributed to Ms. Spears’s public struggles, the singer made clear they are still an unwanted presence in her life. In February, after the release of “Framing Britney Spears,” a documentary by The New York Times, the public reassessed the media’s treatment of Ms. Spears when she was at her lowest point.Ma’am, I’ve worked since I was 17 years old, you have to understand how thin that is for me — every morning, I get up to know I can’t go on somewhere unless I meet people I don’t know every week in an office identical to the one where the therapist was very abusive to me. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. And we can sit here all day and say, oh, conservatorships are here to help people. But ma’am, there is 1,000 conservatorships that are abusive as well.I don’t feel like I can live a full life, I don’t owe them to go see a man I don’t know and share him my problems. I don’t even believe in therapy; I always think you take it to God. I want to end the conservatorship without being evaluated. In the meantime, I want this therapist once a week, he can either come to my home — no, I just want him to come to my home, I’m not willing to go to Westlake and be embarrassed by all these paparazzi, these scummy paparazzi laughing at my face while I’m crying coming out and taking my pictures as all these white, nice dinners where people drinking wine at restaurants, watching these places. They set me up by sending me to the most exposed places, and I told them I didn’t want to go there because I knew paparazzi would show up there.They only gave me two options for therapists. And I’m not sure how you make your decisions, ma’am, but this is the only chance for me to talk to you for a while. I need your help, so if you can just kind of let me know where your head is. I don’t really honestly know what to say but my requests are just to end the conservatorship without being evaluated. I want to petition basically to end the conservatorship, but I want to, I want it to be, petition to end it, but I don’t want to be evaluated and be sat in a room with people four hours a day like they did me before. And they made it even worse for me after that happened.Based off her own experience with a conservatorship, which she views as unfair, Ms. Spears asserted that the larger issue of guardianship requires further inquiry. Conservatorships are typically reserved for those who are old, ill or infirm — people who are deemed unable to take care of themselves or susceptible to outside influence or manipulation. Ms. Spears isn’t the only one who is questioning the system: California state legislators have introduced bills that would seek to firm up the legal rights of people under conservatorships; the legislation is still being considered.I just — I’m honestly new at this. And I’m doing research on all these things. I do know common sense and the method that things can end — for people, it has ended without them being evaluated. So I just want you to take that in consideration. I’ve also done research, wait — it also took a year, during Covid, to get me any self-care methods, during Covid. She said there were no services available. She’s lying, ma’am. My mom went to the spa twice in Louisiana during Covid. For a year, I didn’t have my nails done — no hairstyling and no massages, no acupuncture. Nothing for a year. I saw the maids in my home each week with their nails done different each time. She made me feel like my dad does, very similar, her behavior and my dad, but just a different dynamic.Team wants me to work and stay home instead of having longer vacations. They are used to me sort of doing a weekly routine for them, and I’m over it. I don’t feel like I owe them anything at this point. They need to be reminded they actually work for me. They tricked me by sending me to the — OK, I repeated myself there.Also, I was supposed to be able to — I have a friend that I used to do AA meetings with. I did AA for two years. I did three meetings a week. I’ve met a bunch of women there. And I’m not able to see my friends that live eight minutes away from me, which I find extremely strange.I feel like they’re making me feel like I live in a rehab program. This is my home. I’d like for my boyfriend to be able to drive me in his car. And I want to meet with a therapist once a week, not twice a week, and I want him to come to my home. Because I actually know I do need a little therapy.Throughout her speech, Ms. Spears described her desire to exercise control over her daily life. She said she wants to see her friends, get her nails and hair done, receive therapy at her home and ride in her boyfriend’s car. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that Ms. Spears was forbidden by her father from making cosmetic changes to her home, like restaining her kitchen cabinets.I would like to progressively move forward, and I want to have the real deal. I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby. I have a ID [IUD] inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the ID [IUD] out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children, any more children. So basically, this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good.One of Ms. Spears’s most shocking revelations came at the end of her speech, when she said that those managing her conservatorship wouldn’t allow her to have her birth control device removed so that she could try to have more children. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and chief executive of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called it “reproductive coercion.”I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two- to three-year break and just, you know, do what I want to do. But I do feel like there is a crutch here. And I feel open and I’m OK to talk to you today about it. But I wish I could stay with you on the phone forever, because when I get off the phone with you, all of a sudden I hear all these no’s — no, no, no. And then all of a sudden I get I feel ganged up on and I feel bullied and I feel left out and alone. And I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so.And that’s all I wanted to say to you. And thank you so much for letting me speak to you today.After Ms. Spears spoke, there was a brief recess, then Ms. Thoreen read a brief statement on behalf of Mr. Spears: “He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain. Mr. Spears loves his daughter, and he misses her very much.”Watch ‘Framing Britney Spears’Our documentary about Britney Spears and her court battle with her father over control of her fortune is free on our site for New York Times subscribers in the United States. Watch it now.Watch The New York Times documentary about Britney Spears and her court battle with her father over control of her career and her fortune. The full video is streaming on Hulu and free on our site for Times subscribers in the United States.Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times More

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      Britney Spears Speaks Out in Court, Asks to End Conservatorship

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      In a rare public appearance in court, the singer gave an impassioned speech about her treatment under the conservatorship that controls her life, telling the judge she would like it to end.Britney Spears told a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday that she has been drugged, compelled to work against her will and prevented from removing her birth control device over the past 13 years as she pleaded with the court to end her father’s legal control of her life.“I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized,” Ms. Spears, 39, said in an emotional 23-minute address by phone that was broadcast in the courtroom and, as she insisted, to the public. “I just want my life back.”It was the first time that the world had heard Ms. Spears address in detail her struggles with the conservatorship granted to her father, James P. Spears, in 2008, when concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse led him to petition the court for legal authority over his adult daughter.Ms. Spears called for the arrangement to end without her “having to be evaluated.” “I shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work. The laws need to change,” she added. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”The struggle between one of the world’s biggest pop stars and her father has become a long-running saga that has spawned a “Free Britney” movement around the world among her fans and fellow celebrities.Outside the courtroom, Ms. Spears’s voice silenced a crowd of roughly 120 supporters who had rallied on her behalf but paused to listen to her words on their phones.The striking development came after Ms. Spears’s court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, asked at her request in April that she be allowed — on an expedited basis — to address the judge directly. Confidential court records obtained recently by The New York Times revealed that Ms. Spears had raised issues with her father’s role in the conservatorship as early as 2014, and had repeatedly asked about terminating it altogether, though Mr. Ingham had not filed to do so.“It’s embarrassing and demoralizing what I’ve been through, and that’s the main reason I didn’t say it openly,” Ms. Spears said. “I didn’t think anybody would believe me.” Ms. Spears said she had been previously unaware that she could petition to end the arrangement. “I’m sorry for my ignorance,” she said, “but I didn’t know that.”Working off prepared remarks, the singer spoke so quickly and so passionately that the judge was forced more than once to ask her to slow down for the sake of the court stenographer.“Now I’m telling you the truth, OK?” Ms. Spears said. “I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane.”Fans gathered outside the courthouse in Los Angeles on Wednesday in anticipation of Spears’s hearing.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesThe singer has lived under a two-pronged conservatorship in California — covering her person and her estate — since 2008, when concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse led Mr. Spears to petition the court for authority over his daughter.Mr. Spears, 68, currently oversees Ms. Spears’s nearly $60 million fortune, alongside a professional wealth management firm she requested; a licensed professional conservator took over Ms. Spears’s personal care on an ongoing temporary basis in 2019.Representatives for Mr. Spears and the conservatorship have said that it was necessary to protect Ms. Spears, and that she could move to end the conservatorship whenever she wanted.But Ms. Spears said that she felt compelled to again address the judge in the case, Brenda Penny, after most recently speaking out against the conservatorship in a closed-door hearing in May 2019. “I don’t think I was heard on any level when I came to court the last time,” Ms. Spears said before recapping her previous remarks, including the claim that she had been forced to tour, undergo psychiatric evaluations and take medication in 2019. “The people who did that to me should not be able to walk away so easily,” she said.She described being pushed into involuntary medical evaluations and rehab after she spoke up for herself in rehearsal for an upcoming Las Vegas residency that was later canceled. When she objected to a piece of choreography, “it was as if I planted a huge bomb somewhere,” Ms. Spears said. “I’m not here to be anyone’s slave. I can say no to a dance move.”“I need your help,” she told the judge. “I don’t want to be sat in a room for hours a day like they did to me before. They made it even worse for me.”Multiple times, Ms. Spears drew attention to the fact that she was able to “make a living for so many people and pay so many people,” while not controlling her own money. “I’m great at what I do,” she said. “And I allow these people to control what I do, ma’am, and it’s enough. It makes no sense at all.”For years, fans and observers had questioned how Ms. Spears has continued to qualify for a conservatorship, sometimes known as a guardianship, which is typically a last resort for people who cannot care for themselves, including those with serious disabilities or dementia. Until recently, the singer had continued to perform and bring in millions of dollars under the arrangement.Robbyn de la Fuente sits with her children outside the courthouse in Los Angeles on Wednesday in anticipation of Spears’s hearing. Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesOutside the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, dozens of Ms. Spears’s passionate supporters, who rally under the banner of #FreeBritney, gathered in front of a neon pink step-and-repeat background to chant and give speeches about the unfairness of her predicament. Fans said they had traveled from Las Vegas and Detroit to attend. With an even larger media presence, the crowd grew to take up a full city block.Also joining the singer’s faithful were older participants who saw Ms. Spears’s case as bringing attention to a conservatorship system in need of reform. “When we heard about this group of socially conscious young people, we saw a chance to educate Americans,” said Susan Cobianchi, 61, who connected with the #FreeBritney contingent earlier this year, after her mother died while under a conservatorship that she said kept them apart in her final days.In 2016, Ms. Spears told a court investigator assigned to her case that she wanted the conservatorship to end as soon as possible, according to the records reported by The Times. “She articulated she feels the conservatorship has become an oppressive and controlling tool against her,” the investigator wrote. “She is ‘sick of being taken advantage of’ and she said she is the one working and earning her money but everyone around her is on her payroll.”At the time, the investigator, who is responsible for periodic evaluations that are provided to the judge, concluded that the conservatorship remained in Ms. Spears’s best interest because of her complex finances, susceptibility to undue influence and “intermittent” drug issues. But the report also called for “a pathway to independence and the eventual termination of the conservatorship.”On Wednesday, Ms. Spears invoked her father’s authority, calling him “the one who approved all of it,” and recounted being intimidated and punished by him and her management team. “They should be in jail,” she said. She also mentioned wanting to sue her family.After requesting a recess following Ms. Spears’s remarks, Vivian Lee Thoreen, a lawyer for Mr. Spears, read a brief statement on behalf of her client: “He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain,” she said. “Mr. Spears loves his daughter, and he misses her very much.”Junior Olivas gathers with other supporters to listen to Ms. Spears address the conservatorship granted to her father outside the courthouse on Wednesday.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesMr. Ingham, who said as the hearing began that he was unaware of what Ms. Spears would say, also seemed stunned. He said he served at the pleasure of the court, and would step aside as Ms. Spears’s representative if asked.“Since she has made the remarks that she was able to make on the public record today, she believes that it would be advisable for proceedings to be sealed going forward,” Mr. Ingham said. Another hearing had been previously scheduled for July, but the exact next steps remained unclear.While Ms. Spears’s legal path forward may be complicated, her stated desires were simpler. She wanted to be able to get her hair and nails done freely, she said, and to visit with friends who lived “eight minutes away.”Although she said she preferred to put her faith in God, Ms. Spears noted that she was not opposed to treatment if it remained private. “I actually do know I need a little therapy,” she said with a laugh.But the conservatorship was “doing me way more harm than good,” she said. “I deserve to have a life.”Ms. Spears said that she had even been prevented from going to the doctor to remove her IUD method of birth control: “This so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children,” she said.“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” the singer added. “I was told right now in the conservatorship I am not able to get married and have a baby.”Earlier, Ms. Spears had declared herself “done.” “All I want is to own my money, for this to end and my boyfriend to drive me in his car,” she said, adding an expletive.Caryn Ganz and Liz Day contributed reporting from New York. Lauren Herstik and Samantha Stark contributed reporting from Los Angeles.Watch ‘Framing Britney Spears’Our documentary about Britney Spears and her court battle with her father over control of her fortune is free on our site for New York Times subscribers in the United States. Watch it now.Watch The New York Times documentary about Britney Spears and her court battle with her father over control of her career and her fortune. The full video is streaming on Hulu and free on our site for Times subscribers in the United States.Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times More

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      Au tribunal, Britney Spears demande la levée de sa tutelle.

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      Lors d’une déclaration publique exceptionnelle au tribunal de Los Angeles, la chanteuse a prononcé un discours passionné sur la tutelle qui contrôle sa vie et demandé qu’elle soit levée.La vie et les finances de Britney Spears sont sous tutelle depuis 2008. Mercredi, au tribunal, elle a déclaré vouloir mettre fin à cet état de fait.Mario Anzuoni/ReutersThe New York Times traduit en français une sélection de ses meilleurs articles. Retrouvez-les ici.Britney Spears a déclaré mercredi à une juge de Los Angeles qu’elle a été droguée, obligée de travailler contre son gré et empêchée de retirer son dispositif de contraception au cours des 13 dernières années, et a plaidé auprès du tribunal qu’il mette fin au contrôle légal de sa vie par son père.“J’étais dans le déni. J’étais en état de choc. Je suis traumatisée”, a dit Britney Spears, 39 ans, dans une déclaration émouvante de 23 minutes diffusée par téléphone dans la salle d’audience et, comme elle l’a demandé, au public. “Je veux juste qu’on me rende ma vie”.C’était la première fois que le monde entendait Britney Spears évoquer en détail ses difficultés avec la tutelle accordée en 2008 à son père, James P. Spears, qui, inquiet pour la santé mentale et potentielle toxicomanie de sa fille, avait demandé au tribunal à exercer une autorité légale sur sa fille adulte.Britney Spears a plaidé pour que la tutelle prenne fin sans qu’elle “ait à être évaluée”. “Je ne devrais pas être sous tutelle alors que je suis capable de travailler. Les lois doivent changer”, a-t-elle insisté. “Je considère vraiment cette tutelle abusive. Je n’ai pas le sentiment de pouvoir pleinement vivre ma vie.”Le conflit qui oppose l’une des plus grandes pop stars mondiale à son père est une longue saga qui a vu naître le mouvement mondial ‘Free Britney’ parmi ses fans et d’autres célébrités.À l’extérieur de la salle d’audience, une foule d’environ 120 sympathisants venus soutenir la chanteuse s’est tue pour écouter sa voix sur leurs téléphones.Ce rebondissement est intervenu après qu’en avril l’avocat commis d’office de Britney Spears, Samuel D. Ingham III, a déposé une requête, à sa demande, afin qu’elle soit autorisée — en procédure accélérée — à s’adresser directement à la juge. D’après des documents judiciaires confidentiels obtenus récemment par le New York Times, Mme Spears avait soulevé dès 2014 des problèmes relatifs au rôle de son père dans la tutelle, et avait demandé sa levée à plusieurs reprises, bien que M. Ingham n’ait pas demandé à le faire.“Ce que j’ai vécu me fait honte et me déprime, et c’est la principale raison pour laquelle je n’en parlais pas ouvertement “, a indiqué Britney Spears. “Je pensais que personne ne me croirait.” Elle a ajouté qu’elle ne savait pas qu’elle pouvait demander la fin de la tutelle. “Je suis navrée de mon ignorance”, a-t-elle dit, “mais je ne le savais pas”.La chanteuse s’exprimait à partir de notes préparées à l’avance, parlant si vite et de façon si passionnée que la juge a dû plusieurs fois lui demander de ralentir pour les besoins de son greffier.“Je vous dis la vérité là, OK ?” a-t-elle dit . “Je ne suis pas heureuse. Je n’arrive pas à dormir. Je suis tellement en colère, c’est du délire.”Les fans de Britney Spears devant le palais de justice de Los Angeles mercredi en prévision de l’audience de la star.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesLa chanteuse vit en Californie sous une double tutelle — couvrant à la fois sa personne et sa fortune — depuis 2008, date à laquelle son père, inquiet de sa santé mentale et de son éventuelle toxicomanie, avait saisi le tribunal pour obtenir l’autorité sur sa fille.M. Spears, 68 ans, supervise actuellement la fortune de près de 60 millions de dollars de Britney Spears, aux côtés d’une société de gestion de patrimoine professionnelle qu’elle a sollicitée; depuis 2019, un administrateur professionnel agréé prend en charge les soins personnels de Britney Spears sur une base temporaire toujours en cours.D’après des représentants de M. Spears et de la tutelle, il était nécessaire de protéger Britney Spears, et elle pouvait demander la fin de la tutelle quand elle le souhaitait.Mais la star a dit qu’elle s’est sentie contrainte de s’adresser de nouveau à la juge chargée de l’affaire, Brenda Penny, après avoir récemment pris position contre sa mise sous tutelle lors d’une audience à huis clos en mai 2019. “Je ne pense pas avoir été entendue à quelque niveau que ce soit la dernière fois que je suis venue au tribunal”, a-t-elle lancé avant de résumer ses précédentes remarques, affirmant notamment qu’elle avait été forcée en 2019 de partir en tournée, de subir des évaluations psychiatriques et de prendre des médicaments. “Ceux qui m’ont fait ça, on ne devrait pas les laisser partir si facilement”, a-t-elle asséné.Elle a raconté qu’après avoir donné son avis pendant des répétitions en vue d’une résidence à Las Vegas, annulée par la suite, on l’a contrainte à subir des évaluations médicales et une cure de désintoxication. Quand elle s’est opposée à un bout de chorégraphie, “c’était comme si j’avais posé une énorme bombe quelque part”, a-t-elle décrit, ajoutant: “Je ne suis pas là pour être l’esclave de qui que ce soit. Je peux dire non à un pas de danse”.“J’ai besoin de votre aide”, a-t-elle déclaré à la juge. “Je ne veux pas qu’on m’asseye dans une pièce pendant des heures par jour comme ils l’ont fait. Ils n’ont fait qu’empirer les choses pour moi.”Plusieurs fois, Britney Spears a fait remarquer qu’elle était en mesure de “faire vivre tant de personnes et de rémunérer tant de personnes”, alors qu’elle ne contrôlait pas ses propres finances. “Je suis excellente dans ce que je fais”, a-t-elle affirmé. “Et je permets à ces gens d’avoir le contrôle sur ce que je fais, Madame, et ça suffit. Ça n’a aucun sens.”Cela fait plusieurs années que les fans et les commentateurs s’interrogent sur le fait que Britney Spears réponde encore aux critères d’une mise sous tutelle, celle-ci étant typiquement un dernier recours pour des personnes qui ne peuvent pas s’occuper d’elles-mêmes, y compris celles souffrant de handicaps graves ou de démence. Jusqu’à récemment, la chanteuse a continué à se produire et à rapporter des millions de dollars dans le cadre de cet accord.Robbyn de la Fuente et ses enfants attendent l’audition de Britney Spears devant le tribunal de Los Angeles mercredi.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesMercredi, à l’extérieur du tribunal du centre-ville de Los Angeles, des dizaines de fervents partisans de la chanteuse ralliés sous la bannière #FreeBritney s’étaient rassemblés devant un fond rose fluo pour chanter et prononcer des discours dénonçant l’injustice de sa situation. Certains fans disaient avoir fait le voyage depuis Las Vegas et Détroit. Les représentants des médias étant encore plus nombreux, la foule avait gonflé jusqu’à occuper tout un pâté de maisons.Des participants plus âgés s’étaient également joints aux fans de la chanteuse, voyant dans le cas Britney Spears l’occasion d’attirer l’attention sur un système de tutelle en mal de réforme. “Quand on a entendu parler de ce groupe de jeunes animés d’une conscience sociale, on y a vu une opportunité d’éduquer les Américains”, explique Susan Cobianchi, 61 ans, qui a rejoint le contingent #FreeBritney au début de l’année, après le décès de sa mère dont la tutelle les avait tenus éloignées dans ses derniers jours.En 2016, Britney Spears a fait savoir à un enquêteur judiciaire chargé de son dossier qu’elle souhaitait que la tutelle prenne fin le plus rapidement possible, selon les documents signalés par le New York Times. “Elle a précisé qu’elle avait le sentiment que la mise sous tutelle était devenue un outil d’oppression et de contrôle à son encontre”, a écrit l’enquêteur. “Elle ‘en a marre qu’on profite d’elle’ et elle dit que c’est elle qui travaille et gagne son argent mais qu’elle paie tous ceux qui l’entourent”.À l’époque, l’enquêteur, qui est chargé de fournir des évaluations régulières au juge, a conclu que la mise sous tutelle restait dans le meilleur intérêt de la star en raison de la complexité de ses finances, de sa vulnérabilité aux influences néfastes et de ses problèmes de drogue “intermittents”. Mais le rapport préconisait également “un passage vers l’indépendance et la fin à terme de la mise sous tutelle”.Mercredi, la chanteuse a invoqué l’autorité de son père, le qualifiant de “celui qui approuve tout cela”, et a décrit comment lui et son équipe de direction l’ont intimidée et punie. “Ils méritent d’être en prison”, a-t-elle déclaré. Elle a également mentionné vouloir poursuivre sa famille en justice.Après ces remarques, Vivian Lee Thoreen, une des avocates de M. Spears, a demandé une suspension d’audience puis lu une courte déclaration au nom de son client : “Il est désolé de voir sa fille souffrir et éprouver tant de douleur”, a-t-elle lu. “M. Spears aime sa fille, et elle lui manque beaucoup”.Réunis devant le tribunal, Junior Olivas et d’autres fans de Britney Spears réagissent aux déclarations de la star au sujet de sa mise sous tutelle.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesM. Ingham, qui a indiqué au début de l’audience qu’il ignorait ce que Mme Spears allait dire, semblait tout aussi stupéfait. Il a dit qu’il servait au gré de la cour, et qu’il se retirerait comme représentant de Britney Spears si on le lui demandait.“Étant donné qu’elle a fait les remarques qu’elle a pu faire en public aujourd’hui, elle estime qu’il serait souhaitable que les audiences se tiennent à huis-clos à l’avenir”, a déclaré M. Ingham. Une autre audience avait déjà été programmée pour le mois de juillet, mais la suite exacte des événements n’est pas encore claire.Si le parcours juridique à venir de la chanteuse risque d’être compliqué, les souhaits qu’elle a exprimés sont plus simples. Elle voudrait pouvoir se faire coiffer et se faire faire les ongles librement, a-t-elle dit, et pouvoir rendre visite à des amis qui vivent à “huit minutes de chez elle”.Elle préfère mettre sa foi en Dieu, a-t-elle dit, mais elle n’est pas opposée à un traitement à condition qu’il reste confidentiel. “Je sais que j’ai besoin d’un peu de thérapie”, a-t-elle admis avec un petit rire.Mais la mise sous tutelle “me fait beaucoup plus de mal que de bien”, a-t-elle ajouté. “Je mérite d’avoir une vie.”Mme Spears a raconté qu’on l’avait même empêchée d’aller chez le médecin faire retirer son stérilet, sa méthode de contraception : “Cette soi-disant équipe ne me laisse pas aller chez le médecin pour le retirer parce qu’ils ne veulent pas que j’aie d’enfants”, s’est-elle emportée.“Je veux pouvoir me marier et avoir un bébé”, a plaidé la chanteuse. “On m’a dit que là, mise sous tutelle, je ne suis pas en mesure de me marier et d’avoir un bébé”.Un peu plus tôt, Mme Spears avait déclaré qu’elle était “finie”. “Tout ce que je veux, c’est disposer de mon argent, que tout cela se termine et que je puisse faire un tour avec mon petit ami dans sa voiture”, a-t-elle déclaré, agrémentant son souhait d’un gros mot.Caryn Ganz et Liz Day ont contribué au reportage depuis New York. Lauren Herstik et Samantha Stark y ont contribué depuis Los Angeles.Regarder “Framing Britney Spears” (en anglais)Notre documentaire sur Britney Spears et sa bataille judiciaire avec son père pour le contrôle de sa fortune est gratuit sur notre site pour les abonnés du New York Times aux États-Unis. Regardez-le maintenant.Watch The New York Times documentary about Britney Spears and her court battle with her father over control of her career and her fortune. The full video is streaming on Hulu and free on our site for Times subscribers in the United States.Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times More

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      Kevin Spacey Cast in Italian Film After Being Sidelined in the U.S.

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      He will play a detective in the movie, directed by Franco Nero, in what is believed to be his first film since sexual assault allegations started surfacing in 2017.Kevin Spacey has been cast in a film in what is believed to be the first time since accusations of sexual assault against the actor started surfacing more than three years ago, prompting several court cases and unraveling his onscreen career. More

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      A Kevin Spacey Accuser Tried to Sue Anonymously. A Judge Said No.

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      As sexual assault cases proliferate, judges must weigh accusers’ requests for anonymity against the tradition of open courts and fairness toward defendants.The man said he was 14 years old when he was sexually assaulted by the actor Kevin Spacey in the early 1980s. Last year he filed a lawsuit against Mr. Spacey in which he sought to maintain anonymity, identifying himself in court papers only as “C.D.”Earlier this year the judge in the case, which is being heard in the Southern District in New York, ordered the man’s lawyers to identify him privately to Mr. Spacey’s lawyers. And this month the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, went further: he ruled that C.D. would have to identify himself publicly if he wanted to continue on to trial.The man’s lawyers responded Thursday that he would not, writing that the “sudden unwanted attention that revelation of his identity will cause is simply too much for him to bear.” They said in a letter to the court that they expect him to be removed from the case — which involves another plaintiff, who is using his real name — but suggested that they plan to pursue an appeal.In the #MeToo era, as more people have been turning to civil courts with accounts of sexual assault, judges are increasingly being asked to weigh the strong desire of many accusers to maintain their anonymity against the presumption of openness in the court system and the ability of the accused to defend themselves.“It’s the idea of balancing an open court system with the idea of protecting someone’s right to seek relief,” said Jayne S. Ressler, an associate professor of law at Brooklyn Law School.While anonymity has long been allowed under certain limited circumstances if it protects an accuser from harassment or other harm, courts tend to weigh it against the general principle that complaints must name both the defendant and accuser.The issue tends to come down to whether the benefits of anonymity, and of allowing a victim to come forward freely, outweigh the public’s interest in being able to scrutinize what is happening in the courts and the defendant’s ability to mount an effective defense.People who work to combat sexual violence warn that requiring people to use their own names could discourage some victims from seeking justice.“The risk of being publicly identified is a huge deterrent to coming forward for many survivors of sexual violence,” said Erinn Robinson, a spokeswoman for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. “Decisions in these cases should always be made with a trauma-informed and victim-centered understanding of the impact this can have on survivors’ healing.”Harvey Weinstein arrives at State Supreme Court in Manhattan in February 2020.Desiree Rios for The New York TimesBut lawyers for the accused said that it is difficult to mount a defense against people who file cases anonymously, or using pseudonyms. “An increasing amount of lawsuits will attempt to be filed under a pseudonym, and that’s concerning because the justice system in our country has as its fabric an open court system and a level playing field,” said Imran H. Ansari, a lawyer who represents Harvey Weinstein.It is not uncommon these days for accusers to bring sexual assault cases anonymously and then, if they fail to negotiate settlements out of court, to be ordered by judges to come forward in their own name before taking their claims to trial, legal experts said.Last month, state court judges in Texas said that most of the 22 women who had sued Deshaun Watson, the Houston Texans star quarterback, had to identify themselves, even after they said they feared intimidation efforts.A judge in New York federal court last September denied a woman’s request to sue Mr. Weinstein anonymously. (The case has since been voluntarily withdrawn.)Professor Ressler said that though the principle of the open court still dominated many decisions, she had detected an uptick in sympathy from courts toward sexual assault plaintiffs suing anonymously.“It appears that some courts are less reluctant to allow anonymity, let’s put it like that,” she said. “Most judges do tend to rule against anonymity, but not all.”She pointed to a 2018 case in New York Supreme Court where a trial judge allowed a number of plaintiffs to proceed anonymously against a doctor, and a Massachusetts Superior Court case in 2019 when a court imposed anonymity on a plaintiff, who was a student.One of Mr. Spacey’s other accusers, a massage therapist who had accused Mr. Spacey of groping and trying to kiss him before offering him oral sex during a massage, was permitted by a federal judge in California to file a lawsuit under a pseudonym, although that case was dismissed after the plaintiff died unexpectedly ahead of the trial.Experts say that in the #MeToo era, some courts are becoming more understanding of the high costs sexual assault victims pay personally when they come forward publicly.There is also more acknowledgment that in the modern hyper-connected society, when information spreads widely and quickly online and remains easily searchable for years, there is less chance of privacy once a name becomes public.“There is a sense that your name can live on in perpetuity connected with something terrible, so you have to have a chance without your name being associated with it,” said Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer who has represented men accused of sexual assault.Even so, Mr. Miltenberg said, eventually, “A judge tends to say, ‘Yes, you can proceed like that but know that if we end up in front of a jury, think very hard, because I am going to open the court.’”Mr. Spacey, 61, has faced a series of sexual misconduct allegations in recent years.In 2018, he was charged with sexual assault in Nantucket, Mass., after an 18-year-old man accused him of fondling him in a restaurant two years earlier. But prosecutors there dropped the case after the accuser invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to continue testifying after Mr. Spacey’s lawyer warned that he could be charged with a felony if he had deleted evidence from his cellphone.In the most recent case, the plaintiff, identified as “C.D.,” claimed that he met Mr. Spacey as a teenager in an acting class in Westchester County in the early 1980s.According to the lawsuit, Mr. Spacey invited the student to his apartment when they met again a few years later and he was still a minor, and “engaged in sexual acts” with him on multiple different occasions. In their final encounter, Mr. Spacey assaulted the teenager despite his resisting and saying “no,” the lawsuit said.In an interview with BuzzFeed News in 2017, the actor Anthony Rapp accused Mr. Spacey of making an inappropriate sexual advance toward Mr. Rapp when he was 14.Evan Agostini/Invision, via Associated PressC.D. filed the lawsuit with another accuser, Anthony Rapp, who first made accusations against Mr. Spacey in 2017. Mr. Spacey has denied C.D.’s and Mr. Rapp’s sexual misconduct accusations.In court papers, lawyers for C.D. argued that he would suffer psychological trauma if his name became public.“The thought of my name being circulated in the media and on the internet and of people contacting me as a victim of Kevin Spacey terrifies me,” C.D. wrote in court papers.But the case raised questions about the difficulty of defending a sexual assault case when the accuser insists on remaining anonymous.Even after the court had ruled that Mr. Spacey’s lawyers should privately be told C.D.’s real name, they argued that their ability to conduct discovery and investigate C.D.’s claims would be hampered if he could maintain his anonymity toward the public. They would be unable to disclose his name to witnesses, they noted, while potential witnesses who could have relevant information might not come forward if his real name was not publicized.Mr. Spacey’s “ability to investigate and conduct discovery of CD’s claims and prepare for trial would be severely inhibited,” his lawyers wrote in legal documents.Judge Kaplan agreed.He conceded that privacy was diminished by the internet and that the case involved sensitive and personal issues, both points arguing for anonymity.However, in ruling for shedding anonymity, the judge emphasized that C.D. himself had spoken to people about Mr. Spacey as far back at the 1990s, and had given an anonymous interview about Mr. Spacey to Vulture in 2017. He also noted that C.D. is no longer a child.“Though CD brings allegations relating to alleged sexual abuse as a minor, he now is an adult in his 50s who has chosen to level serious charges against a defendant in the public eye,” Judge Kaplan wrote. “Fairness requires that he be prepared to stand behind his charges publicly.”Both a lawyer for C.D., Peter J. Saghir, and for Spacey, Chase A. Scolnick, declined to comment.Experts said criminal cases offer greater anonymity protection to sexual assault victims than civil cases. In civil claims, the two parties often try to negotiate a settlement, and in practice few cases in fact proceed to trial. A judge’s ruling to lift anonymity sometimes acts as a catalyst to force a settlement, legal experts said.Lawyers for plaintiffs say they urge their clients to be realistic when it comes to seeking anonymity.“When you represent these survivors you have to tell them, there is no guarantee you are going to be able to proceed anonymously,” said John C. Clune, a lawyer who represented a plaintiff who had to refile a case against Kobe Bryant under her real name in a 2004 civil case. “They know they have a fighting chance, but they are also prepared mentally in case they lose.” More