Britney Spears Retiring Amid Conservatorship Battle, Longtime Manager Says

Britney Spears reportedly intends to retire from her music career amid her ongoing conservatorship battle. In a letter sent to Spears' conservators — Jamie Spears and Jodi Montgomery — Spears' longtime manager Larry Rudolph revealed the singer's reported plans as he officially announced his resignation.

Published by Deadline Monday evening, the letter began with Rudolph noting that "it has been over two-and-a-half years since Britney and I last communicated." During that last communication, he said, "she informed me she wanted to take an indefinite work hiatus." According to Rudolph, who has represented the pop star since the mid-1990s, "Earlier today, I became aware that Britney had been voicing her intention to officially retire." Rudolph went on to announce his resignation.

"As you know, I have never been a part of the conservatorship nor its operations, so I am not privy to many of these details. I was originally hired at Britney's request to help manage and assist her with her career. And as her manager, I believe it is in Britney's best interest for me to resign from her team as my professional services are no longer needed," he wrote. "Please accept this letter as my formal resignation."

Rudolph ended the letter by writing that he "will always be incredibly proud of what we accomplished over our 25 years together." Rudolph has been Spears' manager since 1995 and was by her side throughout her sudden rise to stardom during the eras of "Baby One More Time" and "Toxic." Rudolph said he wishes the singer "all the health and happiness in the world, and I'll be there for her if she ever needs me again, just as I always have been."

The letter of resignation, along with Spears' reported desire to officially retire from music, comes just after she delivered emotional testimony in June in her conservatorship case. In the bombshell hearing, Spears told a judge that "this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good" and said she was "depressed" and miserable after 13 years of being under the control of others. She alleged that she wasn't allowed to remove an IUD from her body to have children with boyfriend Sam Asghari and had been put on lithium against her will. She told the judge, "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." Despite her testimony, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a motion to remove Spears' father from his role as a conservator of his daughter's $60 million estate.