Britney Spears Set to Break Her Silence in Court to Conservatorship Judge

Britney Spears is expected to address the court Wednesday in her ongoing conservatorship battle as she fights to end the system that has controlled her money and affairs for 13 years. Pending a last-minute decision from a Los Angeles judge to seal the proceedings, Spears will be heard speaking in open court for the first time when the hearing is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Spears has been under a strict conservatorship since 2008, limiting her ability to make her own business deals, medical decisions, and see her children. The #FreeBritney movement has brought renewed attention to her ongoing legal battle, and the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears released on Hulu earlier this year made her conservatorship issue front-page news. The “Stronger” artist, whose net worth is estimated at nearly $60 million, has been fighting to have her father, Jamie Spears, from having control over her fortune and her career.

Tuesday, The New York Times released a report citing sealed court documents from 2016 in which Spears’ confidential conversations with a probate investigator were long kept confidential. “She articulated she feels the conservatorship has become an oppressive and controlling tool against her,” a court investigator wrote in 2016, adding that Spears believed the conservatorship had “too much control” over her life. “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,” the investigator added at the time.

Spears also reportedly said her father was “obsessed” with her and wanted to control everything he could in her life. The singer recently stated in court documents she was “afraid” of her dad, but alleged even years ago she was prevented from making friends, limited to $2,000 weekly allowance and was not allowed to spend her own money to make cosmetic changes to her home without her father’s permission.

The Times reported that Jamie, who is reportedly currently living in an RV in Kentwood, Louisiana, earns about $16,000 per month as his daughter’s conservator as well as a percentage commission from his daughter’s business deals, previously reported in 2014 to include 1.5 percent of gross revenues from her Las Vegas residency. Spears’ attorney previously told the court that the pop star “will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.”