A Los Angeles judge on Friday terminated the controversial guardianship that has controlled pop star Britney Spears’ life for the past 13 years, handing back her freedom along with control of a multimillion-dollar estate.
The ruling, greeted with raucous cheers and showers of pink confetti by Spears’ fans outside the downtown courthouse, ends a conservatorship long overseen by her father, and which the singer has described as abusive.
“Best day ever... praise the Lord... can I get an Amen,” wrote Spears on Instagram, using the hashtag “#FreedBritney.”
Photo: AFP
“I can’t freaking believe it!” she added.
The formal end to the guardianship comes after the pop princess’ father was removed from his position in charge of her finances and estate at a hearing in September.
Friday’s hearing capped a long campaign by Spears and her legion of global fans to end a conservatorship that began after her highly public 2007 breakdown, when the star attacked a paparazzo’s vehicle at a gas station.
Judge Brenda Penny agreed with Spears’ request for the arrangement to end without need for a mental evaluation — on the basis that “this was a voluntary conservatorship” and that “all parties agree.”
Aside from her plans to marry boyfriend Sam Asghari, 27, it is unclear how she plans to use her newfound freedom. Spears has given no interviews for three years, has not performed since October 2018, and is only rarely seen in public.
The singer, who turns 40 on Dec. 2, has expressed anxiety about the future.
“I’ve waited so long to be free from the situation I’m in and now that it’s here I’m scared to do anything because I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake,” Spears wrote on Instagram on Oct. 15.
Fans — 36 million on Instagram — are hoping for a new album or a tour, but that might take time, if it happens at all.
Celebrity Web site TMZ on Friday quoted unnamed sources as saying that Spears wanted to get back into the recording studio and make new music, but that no firm plans had been made.
Her representatives in the industry have declined comment.
“I’m staying clear of the business which is all I’ve ever known my whole life ... which is why this is so very confusing for me,” Spears wrote on Instagram last month.
A no-holds-barred TV interview would attract a huge audience, but none has been announced.
“Lord have mercy on my family’s souls if I ever do an interview,” Spears wrote last month.
She has also mentioned, perhaps jokingly, the idea of writing her own book and asked fans for a suggested title.
With a fortune of about US$60 million, Spears would be able to choose how she spends her money for the first time since 2008.
For years, even as she was performing to sold-out arenas around the world, she was limited to a personal allowance of about US$2,000 a week, court documents showed.
Until recently, she was not allowed to drive her own vehicle.
Marriage — her third — to personal trainer Asghari would have to wait until a prenuptial agreement could be sorted out, although Spears wrote earlier this week that Donatella Versace was already making her wedding dress.
Spears told the Los Angeles judge overseeing her case in June that she wants to have more children.
She has two sons, now in their teens, with ex-husband Kevin Federline who has majority custody.
Spears has said she is already being deluged with scripts for TV and film treatments about her life, although she was not pleased about it.
“Aren’t I supposed to play the role in my own life?” she said in a video last month, of the suggestions of who could play her. “I’m not dead. What are they thinking?”
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