Britney Spears conservatorship: Andy Cohen admonishes Jamie Spears after singer speaks out at court hearing
‘Britney, after the courage you showed today, you are 100 per cent stronger than yesterday’
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Cohen has expressed his support for Britney Spears after the singer spoke out against the conservatorship ruling her life and finances.
The TV host dedicated a segment to Spears’s latest court hearing on Wednesday’s broadcast of his late-night talk show, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Spears addressed the court directly, denouncing what she described as an “abusive” conservatorship and asking the court to end it. She also took to task her father James Spears (also known as Jamie), who for years had power over her life decisions while also sharing power over her finances with an attorney as part of the conservatorship.
James Spears now serves as co-conservator of his daughter’s finances. Jodi Montgomery, a professional appointed by the court, has been acting as conservator over Britney Spears’s personal matters.
On Wednesday’s broadcast, Cohen gave James Spears the title of “Jackhole of the Day”, stating: “Tonight’s Jackhole goes to Britney Spears’s father, Jamie Spears, who continues to have a death grip on Britney’s life, along with his attorney, Andrew Wallet – yes, that is his name.”
Cohen referenced Britney Spears’s testimony, in which she told the court she wants to have another baby but isn’t allowed by her conservators to have her IUD removed. Spears has also said the conservatorship pressured her to tour and to go on certain medication.
“How about we all start listening to Britney Spears?” Cohen suggested.
Referring to several of Spears’s songs, he added: “Britney Spears is not a girl. She is a woman. And she certainly deserves a hell of a lot more than a low-rent mommy dearest in a boxy suit.
“Britney, after the courage you showed today, you are 100 per cent stronger than yesterday. And Jamie, if you want to make money in the future, I suggest you better work, b****.”
Cohen then led his audience in chanting “Free Britney”, the slogan used by supporters of the singer in her battle against the conservatorship.
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James Spears has previously referred to the #FreeBritney movement as conspiracy theorists, and said that those who support it don’t understand the totality of the situation.
On Wednesday, his attorney Vivian Thoreen gave a brief statement on his behalf after conferring with him during a recess.
“He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain,” Thoreen said of James Spears. “Mr Spears loves his daughter, and misses her very much.”
Additional reporting by The Associated Press