Jamie Spears is speaking out through his attorney about daughter Britney Spears’s controversial conservatorship — and says “people have it so wrong.”
Vivian Lee Thoreen appeared on Good Morning America Thursday amid the #FreeBritney movement and after the release of Framing Britney Spears and said the narrative that he is the “villain” in all of this is wrong. She the truth is that he “rescued his daughter from a life-threatening situation.”
“I understand that every story wants to have a villain, but people have it so wrong here,” Thoreen said. “This is a story about a fiercely loving, dedicated and loyal father who rescued his daughter from a life-threatening situation. People were harming her and they were exploiting her. Jamie saved Britney’s life.”
Britney’s dad established a conservatorship — used in extreme circumstances for people who are unable to care for themselves — in 2003 after back-to-back involuntary hospitalizations and after she lost custody and visitation of her then-young sons. He’s currently co-conservator of her estate, along with a finance company, and there’s a separate conservatorship over Britney’s person overseen by Jodi Montgomery. Since last year, Britney, through her court-appointed attorney, has been trying to remove her father from his role, claiming they haven’t spoken since last summer and have a fractured relationship.
Thoreen said Britney’s assets were being “mismanaged” when Jamie stepped in back in 2008 and he’s turned around her fortune from $2.8 million to nearly $60 million. While Britney is currently on a work strike until Jamie is out as conservator, Thoreen insisted, “He has collaborated with her. When she is up for performing, she has performed. When she wants to record an album, she can record an album. And when she wants to live her life the way she wants, like a normal person, he has collaborated with her to do that as well.”
So why is Britney saying she’s “afraid” of him and wants him out? Thoreen seemed not to know, saying, “Throughout 2020, Britney and her father had many conversations. In fact, early on in the pandemic, they spent two weeks with other family members, hunkered down in Louisiana. Britney and Jamie went on long drives together. They played and worked in the family garden. And every night, Jamie cooked Southern comfort food that the family ate and enjoyed together. In that time, Britney never expressed those words to her father. She has never asked him to step aside.”
Jamie shared family videos from that time in Louisiana showing them out in the yard together to boost his case that their relationship seemed OK until last spring. (Though there was no mention of the restraining order being taken out against Jamie in 2019 after he was in an altercation with one of Britney’s teen sons.)
Pressed as to why Britney’s lawyer would say she’s “afraid” of him, Thoreen insisted “Britney never said those things to Jamie” or asked him to “step aside.”
She added, “Jamie loves his daughter. Like any other family, issues come up from time to time. But this in no way takes away from the love and support that they have for each other. Britney knows that her daddy loves her and she can call on him anytime, conservatorship or not.”
As for why he won’t step down, “Jamie serves as Britney’s conservator because he loves her. He wants the best for her.” And he “looks forward” to working with Bessemer Trust, the co-conservator in managing Britney’s estate.
Thoreen — who wasn’t asked about Britney’s boyfriend’s comments recently calling Jamie a dick — said she isn’t sure why Britney hasn’t tried to set the record straight, saying, “You’ll have to ask Britney.”
And she reminded that Britney can move to end the conservatorship at any time, but she hasn’t yet elected to.
“Anytime Britney wants to end her conservatorship she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it,” Thoreen said. She said the singer has “always had this right” but has “never exercised it.”
Britney’s conservatorship attorney Sam Ingham wouldn’t comment to ABC News. Britney’s only remarks addressing the drama as of late was this post, saying she’s enjoying not working and being a normal person. And “no matter what we think we know about a person’s life it is nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens.
