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Britney Spears lawyer asks why her father responded to claims about Diane Sawyer video
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 16 December 2021
Britney Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart has questioned why her father, Jamie Spears, was so quick to deny involvement in a Diane Sawyer interview with his daughter two decades ago, while he has refused to comment at all on more serious allegations.
Sawyer filmed her interview with Britney in 2003. A portion of it was included in the ‘Framing Britney Spears’ documentary earlier this year, with the interview being criticised, especially of late, for Sawyer’s aggressive line of questioning that left the singer in tears.
In a lengthy and since deleted post on Instagram earlier this week, Britney wrote: “Do we dare forget the Diane Sawyer interview in my apartment almost 20 years ago? What was with the ‘you’re in the wrong’ approach? Geeze… and making me cry?”
“Seriously though, I lived in my apartment for a year and never spoke to anyone”, she went on. “My manager put that woman in my home and made me talk to her on national television and she asked if I had a shopping problem! When did I have a shopping problem?”
She concluded by saying: “Pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak. They put Diane Sawyer in my living room, they forced me to talk! I was a baby. I was almost 22 and didn’t understand, but I fucking know now!”
Jamie Spears quickly sent out a statement to the press, via his lawyer Alex Weingarten, following the Instagram post, saying: “Mr Spears has no idea what Ms Spears is talking about. Jamie never set up any interview with Diane Sawyer and was not present for any such interview. He had nothing to do with Britney’s career at this point and was completely uninvolved in this interview”.
“Jamie loves Britney very much [and] wishes Britney nothing but the best”, the statement went on, “and [he] hopes that she continues to seek the help that she needs to stay safe and healthy”.
Rosengart now asks why Jamie Spears has put out this statement, despite remaining tight lipped on other recent accusations relating to his time as his daughter’s conservator, particularly that he and Britney’s former business management company, Tri Star Sports And Entertainment, ran a surveillance operation on her. He also raises questions about money Jamie Spears’ paid to himself while running Britney’s controversial conservatorship.
The lawyer tells Variety: “Rather than bullying and attacking his daughter, even as he claims to ‘love’ her, it would be far more appropriate for Mr Spears and his lawyer to focus on answering the following fundamental questions, to start, which we have been asking for months”.
Those questions are as follows: “As a suspended conservator, will he now return the millions of dollars in combined salary and commissions from Britney’s work that he paid himself before he was suspended? What were the total amounts he received from his daughter’s estate? Why did he approve a $500,000 payment to Tri Star after Britney went on hiatus? Does he have any evidence to refute the allegations in [an] extensive New York Times expose regarding a listening device being placed in his adult daughter’s bedroom?”
While Britney’s conservatorship – which controlled her life for thirteen years – was brought to an end last month, legal wrangling between the father and daughter continues.
Following a court hearing last week, Rosengart claims that Jamie Spears is avoiding sitting for a deposition. He also said that he has failed to provide certain requested documents, which Rosengart claims will “shed light in regard to his abuses and the alleged conduct”.
