After 13 years, Britney Spears’s father, Jamie Spears, has officially stepped down as her conservator. On August 12, the star’s father agreed to step down as conservator, stating the “public battle with his daughter” as the main reason. 

Spears has been placed under a conservatorship since 2008 amid her publicly ostracized mental collapse in 2007. Her request for her father to be removed from it was denied last November. In December 2020, a judge ruled in favor of the conservators and extended it until at least September 2021.

While this does not mean that Jamie Spears has been removed from the conservatorship completely, his lawyer states that he, the Court and Britney’s lawyers are planning for a smooth transition to a new conservator. As of right now, Jodi Montgomery is the chief conservator.

The Grammy award winner’s conservatorship has been in place for over 13 years now. However, Spears’s fame began way before that, as she’s been in the spotlight since she was just 11-years-old. 

Britney Spears first stole America’s heart on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1993). She later released her first single “…Baby One More Time” in 1998 and went on to release hit after hit in the two decades after her first song. 

So, why the conservatorship?

In the 2000s, Spears’s private life and mental health were put on display by entertainment and news media outlets for the world to see. Her career, fashion choices, love life and parenting tactics were scrutinized by the media. 

At around 27 years old, she was placed under a conservatorship after publicly shaving her head and later repeatedly hitting a car with an umbrella in an effort to retaliate against the paparazzi. This meant that her father now had complete control over her assets, finances and career decisions. 

Since 2009, Spears’s father has requested extensions of the conservatorship. In 2019, he even requested to have it extended to more states including Florida, Hawaii and Louisiana. He then stepped down as primary conservator in 2019. 

As the #FreeBritney movement gained traction in the media, people around the world using various platforms began sticking up for Britney and demanding that the conservatorship end. Fans across multiple generations voiced their support for the singer. 

Gen-Z spoke highly of her on Tik Tok, but blamed certain family members for enabling this type of treatment. Many of the older members of Gen-Z, sometimes referred to as Zillennials, scrutinized Spears’s little sister, Jamie-Lynn and their mom, Lynne Spears for enabling the conservatorship and claiming it’s “good for her.” 

Celebrities and fellow artists, such as Madonna, Cher, Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton, have shown support for the #FreeBritney movement as well. 

As supporters continue fighting for an end to Spears’s conservatorship, it’s unclear what the next decision will be at this time.