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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Peony Hirwani

Britney Spears hires Ben Affleck’s lawyer to help end conservatorship

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Britney Spears has secured a new attorney to help get her father removed as conservator and have the conservatorship ended.

Mathew Rosengart, who is a former federal prosecutor at the US Justice Deptartment, has begun the process of taking over as the 39-year-old singer’s new counsel, TMZ reports.

He will appear remotely in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday (14 July) to ask the judge to appoint him as Spears’ counsel.

However, the situation is still complex as the “Toxic” singer can’t actually sign any legally binding contracts without her father Jamie Spears’ permission.

Therefore, Rosengart, who also represents other celebrities including Ben Affleck, Sean Penn, and Steven Spielberg, is expected to argue that it is Spears’s constitutional right to choose her own lawyer.

Earlier this month, the singer’s former attorney Samuel D Ingham resigned after almost 13 years.

His resignation came a day after Spears’ manager Larry Rudolph quit, and a week after the co-conservator of his estate resigned.

In her first public statement since her explosive courtroom testimony on Wednesday (24 June), the pop star said she had “pretended like everything was OK” for years because “I was embarrassed to share what happened to me”.

Spears asked Judge Brenda Penny to end the conservatorship that controls her life and career, describing it as “abusive”.

She also revealed the court-ordered arrangement requires her to use a birth control device and prevents her from marrying her boyfriend Sam Asghari.

Spears has not been seen on stage since 2018 and has said she will not perform again until her father is removed from her controversial conservatorship.

“I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” she said in court. “It’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end.”

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