Billie Eilish reflects on Britney Spears’s conservatorship battle: ‘It’s really horrible what a lot of young women have gone through’

Spears was given permission to hire a new attorney last week

Louis Chilton
Monday 19 July 2021 11:47 BST
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Britney Spears celebrates as court allows her to pick her own lawyer

Billie Eilish has discussed Britney Spears’ ongoing legal battle against her longstanding conservatorship.

Last week, Spears was given permission to hire a new attorney to represent her. This will be the first time the artist has been allowed to choose her own legal representation since 2008.

Speaking to Vogue Australia, Eilish discussed Britney’s legal battle, saying she was “grateful” for her own interpersonal relationships.

“It’s really, really horrible what a lot of young women have gone through – I mean, to this day,” said the “Bad Guy” singer, when asked about Spears.

“I didn’t have a team that wanted to f*** me over – which is really kind of rare, which (itself) is pretty f***ed up,” she added.

“All I have to be is just grateful that I happened to have a good group of people around me that… didn’t want to just take advantage of me and do what people have done in the past.”

Last month, Spears addressed an open court for the first time since the conservatorship began, calling for her father, Jamie Spears – her conservator – to “be in jail”. You can read her full testimony here.

Following her testimony, a request to have her father removed from his role overseeing her conservatorship was denied.

Through his own lawyer, Jamie Spears said in a statement that he is “sorry to see his daughter in so much pain,” adding that he “loves his daughter and misses her very much”. He has also denied having power over his daughter’s personal affairs for nearly two years, and filed documents asking the court to investigate “serious allegations regarding forced labour, forced medical treatment and therapy, improper medical care, and limitations on personal rights”. His attorneys also said that his daughter should have the “right to give informed consent for her own medical treatment”.

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The #FreeBritney movement has existed for years, with fans calling for Spears’ conservatorship to be brought to an end. In recent months, following the US documentary Framing Britney Spears and Spears’ own testimony in court, support for the movement and for Spears herself has swelled.

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