Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn Spears finally voiced support for the pop star’s contentious battle against her conservatorship, saying she had advised the singer to replace her court-appointed lawyer “many years ago.”
“I felt like until my sister was able to speak for herself and say what she felt she needed to say publicly that it wasn’t my place, and it wasn’t the right thing to do,” Jamie Lynn, 30, said in an Instagram story on Monday. “But now that she’s very clearly spoken and said what she needs to say, I feel like I can follow her lead and say what I feel I need to say.”
“I’m not my family, I’m my own person,” the former Nickelodeon actress continued. “I’m speaking for myself. I’m so proud of her for using her voice. I’m so proud of her for requesting new counsel, like I told her to do many years ago. Oh, not on a big public platform but in a personal conversation between two sisters.”
Questions have swirled over 39-year-old Spears’ attorney Samuel D. Ingham III after Spears shockingly declared in her testimony last week that she didn’t know that she could request for her conservatorship to be removed entirely, rather than just have her father Jamie Spears replaced as her conservator. Ingham, who was appointed in 2008, reportedly has made $3 million from Spears over the years.
“Ma’am, I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship to end it,” she told the court in her 24-minute address. “I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that.”
Spears also claimed that Ingham had advised her not to speak out about her 13-year plight, which the singer likened to being sex trafficked. The pop star alleged she was even forced to get an IUD to prevent her from getting pregnant again.
During her address to the judge, Spears noted that she wanted the option to choose her own attorney. Back in 2008, Spears had tried to retain noted attorney Adam Streisand to contest her father being made her conservator. But Ingham, who reportedly only spoke with Spears for 15 minutes, told the judge that Spears “did not understand” the nature of the court proceedings and claimed she “lacks the capacity to retain counsel.”
Jamie Lynn added in her statement that she supported Spears “long before” the Free Britney movement and that she would continue to be there for her older sister and her two nephews “long after.”
“This is my freaking big sister, before any of this bullshit,” Jamie Lynn said. “I don’t care if she wants to run away to the rainforest and have a zillion babies in the middle of nowhere or if she wants to come back and dominate the world, the way she has so many times before because I have nothing to gain or lose either way. This situation does not affect me either way because I’m only her sister who is only concerned about her happiness.”