“I understand that every story needs a villain, but people have it so wrong here,” Jamie Spears, though his lawyer, Vivian Thoreen, said during the Feb. 25 episode of Good Morning America, nearly three weeks after Framing Britney Spears aired. Jamie, 68, had held his tongue in the initial fallout of the FX/New York Times documentary as many called for Britney Spears, 39, to be “free” of her conservatorship — and her father’s oversight. As to why it took nearly a month for Jamie to address the Framing doc, it was just a matter of timing. “Jamie spoke out because he felt it was time for him to speak out,” a source close to the Spears family shares EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife.
“A lot of the people close to Britney except for her immediate family stand behind him as conservator. They all know she needs this. It’s all the fans that don’t understand how difficult this,” the source told HollywoodLife. “Jamie feels sad people don’t understand that Britney can’t take care of herself. That’s sad for any father. He doesn’t want to be in that position. It’s a bit surprising Jamie spoke out, and he wasn’t planning on it, but he had to. Jamie isn’t a yes person, and that’s been an issue for Britney.”
Jamie, through his lawyer, gave his side of the story in the statement to GMA. In addition to denouncing him being painted as a “villain,” Spears said that the true “story” is one about “a fiercely loyal, loving, and dedicated father who rescued his daughter from a life-threatening situation. People were harming her, and they were exploiting her.”
That apparently wasn’t what Sam Asghari, 27, got out of Framing Britney Spears. Days after the documentary aired, he posted a scathing message to his Instagram Story. “In my opinion, Jamie [Spears] is a total dick,” he said. “I have zero respect for someone trying to control our relationship and constantly throwing obstacles in our way.” Sam’s outburst, according to the source, was due to him being “upset” with Britney’s father. “[Sam] wants Britney to have her own control, as do [Britney’s mother] Lynne and [Britney’s sister] Jamie Lynn Spears.”
Britney attempted to remove her father from his role of co-conservator of her estate in 2020. In August, she filed papers expressing how she “strongly opposes” having her father the “sole conservator of her estate.” Jamie and Andrew M. Wallet co-managed her financial conservatorship until Andrew resigned in 2019. In November 2020, she requested that the Bessemer Trust Company – who had taken over the co-conservator role from Jodi Montgomery – be the sole conservator. Unfortunately, the court denied that request but also denied Jamie’s request that the Bessemer Trust be removed.