Britney Spears to address LA court directly over conservatorship battle with her father

The singer will speak at a June hearing about the long-running legal arrangement that controls her finances and personal affairs

Britney Spears has labelled the spate of documentaries about her life 'so hypocritical'. AP 

Pop star Britney Spears will personally address the Los Angeles court dealing with her long-running conservatorship in June, a judge agreed on Tuesday.

Spears, 39, has been under a conservatorship since 2008, but rarely takes part in court hearings and has not publicly commented on the legal arrangement where a court-appointed adviser controls her personal and financial affairs, including her medical treatment, security and career.

"My client (Britney Spears) has requested a hearing at which she can address the court directly," the singer's lawyer Samuel Ingham told the court on Tuesday. "My client has asked that it be done on an expedited basis."

The judge set a Wednesday, June 23, hearing for Spears to speak to the court. It was not known which matters the singer planned to address.

The singer's father, Jamie Spears, was appointed as his daughter's conservator in 2008 after the pop star was hospitalised for psychiatric treatment following a widely publicised breakdown.

Spears, who became a teen phenomenon 20 years ago with hits such as Baby One More Time and Toxic, made clear last year through her lawyer that she no longer wants her father involved in her affairs.

A previous bid to remove him failed in August 2020 and a hearing on Tuesday on a new request to replace him with someone else was postponed until July without discussion.

Vivian Thoreen, an attorney for Jamie Spears, said in interviews last month that the pop star had never requested the termination of the legal arrangement.

Spears has not performed in public since October 2018, though she frequently posts photos and videos of herself dancing at her Los Angeles area home. In 2019, she pulled out of a Las Vegas concert residency and briefly entered a mental health facility.

The release of a television documentary in February brought new scrutiny to the case and to the #FreeBritney movement started by fans.

Framing Britney Spears chronicled the breakdown that led to her father's long-standing legal guardianship over her finances.

Spears said she was "embarrassed" by her portrayal in the documentary, in which fans say she is essentially being held prisoner and claim she has been sending coded pleas for help.