Britney Spears claims in her new memoir that her former business manager played a key role in the establishment of her conservatorship.
The pop star writes in “The Woman in Me” that her father, Jamie Spears, “struck up a very close friendship with Louise ‘Lou’ Taylor, who he worshipped,” prior to going to court in 2008 to become his then-26-year-old daughter’s legal guardian.
“She was front and center during the implementation of the conservatorship that would later allow them to control and take over my career,” Britney alleges of Taylor in the bestselling book, which hit stores Tuesday.
“Lou, who had just started a new company called Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, was directly involved in calling the shots right before the conservatorship. At the time, she had few real clients. She basically used my name and hard work to build her company.”
Taylor’s lawyer did not respond to Pvnew’s request for comment.
While Taylor told Pvnew in 2021 that she had “no role whatsoever in the creation” of the conservatorship, Britney’s attorney cast serious doubt on her claim in 2022 by releasing a selection of emails from 2008.
Taylor wrote in one message that she looked forward to “working with” Jamie’s legal team, and she indicated in another that Tri Star “will serve as” a co-conservator of Britney’s multimillion-dollar estate, according to court documents obtained by Pvnew at the time.
In a separate correspondence less than 48 hours before the conservatorship began, one of Jamie’s lawyers informed Taylor that they had “run into a problem” with judge selection, as the only justice available was one who would “not give Jamie the power to administer psychotropic drugs to B.”
An attorney for Tri Star later called the resurfaced emails “materially misleading” and doubled down on Taylor’s previous assertion that neither she nor her firm had any involvement in the court-approved arrangement.
Britney, however, writes in her memoir that she is “convinced” the conservatorship “was all planned” and that her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, and Taylor “were all involved.”
The “Toxic” singer, 41, also notes that Jamie, 71, had been “financially indebted” to Taylor, 57, after Tri Star loaned him at least $40,000 just days before the conservatorship commenced.
It remains unclear why Jamie needed the money, but Taylor’s lawyer told the New York Times in 2021 that it “had no effect on Tri Star’s work for the estate in later years.”
Tri Star resigned as Britney’s business management company in 2020, one year before a Los Angeles judge terminated the “Crossroads” star’s conservatorship.
Britney is not the first member of the Spears family to put down in writing that Taylor had been around when Jamie took control of her personal and financial affairs.
Lynne, 68, wrote in her 2008 memoir, “Through the Storm,” that her ex-husband originally “was going to file for the conservatorship” a week before he actually did, “but he and his business manager, Lou, felt God leading them to wait, fast and pray, despite the frustration of a phalanx of lawyers.”
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Jamie’s lawyer also stated in a court declaration at the time that Taylor was involved in the “initial exploration of the conservatorship,” as she had been “familiar with [the Spears] family for several years.”
In her book, Britney also calls out Taylor’s “weird-ass lackey” Robin Greenhill, whom she claims “ruled” her day-to-day activities and “monitored every move” she made.
“I saw my father and Lou and Robin as bullies,” she writes, “and I wanted them out of my life.”
Jamie, who has been in and out of hospitals for months, has long maintained that he and his associates acted in Britney’s best interests during her 13-year conservatorship.
