A lawyer for Britney Spears sent the pop singer’s sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, a cease-and-desist letter this week over “misleading or outrageous claims” made in her new memoir and on its promotional tour.
“Although Britney has not read and does not intend to read your book, she and millions of her fans were shocked to see how you have exploited her for monetary gain,” wrote attorney Mathew Rosengart, whose letter bore Monday’s date. “She will not tolerate it, nor should she.”
Rosengart noted that Jamie Lynn recently defended herself by stating that the book, “Things I Should Have Said,” was “not about” her older sister. He added that Spears “takes you at your word and we, therefore, demand that you cease and desist from referencing Britney derogatorily during your promotional campaign. If you fail to do so or defame her, Britney will be forced to consider and take all appropriate legal action.”
A representative for Jamie Lynn has not responded to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
Spears accused her family of exploiting her when she testified last summer in the trial over her conservatorship, stating that she would “like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you.” Her father, Jamie Spears, oversaw the conservatorship for most of its 13 years, maintaining control over Spears’s life, finances and medical treatments even as she continued to work. In November, Judge Brenda Penny terminated the arrangement.
The singer has continued to speak out against her family on social media - most recently sparked by comments Jamie Lynn made last week on “Good Morning America” while promoting her memoir, in which she described witnessing Spears’s behaviour become more “erratic” and “paranoid” over the years. Jamie Lynn said she never sought control over Spears’s finances and had “always been my sister’s biggest supporter.”
Spears responded with a lengthy statement on Twitter, writing that Jamie Lynn hadn’t been around enough to account for Spears’s behaviour before the conservatorship was set in place. “Why are they even talking about that unless she wants to sell a book at my expense,” Spears wrote, adding: “I know it may sound like a silly thing to most people but I wrote a lot of my songs and my sister was the baby. She never had to work for anything.”
In an Instagram post shared Tuesday, Spears recalled the lack of support she received from her family earlier in life. She concluded with a message to her sister: “I’m sorry Jamie Lynn, I wasn’t strong enough to do what should have been done ... slapped you and Mamma right across your [expletive] faces !!!!!”
That same day, Rosengart’s legal team accused Jamie Spears of financial misconduct in a court document filed in opposition to Jamie’s petition for his daughter’s estate to cover his legal fees. Sherine Ebadi, an investigator and former FBI agent, stated that Jamie had taken millions of dollars from his daughter while overseeing her conservatorship. According to Ebadi, Jamie used some of the money to pay the firm Black Box Security nearly $6 million (Dh22 million) to monitor Spears’s personal communication, including that with her lawyer, as well as recorded conversations in her bedroom.
Jamie’s attorney has not responded to The Post’s request for comment on the court filing.
Rosengart also referenced Jamie in the cease-and-desist letter to Jamie Lynn, writing that “you of all people know the abuse and wrongdoing Britney had to endure during the conservatorship, after initially growing up with a ‘ruinous,’ alcoholic father.”
“As I have previously stated, having endured a 13-year conservatorship that stripped her of civil rights and fundamental liberties,” Rosengart wrote, “Britney will no longer be bullied by her father or anyone else.”
