Britney Spears's lawyer accuses Jamie of 'bullying and attacking' his daughter over Diane Sawyer interview
Britney Spears's father Jamie has dismissed her allegations that he orchestrated her infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer, and the singer's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, has responded.
"Rather than bullying and attacking his daughter, even as he claims to 'love' her," Rosengart began in a statement exclusive to Variety, "it would be far more appropriate for Mr. Spears and his lawyer to focus on answering the following fundamental questions, to start, which we have been asking for months: As a suspended conservator, will he now return the millions of dollars in combined salary and commissions from Britney's work that he paid himself before he was suspended? What were the total amounts he received from his daughter's estate? Why did he approve a $500,000 payment to Tri Star after Britney went on hiatus? Does he have any evidence to refute the allegations in the extensive New York Times expose regarding a listening device being placed in his adult daughter's bedroom?”
That came on the heels of a statement that a lawyer for Jamie, Alex Weingarten, gave Yahoo Entertainment: "Mr. Spears has no idea what Ms. Spears is talking about," Weingarten wrote in part. "Jamie never set up any interview with Diane Sawyer and was not present for any such interview. He had nothing to do with Britney's career at this point and was completely uninvolved in this interview. Jamie loves Britney very much, wishes Britney nothing but the best and hopes that she continues to seek the help that she needs to stay safe and healthy."
Both followed the star's comments earlier this week, made in a now deleted social media post, which alleged that she was forced to do the sit-down immediately after her much talked about parting with Justin Timberlake. In it, Sawyer asked her what she had done to the boy bander.
"Something I never shared when I had that big breakup was that I couldn't talk afterwards," Spears wrote. "I never spoke to anyone for a very long time. I was in shock. Pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak. Two days later, they put Diane Sawyer in my living room. They forced me to talk!!! I was a baby ... and didn't understand but I f***ing know now."
Rosengart's questions focused on many of the issues the New York Times examined in its Framing Britney Spears documentary. Released in February, it documented the #FreeBritney movement and featured interviews with people who'd worked on the security team employed by her conservatorship and others in her tight-knit circle. On Nov. 12, Los Angeles Judge Brenda Penny dissolved the legal arrangement that had controlled Spears's life for more than 13 years.
Yahoo Entertainment has reached out to Rosengart and Weingarten.