Britney Spears' Claims She Was Forced to Tour Disputed by Conservatorship
Britney Spears Claims She was Forced to Do European Tour ... Disputed By Conservatorship
Britney Spears made a compelling case that the conservators have abused her and upended her life, but we've learned the conservators are going to present a very different story to the judge.
Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, various people involved in different elements of the conservatorship claim Britney's story doesn't mesh with the facts.
For instance, Britney told the judge last week she was forced to go on her 2018 European tour. She said, "I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do ... my management said if I don't do this tour, I will have to find an attorney and by contract, their own management could sue me if I didn't follow through with a tour. He handed me a sheet of paper as I got off the stage in Vegas and said I had to sign it. It was very threatening and scary. I couldn't even get my own attorney, so out of fear, I went ahead and did the tour."
Sources connected to the conservatorship tell TMZ, people involved in the tour will tell a very different story at the next court hearing. We're told they will say the following ... when Britney was at the tail end of her Vegas "Piece of Me" residency, she realized "she had nothing on her calendar for almost all of 2018. She then asked Management to find something for her to do so she wouldn't be bored for a year."
The sources claim Management came back to her and suggested a European tour, adding, "She literally begged to do the 2018 European Tour run. She was very excited about it and called repeatedly to ask to have it confirmed. There is a text message exchange between Management and Britney on December 16, 2017, where management provides her with the tour routing. She asks a few questions, and expresses how excited she is to do it."
The sources say once she was on tour, "she simply didn't want to be there so she was trying to find every excuse to leave the tour, at which time she made up the story about being forced to do it."
Britney said she was forced to sign a document committing to do the European tour. Sources connected to the conservatorship say she was asked, not forced to sign, and she did. Furthermore, the sources say the conservatorship changed protocols because Britney would agree to do various things but when it came time to do them "she would lie and deny having agreed to do it. The conservatorship was then forced to put into effect protocols requiring management to get her to sign off on all professional obligations so the conservatorship could show it to her to 'remind her' that she consented to the obligation."
The sources say Management did indeed ask her to sign the document committing to the tour, because that was the protocol the conservatorship had in place, and Britney "willingly signed."
We're told various people in the conservatorship will dispute many of Britney's claims involving getting married, having a baby, being denied the right to see her kids, not knowing she could end the conservatorship ... among other things.
Short story ... the next court hearing promises to be contentious.