Britney Spears to directly address court on her conservatorship

Pop star Britney Spearswill personally address the Los Angeles court dealing with herlong-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 publiclycommented on the legal arrangement where a court-appointed adviser controls her personal and financial affairs, includingher medical treatment, security and career.

"My client has requested a hearing at whichshe can address the court directly," the singer's lawyer, SamuelInghamIII, told the court on Tuesday. "My client has asked that itbe done on an expedited basis."

Inghamdid not say what specifically Spears would like to say, though itwillbe the first known time in more than two years that shehas spoken in court.

The last time, on May 10th, 2019, the courtroom was sealed. None of what she said became public.

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The judge set a June 23 hearing for Spears to speak to thecourt.

The singer's father, Jamie Spears, was appointed hisdaughter's conservator in 2008 after the pop star washospitalized for psychiatric treatment following a widelypublicized breakdown.

Spears, through Ingham, has been pushing for more transparency in the court proceedings and documents of the conservatorship.

A previous bid to remove him failed in August 2020, when she filed papers asking that he not return to the role of conservator of her person, which gave him power over her major life decisions from 2008 until 2019.

He had thentemporarily stepped aside, citing health problems, butkept his separate role as conservator over his daughter's finances.

"Britney is strongly opposed to James return as conservator of her person," the document said.

A hearing on Tuesday, on a new request to replace him with someoneelse, was postponed until July without discussion.

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Britney Spears is trying to change the terms of her 12-year conservatorship. She is pushing to have her father removed as the sole conservator of her affairs, a role that gives him major powers over the pop star.

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

Spears has not performed in public since October 2018,though she frequently posts photos and videos of herself dancingat her Los Angeles area home. In 2019, she pulled out of a LasVegas concert residency and briefly entered a mental healthfacility.

#FreeBritney supporters, who rallied outside the courthouseon Tuesday, believe Spears is being kept prisoner and she issending cryptic signals begging to be freed through her socialmedia accounts.

Spears herself has said in court documents and on social media that she welcomes the support, and the scrutiny of her circumstances, from fans.

Loud cheers rang out as some 30 supporters heard the newsabout her upcoming appearance. One fan had shaved her head insolidarity with Spears, who shocked fans when she took picturesof herself doing the same in 2007 at the height of her healthbreakdown.

"This is the first time in 13 years we're getting any sortof word from Britney about her conservatorship and it's thebiggest deal to me. My life is Free Britney and it justchanged," said supporter Jake Yonce, outside the court.