Britney Spears’ former manager, Sam Lutfi, released a series of old voicemail messages from the singer Tuesday that show she’s been trying to get out of her conservatorship for over 10 years.
via Page Six:
Lutfi, 46, exclusively told Page Six Wednesday that he “has leaked them in the past,” but his reposting of them on Instagram has garnered lots of attention due to the recent rise of the #FreeBritney movement.
“They were all left on my phone,” said Lutfi, who claimed to have managed Spears from 2007 to 2008.
Spears’ former confidant, who was previously blamed by the singer’s family for her 2007 breakdown, divided the messages into four separate posts on Instagram.
The first video featured a never-before-seen picture of Spears, now 39, holding her son Sean Preston. The “Overprotected” singer can be heard saying in the audio, “I want out of this conservatorship.”
The message from 2009 continued, “I’ve been blackmailed by visitation with my babies by the conservatorship. I’m confined, restrained and stripped of my civil rights. And I demand the state of California to review this case because I feel it’s illegal. Bye.”
In a second video, which featured another old photo of Spears and both of her sons, Preston and Jayden James, the “Oops! … I Did It Again” singer can be heard claiming her father, Jamie Spears, threatened to take away her kids.
Lutfi said the image was taken by him and that the audio was from just months after the first call he shared. This audio had previously made the rounds on social media.
“I’m calling again because I just wanted to make sure that during the process of eliminating the conservatorship that my father has threatened me several times, that you know, he’ll take my children away,” she said. “I just want to be guaranteed that everything will be fine with the process and that you guys are taking care of everything, that things will stay the same as far as my custodial time.”
In the third video — which Lutfi said in the caption was likely from 2009 as well — Britney requested new counsel. Earlier this month, she finally obtained a new attorney, Mathew Rosengart, but this shows that she had been fighting to remove her court-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, for some time.
“I want Jon Eardley and John Patterson to represent me as court-appointed attorney in my best interests and my best wishes,” the “Toxic” singer said in this clip.
In May 2008, a California court denied Eardley’s bid to challenge Jamie, now 69, as conservator of the person and Britney’s estate.
Britney was granted a restraining order against Lutfi in February 2008, the same day her conservatorship began. She got a second order in January 2009 against Lutfi, Eardley and her paparazzo ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib.
In the final video Lutfi shared on his Instagram, which has a screenshot of an email from February 2008, Britney can be heard saying she is of “sound mind and body” and that she wanted Eardley to represent her.
“I’m being held against my will,” she also alleged. “I can’t exercise my constitutional rights.”
In the caption, Lutfi claimed, “There was never anyone on the inside that would help. These calls are to my phone, these calls cost me a ton of money in court, tarnished my name further but also tore my soul apart, I had no idea where to turn, no one was listening no one seemed to care.”
He added, “I can’t believe nothing has changed. She will never get those years back, her children were robbed of a huge chunk of history with their mother.”
Since June 23, Britney has finally been publicly voicing the same concerns she disclosed to the courts behind closed doors 13 years ago.
At two recent hearings, she has slammed her conservators, calling them “abusive,” and requested that the conservatorship be terminated once and for all.
Her attorney, Rosengart, has said he is fighting to fulfill his clients’ wishes. The next court date is set for Sept. 29.
Lutfi told Page Six, “Mathew has been notified that I’m available for whatever he may need.”
That offer may be difficult to follow through on since in June 2019, Lutfi was handed yet another restraining order that prevents him from having any contact with Britney or her family for five years.
Sam is a snake and not to be trusted, but we have no doubt that Britney’s been searching for freedom for a LONG time.
