Is Britney Spears genuinely in danger of “going broke”? It sounds like she’s overspending, for sure, but I don’t know about “going broke.” [Socialite Life]
The first trailer for Mufasa: The Lion King. [LaineyGossip]
Kim Kardashian shared a throwback pic with Karlie Kloss. [Hollywood Life]
Of all the pasta options, I almost never choose ravioli. This is one of the reasons why – I feel like I’m getting more food with other dishes. [Jezebel]
Cillian Murphy sort of dissed Red Eye, one of his best films?? [Pajiba]
Industry secrets kept from customers. [Buzzfeed]
Martin Freeman talks about the problematic “age gap” in his new film and he sort of makes it worse by bringing up the Holocaust. [JustJared]
Creepy AI pics of Ronald McDonald. [OMG Blog]
John Mellencamp’s toilet selfie. [Seriously OMG]
Jennifer Connelly wore Louis Vuitton to the Dark Matter premiere. [RCFA]
How much is Britney even worth at this point? I would imagine what used to bring her cash was her touring. She doesn’t write,own her masters or publishing. The days were Pepsi, Sketchers used to pay superstars 100mil for their ambasorship are over. Child support and supporting a small village really burned her pockets. I hope she doesn’t do anything until she doesn’t have to pay K Fed any more. For now she needs to get help and if music is still her love make a come back without the leeches.
Umm… Britney writes songs, she has bunch of writing credits. She has some commercial product lines like perfume. Also, she just wrote a book sold a lot, not as many as Spare, but still it was on best selling list. The thing is, the conservatorship consumed most of her wealth, because they paid for a lot of people to funnel her money. I remember there was a ridiculous amount of payment made to Britney’s sister’s husband for home improvement. She made a lot of money for a lot of people. Now, if she gets trustworthy people on her team, the money she has would last in the future through smart investments even if she does no work. Her children are almost 18, she won’t pay for child support for long.
My apologies, was not aware she wrote her songs. I think once she gets better a stable gig like Vegas with a good team may do her some good.
@Nubia, I think it would be hard for her to perform since she was treated like a circus animal for a decade. She did Vegas residency and her show dates were brutal. I honestly don’t know how she lasted that long. She got drugged going to the stage to give her energy and drugged again when she was finished to make her numb. I don’t think anyone can overcome that kind of trauma. If she gets a smart team, she can make money with minimal effort. There are nobody influencers making millions a year.
Who does she share song writing credits with. How often and how much are the royalty checks? It’s not like “Hit me Baby one more time” is getting tons of airplay or folks are recording it over and over. You’d be surprised how little people get for royalty checks. Is she selling enough of whatever to make a profit to cover taxes and whatever her production costs are? When you want to spend a lot you have to consistently make a lot of money. She can’t spend like her best days unless she’s actively earning. She will end up broke.
@Mel, you can google the list of her writing credits. We don’t know her financials, so you can’t say unless she earns money, she is gonna go broke. She may have already investments returning profits or real estate investments. The fact is we don’t know and the TMZ reporting on this has sources from her conservatorship who still want to lock her up to get her money. Her wealth fed hundreds of people through corrupt conservatorship. They have interest in turning the public against her so they can lock her up again without public backlash.
You do know that Michael Jackson was almost broke when he died because he was spending WAY more than he was taking in . He has the Beatles and his own catalogue and he was still almost broke. The team running his estate was able to make it into a moneymaker. Brittany’s catalogue is NOWHERE near as extensive or in demand for use . People are not making money off of sales and royalties. You make money working which means touring. We all want to see her succeed but the fact of the matter is she is NOT okay , tends to leeches for partners and is not capable of making good financial decisions on her own. Her mega fans don’t want to admit it but she is in trouble and she will end up broke if continues to spend and not take in.
@Mel, I am not a mega fan. I followed her court case. There is no proof Britney is going broke. We have a hit piece and people are making assumptions from that. We know that her conservatorship has been feeding negative stories about her for years. One of the places they leaked was Wendy Williams show. She cursed her whole family after the court case because she was also sharing & believing negative stories about her. Anyone who went through what she went through for 14 years wouldn’t be okay. You don’t treat someone like that and expect them to act ordinary after a few years of freedom.
Wrong. Both kids reside in Hawaii with their father. In Hawaii, child support can be enforced while the child is enrolled in college until they are 23. The move was a strategic part of K Feds to keep her paying for a long time.
Is she paying K-Fed or paying child support?
@Garcia Yellow, I’m not too sure that’s correct; I read that their original child-support agreement under CA law will bind them no matter where the children and parents go.
Not sure how accurate this is but Google says she’s worth $70M. It would take some doing to blow through that in a lifetime but we’ve seen some athletes like Mike Tyson blow through $300M so it’s def possible. She used to have a perfume side hustle IIRC..is that not a thing anymore?
All I know is that her IG has become a cry for help. I’m not sure the conservatorship was the right fit for her but I will also admit that the descent into madness since the conservatorship has been dissolved has been swift and merciless. Really wish she had some good, honest people with pure motives in her life to step in and save this train before it goes off the tracks for good.
The $70 million represents an audit from years ago. He father never did audits of her wealth in order to hide what he was stealing. I imagine her real wealth is in the hundreds of millions.
Yeah that makes sense and it did seem a little low to me…IIRC her Vegas residency alone earned her well over $100M.
Do we know if it netted her $100m though? That 100 gets chipped away pretty quickly between taxes and “management fees” her dad took, payments to any agent or attorneys involved etc
The conservatorship left her with 60 mil not counting the im rights since they were too many to mention and value. The interesting question is why did she have so little money when alledged proffesionals were handling her money and we now know how small allowence she would get from her father who paid himself more than he paid her? These same old same old articles attcking her again regarding her finances are pissing me off. It’s her money. It’s about time she can do whatever she wants with it. Her perfumes sell incredibly well (through Estee Lauder I think) and now that tristar can’t steal that money her value should be getting up again. I understand if she has felt like crap these last weeks when she had to realise that her abusers would be getting away with what they have done to her. I hope she can leave it all behind now and heal and if she needs beaches to do that then so be it.
$70M (or $100M) “worth” can all be assets (real estate, etc.) that is mortgaged to the hilt (CPA here). Are these figures her net worth? (assets minus liabilities like mortgages). Part of her balance sheet could also be goodwill (an intangible, so it has no real world value) or future royalties that her accounting firm believes she may net (its often an estimate). It’s like when they say some of the Kardashians are “billionaires,” – is that after all debt is paid off? Does it include goodwill, trademarks or patents? (all intangibles). I absolutely agree that the conservatorship ate up a good deal of her money; I hope that part of her “team” (legal firm, accounting firm) has her funds well-invested.
Adding to Mustang Sally- her perfumes may sell well, but does she get a cut of sales? Or did they pay her a one time licensing fee years ago?The latter is more popular than you would think. If they paid her upfront in a licensing fee, she wouldn’t get more as it sells. Just another wrinkle.
“How much is Britney even worth at this point? I would imagine what used to bring her cash was her touring. … For now she needs to get help and if music is still her love make a come back without the leeches.”
– She made tens of millions following a pretty easy schedule during her Las Vegas residency period; that’s the best way to make money as a musician if your priority is low stress as well (touring is much more stressful). I think she had like three days off a week.
She doesn’t want to work in music again; she says she’s too traumatised.
People are saying she should stop posting on IG and start an OnlyFans posting the same type of stuff. An OF expert says she could easily rake in $100 million a year.
The Britney piece makes it sound like her conservatiorship was good for her and Jamie Spears was the hero who saved her and did nothing wrong for 13 years… I think we know who planted this story.
I think multiple things can be true at once. The conservatorship was abusive, and her dad is trash, and also if Britney never learned to manage her money well, she may be over spending now that she has full control.
Yep, I agree with you, GoodWitchGlenda. Some black and whites and some greys here.
And I trust the courts, Sam Ingham (her court-appointed lawyer), Timothy Benson, and all the other professionals that were around her, who had to have their professional reputations on the line with every court review.
It’s good that the majority of people seemed to have found it utterly repulsive that a grown woman was put under compete control like that. But I suspect she’s severely bipolar, and have seen commenters who say they’re severely bipolar themselves recognise the same symptoms in her.
Look at her behaviour now. Looks similar to 2008 but at least her boys are safe. Just because she’s capable of moments of lucidity and semi-articulation doesn’t mean she doesn’t have manic episodes. No one can make her take her meds.
$1 million on each trip? If you’re taking three or four vacations a year, that $60 million will be gone soon.
Charles Sophy’s recent comments ring true. But no judge wants to be the “bad person” and put her under a c’ship where she’ll be forced to take meds again.
We were out to dinner in Malibu last month. Britney came into the restaurant with a couple of people and sat in the back of the room. A few minutes later she started shrieking, wordless, full volume.
Her friends got her to quiet down, but then as they were leaving she did it again, wailing and kind of screaming as she walked out of the dining roomt. She looked rough — her hair was snarled and her clothes were askew. It was eerie and shocking and deeply sad. She did not look or act like a well person.
Her dad was clearly awful, but it was hard not to believe that she needs some help.
From her memoir, its clear she was controlled by her family or other significant people in her life pretty much as soon as she started making them money. I got the impression she never “grew up” in some ways – never learned to handle money, never learned to handle her health – because it was always been decided for her, even before the conservatorship. I thought it was clear why she “acted out” as she sometimes did and why she lashed out at the press/paparazzi etc.
I was left with the thought that she had been so tightly controlled for so long that she was going to resent anyone who suggested anything that might help. And I can’t really blame her if she has some significant demons.
@Teddy: That’s an incredibly sad story. There was video of her and Sam at a restaurant and she started getting loud, crying, etc. It was so disturbing and I was sorry I watched it as I felt I invaded her privacy in some way as she is clearly not well.
I don’t have first-hand experience as a family member or whatever, but Reddit has plenty of commenters who do and a lot comment Britney reminds them of their severely bipolar family members. She needs meds and structure. Good luck.
Overspending usually leads to folks going broke – so it’s probably both. She is clearly and obvious still not well and she probably won’t ever be. Her life is one huge sad cautionary tale.
I think, going broke story was started by TMZ. They have been the mouthpiece of conservatorship for a few years now. I wouldn’t trust their reporting. The woman is financially free to do what she wants to do. She earned the money herself. Also, her own father went bankrupt before, still he was appointed as her financial controller. She fed bunch of people with her money. Now, she is spending on herself first time in more than a decade.
I respectfully disagree. She has some severe mental health issues and is an easy mark for men who prey on mixed up women like Britney. Does financially free mean burning through millions upon millions of dollars, aided and abetted by sleazy men who lure her in? My partner’s ex-wife had the binge-spending addiction that went along with some severe mental health issues. When she stormed out of the marriage because he refused to continue regularly paying off tens of thousands of dollars in debt she’d racked up, she divorced him and got a half million dollar settlement. Fast forward 8 years later and she’s completely broke — she blew the entire amount and is now living in a one room bedsit on a pittance, mostly government handouts. Some people are simply not able to cope with mature money management due to mental/emotional health problems. Yes her father and various men she had personal/professional relationships with took advantage of her, but jettisoning them doesn’t mean she has instant intelligent and clear ideas of how to manage her money. She does need some kind of financial management in her life as well as continuing with some kind of sound psychological treatment.
This is a random poster’s comment (i.e., I’m glad I’m not the court having to decide what’s right for her) and opinion and I agree with Jaded. Severely bipolar people, if that’s what she is, need meds.
Very much agree. Multiple things can be true, as always. Just because her situation under the conservatorship was abusive does not mean that she doesn’t have severe mental illness. I would also argue that being in a conservatorship may have hindered her ability to manage money, since it was done for her for so long, she might have never learned to do it herself.
Someone i know got a 10 million settlement (2013) – and is down to her house that is valued 3 million and some valuable art pieces – Not at all having a Britney style of living. She travels first class not private and -apart from 2 cleaners and 1 gardener- has no staff. Money is easily spend ….
Did y’all see that Barbra Streisand was up in Melissa McCarthy’s business and asking if she was on ozempic?
It’s a legitimate question but it’s also none of Barbra’s business. For all anyone knows, Melissa could have been diagnosed with T2 diabetes and her doctor recommended it (if she even took it). She looks really good though, I hope she feels healthy and happy.
McCarthy didn’t just start losing weight during the Ozempic craze, though. It seems like she’s been going through some gradual weight loss / body changes for some time.
How is it “a legitimate question” for anyone who is not a medical professional she’s consulting with for healthcare / advice?
You’re correct that is none of Barbra’s business.
Is it possible she thought she was messaging her privately and instead made a public comment? I don’t know how good she is with tech. It is a rude question to ask publicly I think since it is health related and she may be uncomfortable to share health info publicly.
I think this is exactly what she thought which is why it made me laugh. It’s not really any of Barbra’s business anyway but the way she worded it made me think she and Melissa had possibly discussed the issue before and Barbra wanted a follow up and she just put it out there on social media instead of DMs lol.
Britney should buy a nice property in Hawaii as she obviously loves the beauty and climate. She can then be near her boys.
Matilda- sadly her kids don’t want a relationship with her. They didn’t come to her wedding and they did an interview in a magazine where they claimed to be embarrassed by Britney…
IIRC these were the sort of stories that her family planted before the conservatorship but it turns out her family were leeching off her and making bad business decisions with her money. People got worried when she started asking questions and wanted to spend her money but was never really allowed to. I recall that when her father took over he cut a LOT of people off the payroll including her mother and brother who were raking it in. And then it all happened again with the conservatorship, only this time the purse strings were controlled by her father and Lou Taylor behind the scenes. That woman and her husband played the Spears family (and continues to do so) – she used them to strip Britney of her wealth – she’s the one that has Brits fortune not Jamie. Her end game was to control the most famous pop star in the world – I would love to see Brit’s lawyer go after her.
Its her hard earned money and she is free to spend it as she see fit – as for her SM posts, she is doing what she has always done, performing. She is expressing a lot of pent up emotions via that medium, is it healthy no but performing is all she knows how to do.
If this reporting is accurate, I think she’ll be in trouble soon. I would also assume that if she’s spending $1m on vacations multiple times a year, she may also be overspending elsewhere. As others have mentioned, many many many people before her have blown through more.
I hope none of this is true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were unfortunately.
Let Britney enjoy her vacations. She deserves every second of it. TMZ and their little expert that are pushing for renewed need for conservatorship are trash. If she spends it, she will earn more. The woman is an icon.
I feel so much for Britney. The sad reality is, almost everyone in her life are leaches. From her parents, siblings to her sons. Absolutely none of them value her as a human being. To them, her only value is being their walking piggy bank. Not one of them have her best interests at heart.
And while I’m positive she is still struggling mentally, I feel like articles like these are from people who have a vested interest in getting back on Britney’s teet.
I think the mum fits that description (all about the money) but the dad is somewhat less self-interested, though he has enriched himself to some degree, no doubt. He also sold property to his niece and nephew from Britney’s company at a massive loss for Britney (something like $300K loss, so clearly an unjust-enrichment situation). The whole family lack a good sense of boundaries and good ethical principles; they do see Britney as a source for wealth to some extent. The sister and brother clearly don’t want the burden of being her conservator but probably haven’t minded getting some of the gravy from the train. Overall, however, that doesn’t mean her conservatorship wasn’t necessary. It’s gross when we have to take agency from people, esp grown women, but she has a diagnosed mental illness that’s probably very severe. She needs something like a conservatorship again, to ensure she takes her meds and to ensure she has enough to live on in old age.
The thing is, Britney has the right to not take her meds, spend all her money, and do whatever she wants with her time and her life, regardless of whether or not her family, friends, and fans approve. Conservatorship is a last resort, life-saving effort for people who routinely cannot understand the consequences of their actions, and even if she has been seen acting strangely, that doesn’t mean she isn’t competent. Even people who have regular psychosis can be considered competent if they can apply logic and judgment and are mostly coherent. People may be surprised how high the standard is to be declared legally incompetent (that is the only justification for an involuntary conservatorship). I get that people want to save Britney from herself, but it’s not our place and she has rights.
Aside from that, we aren’t privy to know what she is doing to take care of herself. For all we know, she is getting treatment and they haven’t figured out her meds; she could be getting trauma therapy, which can be really difficult. I’m not speculating, those are just examples. It’s presumptuous to assume she just isn’t taking care of herself. I won’t publicly guess what her mental health needs are because I don’t think that’s appropriate, but some conditions are really difficult to get controlled and keep controlled, even when you’re doing everything “right.” It doesn’t mean her situation would definitely be improved by being under a conservatorship.
I’ve never paid that much attention to Britney’s life, but I wish her well, and she deserves the freedom to make her own choices, just like everyone else – regardless of whether or not she has a mental health condition.
@Bad Janet, “I’ve never paid that much attention to Britney’s life” – That’s probably why you think there was never any indication that she needed a conservatorship. Look up 2008 and how she was threatening to harm her sons and herself, etc. (see my comment below.) In addition, she was hooking up with paps, crying on the sidewalk, and completely in debt after earning $50 million. I don’t think you know much about the basics of Britney’s breakdown at all. She has mentioned having bipolar PD herself, although her diagnosis was never made public. You should look up Bipolar 1 (severe bipolar PD) and its effects, along with family members’ and friends’ testimonials of their loved one’s experience. It is a very serious PD that often requires a lot of intervention, sometimes to the extent of removing legal agency to a degree.
(The above doesn’t mean the conservatorship didn’t gone on for too long, however.)
I feel sorry for her! She needs a mother or at least someone who truly cares about her. I feel for her she has a mental illness and no one who has her best interest at heart. She just has users. I wish I was her Mom. I would definitely try to make it better for her. I know what it’s like to be alone in the world. It isn’t easy!
I don’t rewatch very much, but I loved Red Eye and it’s among the rare movies I’ve rewatched. After reading Pajiba’s piece, I think I will make time to rewatch it this week.
Britney settled with Jaime Spears over $$$ for the conservatorship earlier this month, this story in TMZ makes me think Jaime is just getting a swipe in now that the ink is drying.
I think if her lawyer had a case that her dad fleeced her for millions, her attorney would not have settled. I think Britney got fleeced by her attorney who she now owes millions to.
She definitely needs a new conservatorship for her own sake and safety.
hi Mr Spears, Lou or whoever pushes this narrative/
@Renee’, wow. I hope you don’t have a family that will put you in a conservatorship to make you work like a slave. I hope you never experience the things Britney had to survive.
Tell Jamie we said bye.
Not “for” or “against” anyone here (except keen to point out she is clearly very sick and most probably v bipolar) but remember Sam Ingham basically refused to submit her request to have her c’ship removed? He basically chose to resign rather than to submit it. This is a very experienced and reputable guy who was paid about $3, $4 million total for the 13 or so years of work (a rate approved by the court for seriously complex conservatorships according to NYT here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/arts/music/britney-spears-lawyer-samuel-ingham.html).
No, she doesn’t. A conservatorship is a last-resort effort to care for a person who will most likely die without someone taking over their life. Even then, there are steps of conservatorship, like financial conservatorship before you literally take someone’s rights away completely. The rights they took from her were on par with a person with end stage dementia. If you’re suggesting they could prove Britney was that incapacitated, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
We never saw ANY indication that Britney was a good candidate for conservatorship, and honestly, any judge who approved it should probably be removed from the bench, unless there is a LOT going on that we don’t know about. With the number of leeches around Britney who were willing to take her money and sell out her secrets, her explanation is a lot more plausible.
What I think people don’t get is, even if she were blowing all her money, it is 100% her right to do it. That’s the point. No one has to approve of the decisions an adult makes if she isn’t harming anyone else, and she isn’t putting herself in imminent danger. She has food, shelter, and her basic necessities. You can’t put someone on any kind of conservatorship until they prove they cannot take care of their basic needs.
“We never saw ANY indication that Britney was a good candidate for conservatorship”
@Bad Janet, don’t mean to sound snide in the least but you clearly don’t remember how in 2008, she was 5150’d after holding her son or at least one son as hostage when the police arrived (when she refused to hand them over when it was Kevin’s turn to have them), and was threatening to harm herself and her son(s).
In addition, she’d lost all her money (over $50 million career earnings at that stage) due to overspending and grifters like Sam Lufti. As for “her right to” blow all her money, let’s put it this way: someone like Britney, esp with her several mental health condition (bipolar 1 probably), needs some sort of financial restrictions to avoid a homeless and poverty-stricken retirement.
The conservatorship might have gone on for too long and might have been way to strict but let’s not pretend she didn’t need one.
I don’t know Britney, so I am not going to say she is ‘clearly sick’ – but I will say she has clearly been betrayed by everyone in her life. As for Sam Ingham, one could read it as lawyer who refuses to work for client, resigns.
I suppose it all comes down to her negotiation, but I’d be surprised if her book didn’t bring in a LOT of money.
There are many things I worry could happen to Britney, but going broke is not high on the list. It could happen to anyone, but very few people have reached the level of success she has, ever. Her continued warning potential is still huge. She isn’t working right now because she doesn’t want to – I don’t really see any clear indication that she can’t.
That ravioli article is SPOT ON.
I seriously feel for Britney. I haven’t been paying as much attention to her court case since I read her memoir, which was heart-wrenching, but I’m sure the settlement must have been emotionally complex to navigate. She is such a strong person for enduring the conservatorship and I’m so glad that her civil liberties were restored. Hoping that she gets the time and space she needs to heal, which will take a loooong time.
Her finances have been murky for years and Tri-Star definitely washed a substantial amount of money through their various business ties. Last I heard, Britney owns her own masters from the “Baby” and “Oops” years, possibly her entire catalogue? The eponymous perfume lines are huge moneymakers for her. She’s said publicly that she’s not making new music, but Beyonce hinted recently that if Britney wanted to drop new material, the world wouldn’t be ready for it.
General responses to the Britney discussion on multiple threats above:
1. Income: don’t confuse streaming with radio. Sure the former pays sh!t but the latter still pays well and she is on your standard old fashioned radio stations more than you’d think. Hit Me, Oops, Toxic etc are pop classics. But wait, there’s more…
2. She has active trademarks on everything from plush toys to blogs. Like Meghan’s ARO, we can’t tell which are going to happen or not, but they are all “active”- https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/musicians/britney-spears/
3. Please note the attorney on record: Brent D. Sokov. He’s a shareholder at the same firm as Matthew Rosengart. So while most of the fillings date as far back as 1999, 2001, it looks like Britney’s legal business is now housed under one (competent) roof.
4. The firm that bought her music, Hypgnosis, was in bad shape last fall ( also owned Shakira, Bieber… This was another “make money for shareholders” project managed by idiots who ran value into the ground) and was supposed to be acquired by some other company. I’m not spending more than 10mins googling for this so I didn’t follow THAT trail, but it looks like her catalogue might be available to the right buyer at some point soon.
So hmmm… If Britney wanted to buy back her songs wouldn’t it be convenient for other interested parties if she was rumored to be financially unstable??
5. Stop the Instagram concern-trolling. She’s said with her whole chest that she’s having fun, that this is the only kind of low-key/no-key “performance” she feels comfortable doing, she’s only interested in her fans who stood by her and not the general audience. She sacrificed her sanity to fund and spend time with her sons (memoir said she was threatened with losing custody time if she didn’t comply), she’s gone through levels of trauma and betrayal on *every* front…let the woman be. If she doesn’t comply with your idea of what a public celebrity should behave like, it’s a you problem.
👏👏👏 Concern trolling really pisses me off so much. She was worked like a slave, no one said sh*t except a small group of Britney’s fans, who started Free Britney campaign. Now people are disappointed a woman, who was abused by 14 years by her own family, before that by the press since she was a teenager, doesn’t act like a perfectly healthy pop princess. At the end of the day, it is all her own money she made by her hard work. She has financial freedom like every one of us. She can do whatever the hell she wants.