Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Popstar Britney Spears has 'Dementia?' NO WAY!

Transcript

Popstar Britney Spears has 'Dementia?' NO WAY! · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: Who doesn't love Britney Spears. I can't think of anybody
0:12
Speaker 1: that doesn't love Britney Spears, whether as a mousketeer or
0:16
Speaker 1: as she rose to pop fame. So how come it
0:21
Speaker 1: is alleged right now that she has dementia? Isn't dementia
0:27
Speaker 1: for the elderly, not someone in the prime of their
0:31
Speaker 1: life in their thirties? For Pete's sake? Is the claim
0:41
Speaker 1: of dementia really away for someone to get their mits
0:46
Speaker 1: on her money? Take a listen to this. I'm here
0:50
Speaker 1: to answer all of your questions. And the first main
0:52
Speaker 1: question that you guys have been asking me is basically,
0:53
Speaker 1: when I'm in my living room, do I get dizzy
0:56
Speaker 1: when I'm spinning so much? Yes, I get extremely dizzy.
1:00
Speaker 1: I'm gonna answer, so as long as I have the
1:01
Speaker 1: focus point for my head as I turn, as long
1:03
Speaker 1: as I keep finding that spot, usually in the end
1:05
Speaker 1: it's not as bad. The second question that you guys
1:08
Speaker 1: have been asking me is basically, what does the red
1:11
Speaker 1: refrigerator mean on my Instagram? Honestly, I just thought it
1:14
Speaker 1: was cool. I thought it was and which is really cool?
1:20
Speaker 1: Next question is am I okay? Yes, I'm totally fine.
1:24
Speaker 1: I'm extremely happy. I have a beautiful home, beautiful children.
1:28
Speaker 1: I'm taking a break right now because I'm enjoying myself. Well,
1:33
Speaker 1: you were hearing Britney spears Instagram post just a few
1:38
Speaker 1: weeks ago, and she does not sound like she's suffering
1:42
Speaker 1: from dementia to me, now, of course, I'm just a
1:44
Speaker 1: j D. I'm not an MD. I've made that very
1:47
Speaker 1: very clear. But that's who you have on juries, regular people,
1:53
Speaker 1: not psychiatrists and psychologist. No offense, doctor jin Man who's
1:57
Speaker 1: about to join us. But she doesn't sound entered now.
2:01
Speaker 1: I would never, as one of my three questions to
2:03
Speaker 1: ask her ask do you get dizzy when you spent
2:05
Speaker 1: around and around in your living room? That wouldn't occur
2:08
Speaker 1: to me, nor did it occur to me to ask
2:10
Speaker 1: about her fridge. But I would ask her about her
2:12
Speaker 1: mental well being. And there is a reason for that.
2:15
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends Sally Barrie at seven
2:18
Speaker 1: New Sunrise. Britney Spears's father Jamie is back in the headlines,
2:23
Speaker 1: this time suggesting the pop superstar has dementia. The claims
2:28
Speaker 1: are made in a new documentary about the singer's controversial conservativeship,
2:32
Speaker 1: which has placed Jamie in control of her finances, business
2:35
Speaker 1: and personal life. Fans have disputed the explosive claim, saying
2:39
Speaker 1: it couldn't be possible for Spears to have dementia while
2:42
Speaker 1: releasing four albums as well as putting on high energy
2:45
Speaker 1: global tours and performing nearly two hundred and fifty Las
2:49
Speaker 1: Vegas shows. Well, that pretty much sums it up for me.
2:54
Speaker 1: With me an all star panel to make sense of
2:56
Speaker 1: what's happening. Doctor Jen Mann, therapist, host of Couples Therapy,
3:01
Speaker 1: Family Therapy on VH one, The Doctor Jen Show on
3:04
Speaker 1: Series XM. Author of the eight to Z Guide to Racing, Happy,
3:09
Speaker 1: Confident Kids, Wow, it goes on and on. Consultant for
3:13
Speaker 1: a minor consideration helping child stars, Doctor Jenn, I don't
3:18
Speaker 1: know if you have enough time to be with us today,
3:20
Speaker 1: so we'll make it breathe. Mike Kurman, private investigator at
3:23
Speaker 1: Herman Investigations dot com. Former lieutenant in the police force,
3:28
Speaker 1: contract court investigator focusing on catch this, guardianships, parental right
3:34
Speaker 1: termination and conservatorships. That's all he does. That's how he
3:39
Speaker 1: makes a living as a PI for cases just like
3:43
Speaker 1: this claim online dot com investigative reporter Alexis terres Chuck.
3:48
Speaker 1: But first to our legal expert Jeffrey H. Skateoff joining us.
3:57
Speaker 1: He's a managing partner at Clark skate Off, Hea and
4:00
Speaker 1: skate Off. I think you still Clark he needs, but
4:03
Speaker 1: his name behind yours. But that's just me, jeff thirty
4:07
Speaker 1: something year old superstar. Did you hear the AUSA reporter
4:11
Speaker 1: claiming two hundred and fifty Vegas shows, high energy, global tours,
4:16
Speaker 1: four albums, all while she has dementia. Well, that certainly
4:20
Speaker 1: sounds a far fetch to me. And indeed, one can
4:24
Speaker 1: have dementia and still not even be in a conservatorship
4:27
Speaker 1: as Jamie's in right now. The standard for having someone
4:33
Speaker 1: run your affairs in a conservatorship is that you can't
4:36
Speaker 1: handle them yourself, and certainly people with some dementia or
4:39
Speaker 1: other minor medical issues would certainly still be able to
4:42
Speaker 1: do that without a conservator. So something else is obviously
4:45
Speaker 1: going on. I'm trying to actually and I've got a JD.
4:49
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make sense of what you said. I
4:51
Speaker 1: thank you said. People that have mild dementia don't always
4:55
Speaker 1: need a conservator, and it doesn't sound like she's got
4:58
Speaker 1: dementia to you? Of course you're not an MD, right
5:01
Speaker 1: or are you? You may be certainly I'm not an MD.
5:05
Speaker 1: But anybody with this level of high function just listening
5:10
Speaker 1: to her, see all of the shows that she's done,
5:12
Speaker 1: she clearly doesn't have dementia. You know another thing jumping
5:16
Speaker 1: off what Jeff Skateoff just said, And this is one
5:18
Speaker 1: of his specialties. Mike Herman PI, private investigator. You can
5:22
Speaker 1: find him at Herman Investigations dot com. That's Herman with
5:25
Speaker 1: two ends on the end, and this is one of
5:28
Speaker 1: his specialties. Mike, I mean, you're the PI for cases
5:32
Speaker 1: just like this. Your herd Skateoff. How can you argue?
5:37
Speaker 1: I mean, this is making me lose confidence in anything
5:41
Speaker 1: the father Jamie Spears is saying, because this woman clearly
5:45
Speaker 1: does not have dementia, I mean, it really torpedoes his
5:49
Speaker 1: whole theory. Well, for people with dementia and conservatorships, there's
5:53
Speaker 1: a whole process to go through that you'd have to
5:56
Speaker 1: question them around to even try to verify whether that's
6:00
Speaker 1: the case. Obviously, you'd want them seen by a medical
6:03
Speaker 1: professional and see if you'd get a capacity decoration to
6:08
Speaker 1: state that just because somebody says, it doesn't make it true.
6:11
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, sometimes in conservatorships where families battle, you get
6:15
Speaker 1: a lot of false allegations like these that you have
6:18
Speaker 1: to look into and try to prove or disprove. Now
6:21
Speaker 1: to Crime online dot Com investigative reporter Alexis Terrest. You
6:24
Speaker 1: can find her at Twitter at swimmy two thousand and nine.
6:28
Speaker 1: Alexis is great to have you with us. As always,
6:31
Speaker 1: let's just start at the beginning. But the headline right
6:35
Speaker 1: now before we backtrack, is this. Take a listen to
6:39
Speaker 1: film maker and Mobinazar. In the documentary, we show the
6:43
Speaker 1: court documents. The justification provided from Brittaney entering conspatorship is
6:50
Speaker 1: that she has early onset dementia, which of course is possible,
6:55
Speaker 1: but if you look at statistics in the US, under
7:00
Speaker 1: forty account for less than five percent of cases for dementia,
7:04
Speaker 1: So it seems extremely unlikely, particularly given that this conservatorship
7:09
Speaker 1: started thirteen years ago, so at that point Brittany was
7:13
Speaker 1: still in her twenties. So it's possible that she has dementia,
7:18
Speaker 1: I think it's extremely unlikely, and you have to ask
7:20
Speaker 1: the question if she doesn't have dementia, and that's the
7:24
Speaker 1: justification that's been given, then then what is the motivation
7:30
Speaker 1: and who is benefiting? You know, he filmmaker Mobinas are
7:35
Speaker 1: speaking with Ireland. Am is making a really good point.
7:39
Speaker 1: So let's get out of what they think. Alexis choice
7:42
Speaker 1: check and you tell me what's happening right now. Well,
7:45
Speaker 1: Brittany is battling her father in the Conservative She's been
7:49
Speaker 1: under this conservatorship for over a decade and it started
7:52
Speaker 1: because she went crazy, and that is not a legal term.
7:58
Speaker 1: A minute, I've already asked skated off this. But as
8:01
Speaker 1: I recall, your journalist not a medical doctor, much less
8:05
Speaker 1: a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Yet you said Britney Spears
8:08
Speaker 1: went crazy, and I having no leg to stand on,
8:12
Speaker 1: I have to say I don't think she went crazy.
8:14
Speaker 1: I think she went through a very bad spot as
8:17
Speaker 1: she got connected with a lot of really bad players
8:20
Speaker 1: that were trying to use her in her life and
8:23
Speaker 1: she ended up sitting on the curve and a mini
8:25
Speaker 1: skirts and ripped stockings, crying with mascara running down her face. Now,
8:31
Speaker 1: I think she was overly judged by the public. And yes,
8:35
Speaker 1: there were other incidents where she got baker acted. In
8:38
Speaker 1: other words, admitted to the hospital for observation. But I
8:41
Speaker 1: don't know that she went crazy. Alexis. She was calling
8:47
Speaker 1: up stores in Beverly Hills at four o'clock in the
8:50
Speaker 1: morning and telling the manager to come and open them
8:52
Speaker 1: so she could go shopping. It's one in the morning.
8:54
Speaker 1: Didn't Michael Jackson do that in Vegas? And nobody said
8:57
Speaker 1: he was crazy. They thought he was eccentric, remembering in
9:01
Speaker 1: all those biggest stores buying all that stuff. He didn't
9:03
Speaker 1: need closing this sto the next day. The next day,
9:08
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson did it. So why is she crazy? And
9:11
Speaker 1: they're not ended all people whose lives tragically ended Elvis
9:16
Speaker 1: with the drugs overdose. Michael Jackson, I'm not impressed Britney
9:20
Speaker 1: has been stopped. So what has happened is Britney's family
9:23
Speaker 1: stepped in to stop this crime. Stories with Nancy Grace,
9:36
Speaker 1: we're talking about Britney Spears. First point, everybody loves Britney Spears.
9:41
Speaker 1: She's been judged harshly by the press, but now press aside,
9:47
Speaker 1: we're learning her father, Jamie Spears, who was a conservator
9:51
Speaker 1: for her massive about a sixty plus million dollar empire,
9:57
Speaker 1: has claimed she has dementia. Okay, Alexis trust, shut you
10:01
Speaker 1: and I can go wrestle in the mud about whether
10:04
Speaker 1: she's crazy. But a lot of stars want to close
10:07
Speaker 1: down stores to shop. Sadly, the two examples I picked
10:11
Speaker 1: are both dead, but there are many many other stars
10:15
Speaker 1: that do that. Hey, just yesterday. When's the last time
10:19
Speaker 1: you've got a driver's license? Alexis, Trust Chuck, It's been
10:21
Speaker 1: a while? Oh wow, Okay that's vague. But since we're
10:25
Speaker 1: not in a a para law, I can't paint you down.
10:27
Speaker 1: I bet you had to stand in line, didn't you. Yeah? Okay,
10:31
Speaker 1: well just yesterday, Gwyneth Paltrow, you know, goop, Gwyneth Paltrow
10:37
Speaker 1: somehow managed to jump the line. It showed a picture
10:41
Speaker 1: of like eighty people standing in line and the sun
10:44
Speaker 1: to get their driver's license. But she somehow managed to
10:48
Speaker 1: cut the line, and how someone escort her through? So
10:52
Speaker 1: how is that anymore crazy than Britney Spears asking in
10:56
Speaker 1: a store to shut down so she can shop without
10:58
Speaker 1: the paparazzi? Three inches rear? End, She's not crazy? Continue,
11:03
Speaker 1: So Britney's dad has a conservativeship over her. Now what
11:06
Speaker 1: this means is she cannot really make any decisions about
11:11
Speaker 1: her money or things like buying three cars at one
11:15
Speaker 1: time or okay, right there, did she buy three cars
11:19
Speaker 1: at one time? Yes? You know. Have you seen her show?
11:24
Speaker 1: I sadly have not gotten to go see her show.
11:26
Speaker 1: But she works her rear end off. She's working hard
11:30
Speaker 1: for the money to steal a phrase, So why not
11:32
Speaker 1: buy three cars? I mean, I feel like you're judging her, Alexis.
11:36
Speaker 1: I don't like anything you're saying. I love Britney Spears,
11:39
Speaker 1: but she was out of control because she had she
11:43
Speaker 1: had so many bad people around her. Everybody was taking
11:47
Speaker 1: advantage of her. Every single person that was involved in
11:50
Speaker 1: her life was spending her money, was having her just
11:54
Speaker 1: do wild things, things that she didn't even really want
11:57
Speaker 1: to be doing. Brittany was not making music, she wasn't
12:00
Speaker 1: hanging out with her children. She didn't have custody of them.
12:03
Speaker 1: She had nothing except these hanger on that we're trying
12:06
Speaker 1: to take advantage of her that we're with her at
12:09
Speaker 1: four o'clock in the morning. Okay to doctor Jen Man,
12:12
Speaker 1: a family therapist and author of The eight to Ze
12:15
Speaker 1: Guy to raising happy, confident children, and she works with
12:19
Speaker 1: a minor consideration helping child stars. You know, doctor Jen,
12:24
Speaker 1: I've heard a lot about how Britney Spears is quote crazy.
12:28
Speaker 1: Now I do agree. She had a psychotic break when
12:32
Speaker 1: she had her children at that episode, at that incident,
12:37
Speaker 1: and she didn't want to give them back to the
12:39
Speaker 1: ex federline, and she locked the doors and was threatening suicide.
12:44
Speaker 1: I believe I would call that a psychotic break. But
12:49
Speaker 1: to label somebody crazy is a whole another can of worms,
12:54
Speaker 1: Doctor Jen, Doctor Jen, take a listen to this. These
12:58
Speaker 1: are our friends at CBSLA. Britney Spears wants to address
13:03
Speaker 1: the judge and her conservatorship case. That's right. During today's hearing,
13:07
Speaker 1: spears court appointed attorneys said that the pop star wants
13:10
Speaker 1: to address the judge in court. However, he did not
13:13
Speaker 1: say with the thirty nine year old singer wants to say.
13:16
Speaker 1: The judge did not say if she would grant the request,
13:19
Speaker 1: but she did schedule a June twenty third follow up hearing.
13:23
Speaker 1: Spears has been under a conservatorship since two thousand and eight.
13:26
Speaker 1: Her father, Jamie Spears, and the Bessemer Trust Company are
13:30
Speaker 1: the co conservators of the Spears estate and share management
13:34
Speaker 1: of her business affairs too. Doctor gen Mann. The reality
13:38
Speaker 1: is Britney Spears is not asking to end the conservatorship.
13:43
Speaker 1: She admits to what some of what Alexis Terreschutt reported
13:47
Speaker 1: that she had wild spending habits, that some of her
13:51
Speaker 1: actions were a little out of control. The reality is
13:55
Speaker 1: she's not trying to kick out the conservatorship. She's simply
13:59
Speaker 1: asking to dump her father as her conservator. I don't
14:04
Speaker 1: think that's asking too much way in what you say happening,
14:08
Speaker 1: doctor jan Well, I think this whole dementia idea that
14:13
Speaker 1: is being brought up is very bizarre and the only
14:16
Speaker 1: thing that I can make of it, And I think
14:19
Speaker 1: that your conservatorship expert, which can probably speak to this
14:22
Speaker 1: better than I can, is it look as a mental
14:25
Speaker 1: health expert, everything that we saw in twenty o eight,
14:28
Speaker 1: and we've seen kind of little bits and spurs of
14:32
Speaker 1: since you know, her inability to sleep, her sending spreeze,
14:37
Speaker 1: her shaving her head, having a breakdown, you know, which
14:41
Speaker 1: you have acknowledged as well. All this sort of stuff
14:44
Speaker 1: that we saw seems a lot more along the lines
14:47
Speaker 1: of something by polar which the media has speculated for
14:50
Speaker 1: a very long time. Aren't you digging a little deep
14:54
Speaker 1: into the barrel to go all the way back to
14:56
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. Well, I'm not, and I'll tell
14:59
Speaker 1: you why. Because one of the things we look at
15:01
Speaker 1: in assessing mental health is a pattern of behavior. And
15:04
Speaker 1: if somebody does something from two thousand and eight, that
15:08
Speaker 1: is it looks like a pattern of something along the
15:11
Speaker 1: line to bipolar, and then they're doing it now that
15:14
Speaker 1: perhaps someone stops taking their medication. And I'm not saying
15:18
Speaker 1: that she's doing something now that indicates that I don't
15:21
Speaker 1: think we have enough information. I think that she has
15:24
Speaker 1: been laying low. She has not been in the media
15:26
Speaker 1: as much, which I think is a very good thing
15:27
Speaker 1: for her mental health. But my point just being that
15:31
Speaker 1: perhaps a conservatorship might not look at bipolar since it
15:35
Speaker 1: is very treatable with medication, with therapy, and something that
15:39
Speaker 1: would prevent someone from managing their own estate. So they're
15:42
Speaker 1: coming up with this bipolar or this dementia idea because
15:46
Speaker 1: that's something that would prevent someone from managing their estates.
15:49
Speaker 1: But I'm not seeing any science. As someone who has
15:52
Speaker 1: been been trained in assessing mental health issues and cognitive issues,
15:56
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing anything publicly advice they indicate dementia. It
16:01
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Guys. Take a listen to Britney Spears
16:04
Speaker 1: choreographer Brian Freedman speaking to IV. You should be rewarded
16:10
Speaker 1: the basic luxuries of life, like driving a car, having
16:13
Speaker 1: a phone to call your friends, being able to be
16:16
Speaker 1: in a room alone with someone like me. And I
16:19
Speaker 1: haven't been in a room alone with her since the
16:22
Speaker 1: early two thousands. Gosh, and you have to try to
16:25
Speaker 1: make content because that must be quite difficult to actually
16:29
Speaker 1: just get in touch with her. Yeah, it's it's virtually impossible.
16:33
Speaker 1: And we've worked together since it's just been a different situation.
16:37
Speaker 1: There's always someone around, and you don't really get to
16:41
Speaker 1: have that intimate personal friend time like we used to.
16:46
Speaker 1: You know, it almost sounds Alexis Terres shut clime online
16:50
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter that she always has a quote
16:54
Speaker 1: minder with her. That doesn't sound like freedom to me.
17:00
Speaker 1: One person's opinion of it. She has a boyfriend that
17:03
Speaker 1: she is with all the time. There never seems to
17:05
Speaker 1: be a minder of the two of them are together.
17:07
Speaker 1: She has been posting pictures lately that she's with her son.
17:11
Speaker 1: She's really she's such a cute mom. Like your kids
17:13
Speaker 1: or teenager's mind a little bit younger. But she said,
17:15
Speaker 1: my kids had to have approval of these pictures that
17:18
Speaker 1: I put up on my social media because they are
17:20
Speaker 1: so concerned it, which is I think, just a cute,
17:23
Speaker 1: normal mom thing. She is trying to lead as normal
17:27
Speaker 1: of a life as possible. She's been on vacation. She
17:30
Speaker 1: even during the pandemic. She went down to Louisiana to
17:32
Speaker 1: visit her family, where she's from. She came back she said,
17:35
Speaker 1: now I've had to quarantine. I had to do everything
17:37
Speaker 1: that everyone else is doing. I mean, she is living
17:40
Speaker 1: a very low key lifestyle. Doesn't sound like she has
17:43
Speaker 1: dementia she's speaking about. I had to quarantine, just like
17:46
Speaker 1: everybody else, and I can tell you what's going on
17:49
Speaker 1: while she hasn't. Why she hasn't been performing lately is
17:53
Speaker 1: because she announced she was not performing again until Jamie Spears,
17:58
Speaker 1: her father was removed moved from the conservatorship. Guys, take
18:04
Speaker 1: a listen to this from our friends at crime Online.
18:08
Speaker 1: Britney Spears began entertaining at a very young age. At
18:11
Speaker 1: the tender age of eight, she auditions for the Mickey
18:13
Speaker 1: Mouse Club, but is rejected for being too young at
18:17
Speaker 1: age ten, came an appearance on Star Search. Our card
18:20
Speaker 1: Champion is going for win number two and sings to
18:23
Speaker 1: become next year's Champion. Does that sound nice? Gang? Next
18:28
Speaker 1: year's Champey from Jendwood, Louisiana, Here is ten year old
18:33
Speaker 1: Britney Spears. Spears wins the first round of competition, but
18:38
Speaker 1: loses the second. Spears auditions again for The Mickey Mouse
18:41
Speaker 1: Club at eleven and joins a cast that ultimately become
18:45
Speaker 1: household names actress Carrie Russell, singer Christina Aguilera, and Justin
18:50
Speaker 1: timber Lake. When The Mickey Mouse Club is canceled, Spears
18:53
Speaker 1: is signed to Jive Records. In nineteen ninety eight, she
18:56
Speaker 1: records her debut album, hit Me Baby One More Time.
18:59
Speaker 1: The lead single debuts at number one on the Billboard
19:03
Speaker 1: two hundred Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. With all that
19:18
Speaker 1: fame right now, Britney Spears headed back to court to
19:21
Speaker 1: fight a conservatorship. Guys, in the last days, we learned
19:25
Speaker 1: that her conservator, her father, Jamie Spears, has made the
19:31
Speaker 1: unfathomable claim that she has dementia. Even when you hear
19:37
Speaker 1: her speaking now, there is no sign dementia. Now that
19:42
Speaker 1: is just a lay person's opinion. But take a listen
19:46
Speaker 1: to Britney Spears on fame media and the paparazzi. Have
19:52
Speaker 1: you gotten a point where you see yourself as a
19:54
Speaker 1: role model to all these other terrals out there that
19:57
Speaker 1: are looking up to you and the people you say
19:59
Speaker 1: and do, And if they want to put me up
20:01
Speaker 1: on a pedestal like that, that's really sweet. And it's
20:04
Speaker 1: just that I'm human and I make mistakes just like
20:06
Speaker 1: everybody else, and I can just try and be a
20:08
Speaker 1: good person for me and for them as well. But
20:10
Speaker 1: it's flattering though that if they view me as being
20:13
Speaker 1: that way, do you get a hyper sensitive about what
20:17
Speaker 1: you're saying or doing on camera? People are going to say, no,
20:21
Speaker 1: not really. I mean I can just be myself and
20:24
Speaker 1: you know, if they have a problem with that, then
20:26
Speaker 1: you know what can I do? Back to Jeffrey H. Skateoff,
20:30
Speaker 1: estate planning lawyer and expert in this field, joining us
20:35
Speaker 1: out of Florida, Jeffrey, we know that in just a
20:39
Speaker 1: matter of days Britney Spears is going to be back
20:42
Speaker 1: in court, and we believe she may appear on her
20:46
Speaker 1: own behalf and ask the judge to remove her father
20:51
Speaker 1: from the conservator's ship. Now, I think that's a very
20:54
Speaker 1: good tactical decision, because if she tried to completely get
20:57
Speaker 1: rid of the conservator's ship, that would be a bold move.
21:00
Speaker 1: But these are baby steps she's taking. What do you
21:04
Speaker 1: how do you think the recently uncovered claim of dementia
21:09
Speaker 1: is going to help or hurt her father he's really
21:13
Speaker 1: finding to stay in control of her assets. Well, I
21:16
Speaker 1: think it's going to potentially harm his ability to stay
21:20
Speaker 1: on as a conservator if he's basically making up things
21:23
Speaker 1: or asserting things that aren't true. And in any event,
21:25
Speaker 1: even if she has some touch of dementia, which there's
21:28
Speaker 1: no evidence for, why would a father be saying this
21:32
Speaker 1: publicly That would harm his daughter not help her in
21:36
Speaker 1: any way. So I think this could actually backfire on him.
21:39
Speaker 1: So what happens in a hearing like this, Jeff? Well,
21:42
Speaker 1: normally the lawyers will go to court and make whatever
21:46
Speaker 1: arguments they want. Sometimes the conservaty of the ward Brittany
21:50
Speaker 1: in this case, can come to court and talk directly
21:55
Speaker 1: to the judge to explain what's bothering you or what
21:58
Speaker 1: you want, and then the judge can take that into consideration.
22:01
Speaker 1: But most importantly, it allows the judge to directly ask
22:04
Speaker 1: her questions that she answers, without filtering by lawyers or
22:08
Speaker 1: other handlers. So the judge can get a very dissent
22:11
Speaker 1: of what I think I lost Jeff if you could
22:14
Speaker 1: get his satellite back. But in the meantime, guys, I
22:17
Speaker 1: want you to listen to our cut five. This is
22:20
Speaker 1: our friend, Amy Robot at GMA. The court hearing comes
22:25
Speaker 1: as a new documentary framing Britney Spears, takes a closer
22:29
Speaker 1: look at her conservatorship, which was put in place more
22:31
Speaker 1: than a decade ago following what appeared to be a
22:34
Speaker 1: public meltdown, bitter divorce and custody battle, and two hospitalizations.
22:40
Speaker 1: The documentary also follows her loyal army of fans in
22:43
Speaker 1: the Free Britney Movement, a group which claims the conservatorship
22:47
Speaker 1: is being used to control her against her will. If
22:49
Speaker 1: I'm wrong and one day Britney does come out and
22:51
Speaker 1: tells us that we're wrong and leave her alone, we
22:55
Speaker 1: will do just that on Thursday. So I'm showing up
22:58
Speaker 1: outside court, I can say something to Britney Spears. I
23:02
Speaker 1: would say, free am. We're here to support you. Earlier
23:05
Speaker 1: this week, Spears tweeting, each person has their story and
23:08
Speaker 1: their take on other people's stories. Remember, no matter what
23:12
Speaker 1: we think we know about a person's life, it is
23:14
Speaker 1: nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens. Wow,
23:19
Speaker 1: well said so alexas Terrestchat Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter.
23:24
Speaker 1: The Free Brittany movement has really brought all of these
23:29
Speaker 1: issues to a head, resulting in a courtroom showdown looming
23:33
Speaker 1: right now? Exactly if Brittany herself is actually going to
23:37
Speaker 1: appear in court and speak to the judge for the
23:39
Speaker 1: first time in years, and it may even be open
23:44
Speaker 1: to the public, which again would be the first time.
23:46
Speaker 1: Now Brittany has been to court. I've seen her in court,
23:48
Speaker 1: You've seen her in court, but this is going to
23:50
Speaker 1: be the first time she's going to speak to the
23:52
Speaker 1: judge in an open court. Let me figure this out
23:56
Speaker 1: to Mike Herman, private investigator whose specialty is conservatorships and guardianships, Mike,
24:04
Speaker 1: how do you how would you as a PI go
24:07
Speaker 1: about disproving claims that Britney Spears has dementia? Well, the
24:13
Speaker 1: overall for the conservatorship, we have to remember at the
24:16
Speaker 1: end of the day. It's to protect her both financially
24:21
Speaker 1: and personally well being. I did see recently that I
24:26
Speaker 1: believe her attorney has made a motion to open it
24:29
Speaker 1: up a little more public, which would actually allow everybody
24:32
Speaker 1: to see what actually what is going on. Again, you
24:37
Speaker 1: make the allegations she has dementia, but a medical doctor
24:41
Speaker 1: would have to make would have to agree with that,
24:43
Speaker 1: and they'd have to do a full analysis of it.
24:46
Speaker 1: And you know, to you, doctor jen Man, you can
24:49
Speaker 1: find her on Family Therapy VH one, the Doctor Gin Show,
24:52
Speaker 1: Serious XM. How do you go about proving someone has
24:57
Speaker 1: dementia as opposed to as you suggested by power. So
25:00
Speaker 1: there's a whole list of medical you know, kind of
25:05
Speaker 1: bullet pointed checklist that doctors go through to figure out
25:10
Speaker 1: if someone has to mention. And the same thing with
25:12
Speaker 1: mental health issues. Anytime you diagnose someone, there is a
25:15
Speaker 1: whole list. In psychology, there's what's called the DS the
25:19
Speaker 1: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which is basically the guidebook that
25:23
Speaker 1: therapists like me use in order to give someone a diagnosis.
25:28
Speaker 1: So it's really kind of going through that checklist and saying, Okay,
25:30
Speaker 1: does she have this or not does she qualify for
25:33
Speaker 1: this disorder, but to mention just again, like we've all
25:37
Speaker 1: been saying, it just seems very far fetched. And it
25:40
Speaker 1: it seems like there's a whole other reason that that
25:45
Speaker 1: is being brought up, and I suspect it has to
25:47
Speaker 1: do with the conservatorship more than an accurate diagnose. Coy
25:50
Speaker 1: Cyclist art Cut seven. This is Samantha Start, director of
25:53
Speaker 1: Framing Britney, spears. It's very confusing to us because what
25:57
Speaker 1: we do know about Jamie is that, um, when when
26:01
Speaker 1: Britney was growing up he struggled with alcoholism. We know
26:03
Speaker 1: he went to rehab. Um, we know he had had
26:06
Speaker 1: trouble managing money and filed for bankruptcy. Um, he and
26:11
Speaker 1: Lynn together, and it really you really don't see that
26:15
Speaker 1: much of him in Britney's life until this conservatorship happened.
26:20
Speaker 1: And you know, people a lot of the times they
26:22
Speaker 1: are asking me, why was Jamie chosen over Lynn Britney's mother.
26:26
Speaker 1: Britney's mother, as far as we know, didn't apply to
26:28
Speaker 1: be a conservator, so, um, Jamie was chosen. We also
26:32
Speaker 1: know that there were other people involved with this, so
26:35
Speaker 1: it's not her father by himself. There you know, there's lawyers,
26:39
Speaker 1: there's business managers, there's other people. So it's really unclear
26:46
Speaker 1: how how he became the person, you know, the face
26:49
Speaker 1: of this interesting to Alexis Dreschuk speaking of Britney Spears's mother,
26:54
Speaker 1: where is she and all this? Lynn have been pretty
26:57
Speaker 1: low key. She hasn't been around, She had not been
27:00
Speaker 1: spending time with Brittany or the children. She's been Billie
27:02
Speaker 1: and Louisiana, where britney sister and brother both lived, but
27:06
Speaker 1: she has not been that involved in Britney's life in
27:09
Speaker 1: a very long time. Well, looks to me very close,
27:11
Speaker 1: But I think that Brittany felt that from past interviews
27:15
Speaker 1: and past things that she had said, that Lynn didn't
27:17
Speaker 1: really help her out when she was struggling with her
27:21
Speaker 1: dad and struggling with everything over a decade ago and
27:24
Speaker 1: they just became estranged. Well, can you tell me about
27:28
Speaker 1: do you remember the guy that introduced himself into Britney's
27:31
Speaker 1: life when everything went haywire? The Sam Lufty I think
27:35
Speaker 1: was his name. Did her mother introduce Lufty into her life?
27:40
Speaker 1: She did? Sam Lutfe met He is a person who
27:44
Speaker 1: had was such a bad influence on Britney Spears. He
27:47
Speaker 1: can say that again. He met her mom. He told
27:50
Speaker 1: Lynne he had a diamond business and he was going
27:53
Speaker 1: to have Lynn invest in it. You know, they've made
27:55
Speaker 1: money from Brittany parents of children, really famous children do.
28:00
Speaker 1: And Lenne was going to invest in a diamond company
28:02
Speaker 1: and make millions. Instead he gets involved with Brittany and
28:05
Speaker 1: all of the bad things that happened when Brittany happened
28:08
Speaker 1: when he was involved. And so now a judge has
28:11
Speaker 1: ruled that Sam cannot be anywhere near Brittany. He's not
28:14
Speaker 1: even allowed to speak about her, tweet about her, anything
28:17
Speaker 1: because he is so detrimental to her. And this started
28:21
Speaker 1: when Lynne introduced him to her. So this is a
28:23
Speaker 1: over ten years problem that Brittany has with her mom.
28:27
Speaker 1: Isn't it true that Lofty was her main confidant and
28:31
Speaker 1: her wingman, her running buddy at the time she was
28:36
Speaker 1: originally placed in the conservatorship and many people blame his
28:42
Speaker 1: fingali like influence on Britney Spears for a lot of
28:46
Speaker 1: her problems. Alexis, yeah, one hundred percent. He was the
28:50
Speaker 1: one that was with her when the big night when
28:53
Speaker 1: Brittany was not returned. She has two children, with Kevin Federline.
28:57
Speaker 1: Two little boys or teenagers now, but she you don't
29:00
Speaker 1: have a custody arrangement, and was supposed to return the
29:03
Speaker 1: kids at say, six o'clock at night, and didn't refuse
29:06
Speaker 1: to return them and locked herself in a bathroom with
29:09
Speaker 1: one of them. Well, sam Leffe was there the whole time.
29:12
Speaker 1: This is the night that the police came, the paramedic
29:15
Speaker 1: to get the boys. Ye. Well, also she felt fro
29:19
Speaker 1: that they were taking her boys. And let me just
29:22
Speaker 1: tell you what the New York Times said how they
29:24
Speaker 1: described Lofty quote. He's known for attaching himself to celebrities,
29:30
Speaker 1: often at vulnerable moments for them. He claimed to be
29:36
Speaker 1: her new manager, but her family said that he was
29:38
Speaker 1: actually more of a catalyst for her downfall. Now, various
29:44
Speaker 1: men have come in and out of her life, and
29:46
Speaker 1: seemingly her life has taken a lot of let me
29:49
Speaker 1: just say, Hairpin turns under the influence of other guys.
29:54
Speaker 1: Now another man her father is fighting tooth and Nill
30:00
Speaker 1: control off her empire. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys,
30:17
Speaker 1: take a listen to our cut number eight. This is
30:19
Speaker 1: Samantha start from framing Britney Spears she was in charge
30:23
Speaker 1: of her personal life, meaning you know, her medical care,
30:28
Speaker 1: like making decisions about her medical care. What who comes
30:31
Speaker 1: to visit her? You know, if she can have security
30:34
Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day and that recently he stepped
30:38
Speaker 1: down from that and now she has a temporary conservator
30:41
Speaker 1: in charge of her person, but he is still right
30:44
Speaker 1: in charge of her estate, which means, you know, Britney
30:46
Speaker 1: can't sign check, she can't enter into business deals herself.
30:50
Speaker 1: Every single thing she buys has to be listed and
30:53
Speaker 1: monitored by the court. So we saw these court records
30:55
Speaker 1: that showed you know, five to seventy five at target
30:59
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars, that's our books, every single thing she spends
31:02
Speaker 1: and this is someone making millions of dollars. So you know,
31:07
Speaker 1: Lynn Spears recently she has to file it as an
31:10
Speaker 1: interested party because she's not technically part of the conservatorship.
31:14
Speaker 1: But recently she has higher lawyers and them come to
31:17
Speaker 1: court and she is also feels like her x husband
31:21
Speaker 1: should step down. Well, this would be my argument to
31:25
Speaker 1: the judge if I were representing Britney Spears. Take a
31:28
Speaker 1: listen our cut six again, Samantha Stark. You know it's
31:31
Speaker 1: it's really difficult because so many of the court records
31:34
Speaker 1: are sealed. A lot of them also include medical records,
31:37
Speaker 1: which are always sealed. The central mystery of our film
31:41
Speaker 1: really is how could somebody make millions of dollars performing
31:45
Speaker 1: in Vegas, headlining her own show, you know, appearing on
31:49
Speaker 1: The X Factor, and making albums and also qualify for
31:54
Speaker 1: this layer of protection which is usually meant for people
31:57
Speaker 1: who are incapable of making this visions in their own
32:00
Speaker 1: best interest. So it's very mysterious, and we don't know
32:04
Speaker 1: what the legal reasoning is behind it because all the
32:06
Speaker 1: records are sealed. To Geoffrey, a skate offf renown lawyer
32:12
Speaker 1: joining us out of Florida, Jeff Way, And I mean,
32:15
Speaker 1: how can she be performing, producing, hosting the way she
32:21
Speaker 1: is and be unable to control her affairs. I think
32:25
Speaker 1: it's clear at this point, having been in the guardianship
32:27
Speaker 1: for since two thousand and eight, that she wants to
32:31
Speaker 1: stay inside the guardianship to reduce the stress in her
32:35
Speaker 1: life and to allow her to do the things that
32:38
Speaker 1: she wants to do without having to worry about the
32:40
Speaker 1: things that she doesn't want to worry about anymore. I
32:42
Speaker 1: don't know what you're saying. The reason that she's still
32:45
Speaker 1: in the conservatorship she has an ask that it be terminated,
32:48
Speaker 1: and that's because she wants to stay in the conservatorship
32:51
Speaker 1: so she doesn't have to disagree the stress. She may
32:54
Speaker 1: be asking to keep the She may be not contesting
32:57
Speaker 1: the Conservativeship because she doesn't want to go so far
33:00
Speaker 1: with a judge the judge throws her out of court.
33:02
Speaker 1: She may be taking baby steps to achieve her and
33:05
Speaker 1: ultimately getting out from under the conservatorship, starting with getting
33:09
Speaker 1: rid of Jamie Spears. That's what she wants, but I
33:13
Speaker 1: think ultimately she wants out of the entire conservatorship control
33:16
Speaker 1: of her assets. But I'll play along with you, skate off,
33:19
Speaker 1: go ahead. So if she wanted to get out, she
33:22
Speaker 1: could come to court and say, I'm fine. You can
33:24
Speaker 1: have be examined by whatever medical expert you want, and
33:26
Speaker 1: it's based on how she can talk and handle herself.
33:30
Speaker 1: She probably could get out if that's really what she wants.
33:33
Speaker 1: But I believe that she wants to stay in the
33:34
Speaker 1: conservatorship to have basically people appointed by the court to
33:39
Speaker 1: help her run her life, especially her business empire, so
33:43
Speaker 1: she doesn't have to do it herself, and I think
33:45
Speaker 1: it puts her in a better place from her mental health,
33:48
Speaker 1: not having to worry about the stress of running what
33:50
Speaker 1: is a giant business empire. And I think he's really
33:54
Speaker 1: right about that, father, because she's not just Britney Spears.
33:57
Speaker 1: She is an industry, the Britney Spears industry. That she
34:03
Speaker 1: really is the mule in this scenario, carrying everybody else
34:07
Speaker 1: on her back. So again, Mike Kurman, you're the private investigator.
34:12
Speaker 1: How do you go about proving she is stable and
34:15
Speaker 1: she does not need spears her father as her conservator. Well,
34:20
Speaker 1: I have seen conservatorships where they're just the estate where
34:24
Speaker 1: people make a lot of money, but they're just very
34:27
Speaker 1: impulsive what they're buying and how they spend it. Look
34:30
Speaker 1: at Johnnie dipp Hey, hold on, there you go. Alexis
34:34
Speaker 1: terres Chuck, he's not dead, so he spends how much
34:38
Speaker 1: like fifty thousand dollars a month on wine all I'm
34:45
Speaker 1: spending and nobody's trying to put a conservatorship on him.
34:49
Speaker 1: He's another known example. What he's another bad example. So
34:53
Speaker 1: he beat up a life. You could say, maybe I
34:57
Speaker 1: went crazy when I bought a trampoline or a badminton
35:00
Speaker 1: set in the front yard. I don't know. It all depends.
35:03
Speaker 1: It's her money. She wants to buy three cars? Do
35:06
Speaker 1: what I do that I know he is homeless. When
35:09
Speaker 1: she is homeless and homeless people when she spends all
35:13
Speaker 1: of her money erratically, what people are gonna say? Why
35:16
Speaker 1: didn't anybody help her? I'm sorry, that's her our business.
35:20
Speaker 1: Whatever she wants, that's her our business to thrid her
35:23
Speaker 1: away her income or not. She's a grown woman. You
35:27
Speaker 1: do know, Alexis that we women do have the right
35:30
Speaker 1: to vote and get loans and buy houses in her
35:33
Speaker 1: own names. Now did you know that? Why not her?
35:37
Speaker 1: I believe that they're just trying to protect her assets.
35:40
Speaker 1: I don't think that she has restricted You know, if
35:42
Speaker 1: you look, she has to embarrassingly enough for her. Part
35:46
Speaker 1: of the conservativeship is she has to submit her ending.
35:49
Speaker 1: Somebody you know, collects it for her. She doesn't fill
35:52
Speaker 1: it out. But you know she has free range. She
35:54
Speaker 1: spends forty thousand dollars a year at Target. She shops online.
35:57
Speaker 1: She can really, she really can buy any things she wants. Again,
36:01
Speaker 1: she's like, in sixty million dollars, i'd be spending more
36:03
Speaker 1: than that at Target. Have you been to Target lately?
36:06
Speaker 1: There's a lot of good stuff there. Okay, doctor gen Man,
36:10
Speaker 1: help me. Apparently Alexis Terres Chuck thinks Britney Spears needs
36:14
Speaker 1: to be in a conservatorship. Maybe she does, but that financially,
36:20
Speaker 1: but that is her decision to make, and she wants
36:23
Speaker 1: someone holding the purse strings. I mean, this woman is
36:27
Speaker 1: the one making the living so everybody else can get
36:30
Speaker 1: paid in coluding her father. I do think that this
36:33
Speaker 1: goes back to kind of what we were talking about
36:35
Speaker 1: with two thousand and eight, and the reason why I
36:38
Speaker 1: think it does because there there was evidence of some
36:42
Speaker 1: bipolar disorder or something related, and one of the symptoms
36:47
Speaker 1: of bipolar is massive spending spree. And I suspect that
36:52
Speaker 1: Brittany may be just as nervous that she may get
36:55
Speaker 1: out of control with her spending as others around her, because,
36:58
Speaker 1: like we've talked about, she's nothing. I don't want conservatorship.
37:02
Speaker 1: She should think, I don't want my dad to be
37:03
Speaker 1: in charge of it. So that leaves me to believe
37:06
Speaker 1: that she may feel uncomfortable or nervous about her own
37:10
Speaker 1: ability to control her impulse, you know, Jeff skate Off
37:15
Speaker 1: a guide us here. So often we see, for instance,
37:19
Speaker 1: former child stars or really a lot of stars, and
37:23
Speaker 1: they always get a picture of them pushing around a
37:25
Speaker 1: grocery cart on the streets of la with all their
37:28
Speaker 1: belongings in it. They're homeless. Of course, nobody wants that
37:32
Speaker 1: to happen to Britney Spears. But certainly there's got to
37:37
Speaker 1: be a middle ground here. What would be an alternative? Jeff, Well,
37:43
Speaker 1: that's one of the problems that we face in this area,
37:45
Speaker 1: which is there really isn't a middle ground either. You've
37:48
Speaker 1: got your full right, don't give any problems solutions, skate Off.
37:52
Speaker 1: We wish we had some solutions, because there is really
37:54
Speaker 1: no solution to deal with somebody who's partially able to
37:57
Speaker 1: handle their fares and that's a that's a gaping hole
38:01
Speaker 1: in the system and I don't know that that can
38:03
Speaker 1: ever be fixed because at the concern about making sure
38:05
Speaker 1: people have their own liberty to do what they want.
38:09
Speaker 1: So you're either in the conservatorship or you're not. How
38:11
Speaker 1: about a core, thin pointed business manager for her. I
38:17
Speaker 1: think that's the same thing as a conservatorship, but it's
38:21
Speaker 1: but Britney has both. Actually, she has three conservators. She's
38:24
Speaker 1: got two of her property to her estate, and she's
38:27
Speaker 1: got a different conservator for herself in her personal capacity,
38:31
Speaker 1: and that person can control her living arrangement and who
38:34
Speaker 1: she's allowed to socialize with. I think that she wants
38:37
Speaker 1: to stay in this arrangement so that she has somebody
38:40
Speaker 1: who can tell other people trying to bother her, influence
38:43
Speaker 1: her and do things that she doesn't want. Essentially, talk
38:46
Speaker 1: to the conservator. It's out of my hands. It reduces
38:48
Speaker 1: the stress on her. Jes skate off. Do you ever,
38:51
Speaker 1: when you face a court battle, throwout arguments you know
38:55
Speaker 1: aren't going to work, such as Britney Spears has dementia,
38:58
Speaker 1: because it will torpedo the rest of your legitimate case.
39:02
Speaker 1: You know, that's an interesting point. Don't let a bad
39:05
Speaker 1: argument harm your actual good arguments. So making bad arguments
39:10
Speaker 1: are saying things that you can't prove, is almost always
39:12
Speaker 1: a very bad idea. I've done in a million times
39:14
Speaker 1: going to court when I would have a witness that
39:17
Speaker 1: had really good testimony that would help me prove a case,
39:20
Speaker 1: but that witness had so many credibility problems they'd be
39:24
Speaker 1: ruined on cross and it would taint the rest of
39:28
Speaker 1: my case. Sometimes you know you've got to make a
39:30
Speaker 1: hard decision like that. But this cast out of the bag,
39:33
Speaker 1: the caliside of the barn. We know that Jamie Spears
39:37
Speaker 1: has alleged Britney Spears has dementia. Well he didn't seem
39:42
Speaker 1: to be singing that song when she was up on
39:43
Speaker 1: the stage performing paying his paycheck. We wait till this
39:49
Speaker 1: goes to court and justice. Unfoalds Nancy Grace Crime Story,
39:53
Speaker 1: signing off goodbye friend,