Jamie Spears is speaking out for the first time in a long, long time about Britney Spears’ controversial conservatorship!

As you know, the 41-year-old singer was placed in a conservatorship in 2008 – with it being split into two parts: her estate/finances and entertainment decisions. Jamie ended up being appointed as the conservator for both, earning a stipend of $16,000 per month. Years later, following a lengthy legal battle, Britney was freed from the arrangement in November 2021. Ever since then, the pop sensation has used her newfound freedom to open up about the hardships she faced over the past 13 years at the hands of Jamie and others. She even spilled in a YouTube video that her dad “controlled everything I did” for a long time, but she “had to go along because I knew they could hurt me.”

Related: Sam Asghari Admits He Doesn’t Like Britney Posting Nude Photos

While Jamie has mostly kept quiet about the matter, except for previously saying the #FreeBritney movement was a “joke” that’s “run by conspiracy theorists,” he is now coming forward to double down and defend himself over putting his daughter into the conservatorship! In his first interview in more than a decade on Saturday, the 70-year-old insisted to Dailymail.com that his actions were necessary not only to save Brtiney’s life but to help her relationship with her sons Jayden James and Sean Preston Federline:

“Not everybody’s going to agree with me. It’s been one hell of a time. But I love my daughter with all my heart and soul. Where would Britney be right now without that conservatorship? And I don’t know if she’d be alive. I don’t. For protecting her, and also protecting the kids, conservatorship was a great tool. Without it, I don’t think she would have got the kids back.”

Jamie then said he has no contact with Britney or her children at this time. Touching on his falling out with the kids after they got a restraining order against him in 2019 due to an altercation, Jamie expressed:

“I miss my two boys really, really bad. I do. You know, we were very, very close. They were around that age where you could start having a good time with them. But they were developing a mind of their own. God makes things happen for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is but it’s been a tough three years without them. The family’s a mess. All we can do is keep praying.”

When it comes to the kids, Jamie shared that the conservatorship was allegedly meant to protect Jayden and Preston. Initially, Kevin Federline was granted full custody of the boys before Britney received 50 percent physical custody of them. Britney previously shared that the arrangements felt “like being in prison” – but Jamie maintains that wasn’t the case:

“We could take the kids to Europe. They didn’t miss time with their mother. They didn’t miss time with their father. Not many people knew that. The main purpose was to get Britney back with her kids in a comfortable relationship. We did everything in the world with them.”

Furthermore, he shockingly alleges that it was K-Fed and him who raised Jayden and Preston:

“My relationship with Kevin gave them a sense of peace, and of protection. Kevin will tell you this too – it was us who raised the kids. I just did what I was supposed to do, or felt like I needed to do. I didn’t make any decisions on my own – the team of people were me and my associate, and Kevin. We could all take the kids to the doctor, and to school. At that time Kevin had a lot going on. And the conservatorship made sure the boys never left that house without security. They didn’t go to school one day without lunch.”

Elsewhere, he claimed the conservatorship aided in rebuilding her finances because “she was broke” and “had no money, whatsoever,” adding:

“The conservatorship set a resource where she could get back financially. And, you know, we worked – and she worked – and she got herself straight up financially.”

During the conservatorship, fans saw Britney release four albums, go on three world tours, and perform a two-year residency in Las Vegas. Jamie continued:

“The conservatorship allowed the finances to be better. My understanding of a conservatorship is to help someone regain their life and return back to society, and to be able to live normally. I want to say that I made a difference. There were a few people behind me that really helped bring it to a point where we could help her.”

However, many people didn’t see it this way. As you may recall, the Crossroads actress canceled her second scheduled residency as she was going on a “work hiatus.” She ended up entering a psychiatric facility, and fans soon began to speculate that Jamie admitted her against her will. The #FreeBritney movement also believed that the conservator was restricting every aspect of Brit’s life. The speculation further escalated when the 2021 documentary Framing Britney Spears alleged that Britney’s cell phone and bedroom were bugged by security staff working for Jamie.

Later on, the star opened up about what she has dealt with for over a decade. In a court hearing, she claimed her dad was “abusive,” and he forced her to go on tour and into rehab and take psychiatric drugs. Jamie allegedly controlled so much of her life that he would not even allow her to remove her IUD. But in response to these allegations, Jamie replied:

“All I can say is that most people don’t have a clue what the truth is. Her lawyer doesn’t have a clue what the truth is. The media has not heard the truth. They’ve heard the allegations from Britney. I don’t mind taking that beating because I know it’s not true, and because I don’t want to start something else. For my daughter to end up going further down the hole than she had been.”

When asked if he believed the conservatorship continued for too long, he responded:

“I can’t answer that question. You can answer it yourself. Just look at how things are now.”

Wow…

Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Wonder if Britney will have something to say about this interview… Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via Entertainment Tonight/YouTube, WENN]

The post Jamie Spears Breaks His Silence -- Insists Britney Wouldn’t Be ‘Alive’ Without Conservatorship appeared first on Perez Hilton.