Britney and Jamie at the airport in LA on 11/24/08. Credit: Fame
The National Enquirer has an article this week about how Britney’s dad is being so controlling he’s pushing key people out of her life, including some of her dancers and her long term choreographers. Jamie set the requirement that all dancers be drug tested, and he also demanded that they not drink around Britney, spend any free time with her or even talk to her, if the Enquirer is accurate. Jamie is said to have been so demanding during auditions for dancers that Britney’s choreographers ended up quitting.
The most interesting part of this story is the tidbit that Britney’s choreographers told her dad she wasn’t ready to perform yet – but he insisted that she was and is said to be the driving force behind her arguably premature comeback:
Jamie Spears’ strict control over daughter Britney’s upcoming “Circusy ” tour drove her concert director and dance choreographer to quit.
That’s the real reason behind the recent exit of tour director Wade Robson and lead choreographer Andre Fuentes, sources told The Enquirer. Both men have worked with Britney since the beginning of her career, but they’d had enough of Jamie’s rules, curfews, drug tests and controlling nature, say insiders…
Jamie blamed Wade, who has worked with Britney since 1999, and Andre, who started with Britney in 1998, for the singer’s lackluster live performances – even though both men told Jamie she wasn’t ready to take the stage.
“Jamie didn’t want to hear it,” said the source. “Instead, he said they were coddling Britney and were letting her get away with too much.”
The final straw for Wade and Andre came during auditions for new dancers when they returned from Japan.
“Jamie sat in on the auditions and was trying to call the shots,” said the source.
Wade and Andre quit the next day. Jamie hired choreographer Jamie King, fresh off Madonna’s hugely successful “Stick & Sweet” Tour, to take over.
[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 12, 2008]
There’s little doubt that Jamie has really turned Britney’s life around, although it makes you wonder what his motivations were. Britney has said that she wants to work and enjoys working, but she’s also expressed frustration with the restraints she’s under. If this report is true, maybe Jamie’s reasons for getting his daughter back on track had more to do with turning her into a money maker again than ensuring that she’s happy and healthy. Maybe it’s not not that clear cut and once she was able to work it just became the main priority for everyone.
Sure Britney has benefitted from the changes, but it sounds like more of the same for her – she’s being pushed into things just like when she was as a teen star. Britney is an adult now and she’s doing what she knows, which involves lip syncing, dancing and obeying orders. It’s hard to speculate what’s best for Britney or what course she should take, though, when she was doing so poorly before.
Again, family shouldn’t be paid to take care of family. That poor girl.
excuse me..but why does everyone feel so sorry for her?
first point: she has made millions! she can live from that money…she should make space in the business for people who are new, fresh and don’t have such big issues. it’s not like she has to work for her living.
second: when she is mental ill..she should retire and take some time for herself. get a private life…move somewhere where she’s not under the radar. and that works for other celebrities very well (to be not under the radar).
third: she just seems to me very insecure and unstable in interviews…i think she’s a puppet for the industrie and parts of her family. and i have to say…when you don’t buy her stuff…you don’t hurt her…because she made her millions…you hurt her family and the industrie who is using her and who wants more and more. i think people should think about it.
I think she is a commodity, nothing more to her family. Think about where she was a year ago. This seems crazy that she should be out on the PR trail working so hard already. I mean, its not like she took a year off after having a mental meltdown. As someone who struggles with mental illness, I see her as having no time to deal with any issues. If her father wants her to be clean and sober, don’t worry about who she associates with on the road. If he cared, he’d let her rest and spend lots of time with her children. Pretty sure the boys are into drugs or alcohol, yet.
I can see her having one major comeback, so to speak, but that’s about it. Her fresh faced, school girl, I’m not trying to be sexy but don’t I turn you on? appeal is pretty much done for. I’m sure work is good for her in a constructive way, but since she can’t actually sing any better than Kanye West…oh, wait. Never mind.
How does being her conservator or whatever extend to sitting in on auditions for dancers? Cracker, sit down. Talk about overstepping – now he’s truly tramping on her territory. She needs something of her “own” and that should be realized and respected by the people around her.
I don’t know if I believe the NE on this one. After watching that documentary – crappy though it was – it sure seemed like this comeback is being driven by Britney. Based on the footage in that doc, her dad is totally stressed out because she doesn’t listen to a word he says. Also, if you believe the rumors from years ago, Britney was sexually involved with Wade Robson for years and cheated with him while she was dating Justin Timberlake. I wouldn’t necessarily consider him a good influence.
Maybe her dad knows that she is going to try to mount this comeback with or without his help, so he’d better be involved and make sure she is taken care of rather than the alternative which would probably be a replay of the “Onyx Hotel” tour – we all know how that one turned out!
Personally, I think this girl is too mentally effed up to ever get her career back….besides, are we really missing the computer enhanced vocals and recycled dance moves??? Whoever said she is a “commodity” is correct, and that’s why instead of doing what they should have, her “handlers” pushed her back into work when everyone on earth can tell she is sooooooo not ready. She doesn’t even have confidence in herself anymore, how are we supposed to? She can’t be her own person because what she thinks of herself is so tied into what other people think! She was a little girl forced to grow up fast, and I think that is where she is stuck, around 13 yrs old or so. I mean, does it really take a rocket scientist to figure out this environment is toxic for her??? Great job parents, you’ll be set financially for life, but you can say buh-bye to your daughter FOREVER. If she had a lick of sense she would do away with everyone in her life, take what’s left of her money, pick up her children and move to some secluded beach island somewhere. GROW THE FUCK UP BRIT TWIT, it’s time to be an adult and take charge of your own life; stop letting people with motives and agendas drive you where you don’t want to go.
well, let’s see…
when she isn’t working and has nothing to do she is a total wreck, loses control of her kids, is hospitalized, shops away her boredom, makes horrible decisions, and sleeps around.
when she is working she appears much more in control, has focus, is smiling (and not a crazed smile), has time with kids, is making money rather than losing it, isn’t sleeping around, isn’t letting random users into her life, and isn’t a joke of the industry.
so, i’m going to go with…this seems to be a step in the RIGHT direction for her! like she said in that documentary, she is susceptible to bad influences- vulnerable and naive. I guess that is what being a child star can do to you.
Finally somebody is opening their eyes on Jamie!
I think I call BS. The only life Brit knows is being an entertainer, so I think she’s calling/pushing for this. If the dancers can’t handle the drug testing, no adult beverages around Brit, etc, then they need to find another train wreck to party with. Not like there aren’t hundreds in abundance waiting for their own meltdowns…
BTW: Still think her papa has been the best influence in her chaotic life so far