By Jenna Greene
IN HER new memoir, pop superstar Britney Spears offers up an unexpected hero: her lawyer.
Greenberg Traurig partner Mathew Rosengart in 2021 succeeded in freeing Ms. Spears from a 13-year conservatorship that the singer called “the darkest chapter of my life” and “the worst thing that could possibly ever happen to my music, my career, and my sanity.”
That is, she writes, until she hired Mr. Rosengart, who in short order succeeded in ousting Ms. Spears’ father as conservator, then ending the conservatorship altogether.
Ms. Spears writes in The Woman in Me published on Oct. 24 that while Mr. Rosengart’s legal strategy won the day, the lawyer also made sure she knew that she was instrumental in her own victory.
“He told me that I deserved the credit for what happened,” Ms. Spears writes.
Such validation after years of being controlled by her father meant “everything” to her, Ms. Spears added, describing Mr. Rosengart as “amazing.”
Praise from any client is always nice, of course. But when it comes from a world-famous singer who has sold 100 million records?
The recognition in Ms. Spears’ memoir was “particularly appreciated, because of Britney’s iconic status, and the stakes were so incredibly high,” Mr. Rosengart told me via e-mail.
Ms. Spears in her book doesn’t mention the 2,650-lawyer Greenberg Traurig firm by name — underscoring the old adage that clients hire the lawyer, not the firm — but her depiction of Mr. Rosengart is certainly a public relations (PR) windfall for him.
Not that he particularly needs it. Some of Ms. Spears’ fans on social media started calling him “RosenGod” after the conservatorship win, and Ms. Spears last year posted a photo with him on Instagram, the two both (coincidentally) outfitted in pink, writing “This man has turned my life around.” The photo got more than 1 million likes.
Still, Ms. Spears in her 275-page book for the first time details her experience in challenging the conservatorship — and makes it clear that Mr. Rosengart was key.
Ms. Spears did not respond to my attempt to reach her for comment via her publisher Simon & Schuster.
Ms. Spears’ father Jamie Spears, who was appointed conservator in 2008 after Spears was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation, is represented by Alex Weingarten, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Mr. Weingarten declined comment.
When the arrangement was put in place, the judge ruled it was “necessary and appropriate” to protect Ms. Spears and her estate, Reuters reported.
Except it went on for years, even as Ms. Spears continued to rake in millions via new albums and live performances.
And then she hired Mr. Rosengart.
The Los Angeles-based litigator and former US Justice Department prosecutor has represented entertainment industry clients including Sean Penn and Steven Spielberg, as well as corporations such as Meta Platforms and Verizon Communications in a wide range of litigation.
But his work on behalf of Ms. Spears in challenging the conservatorship was something new.
“The initial issue that attracted my attention was that this young woman, who had literally earned hundreds of millions of dollars as a performer, had been stripped of her civil liberties, for well over a decade, with no end in sight,” he said. “We worked closely together to restore those rights and her dignity, which had also been stripped away.”
The parties continue to fight over issues including payment of Jamie Spears’ legal fees, according to multiple media reports.
Ms. Spears, who shot to fame in 1999 at age 17 with her debut album Baby One More Time, writes of what she calls her “wild spell” preceding the conservatorship. She was going through a divorce, lost custody of her two sons, shaved her head, and had “been high on Adderall and acted crazy.”
At the same time, she noted, plenty of male artists have also had substance abuse or mental health issues. “No one tried to take away their control over their body and money,” Ms. Spears wrote.
It’s an accusation that resonates with Mr. Rosengart, who said he also wondered whether there was a “misogynistic component” to Ms. Spears’ situation, he told me. “Would this have happened to a man?”
According to Ms. Spears, the court-approved arrangement gave her father control over virtually all day-to-day aspects of her life such as what she ate and where she went.
The singer’s father also shared control over his daughter’s estate with lawyer Andrew Wallet, who did not respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Ms. Spears complained that Mr. Wallet was “paid $426,000 a year for keeping me from my own money.” After 42 years of practice, Mr. Wallet voluntarily resigned his California bar membership in 2022, bar records show.
She also criticized but did not name her “weird-ass” court-appointed lawyer, who she said “didn’t seem eager to help me understand what was going on or to fight for my rights.”
But Ms. Spears said she thought she wasn’t allowed to pick her own counsel.
Not true.
“The whole world knew I needed a new lawyer, and I finally realized the same thing,” she wrote.
She said she turned to her social media team and a friend to find Mr. Rosengart. “Once Mathew was in my corner, I felt that I was getting closer to the end,” she wrote.
Mr. Rosengart was “appalled that I’d been denied my own lawyer for so long,” Ms. Spears wrote. “He said even vicious criminals get to pick their own lawyers, and he said he hated bullying.”
Mr. Rosengart told me it’s a fundamental legal tenet that conservators must act in the best interests of conservatees, but in Ms. Spears’ case, “this clearly was not working,” he said.
Instead, Ms. Spears “found it to be a soul crushing, traumatic experience and she felt bullied and yet, she wasn’t being heard,” he said. “That was troubling, to say the least, and it was an honor to be in a position to help.” — Reuters