Britney Spears and Jason Trawick have split. This could be very good for Britney, or very bad.
Is she trying to break free? Or is she being even more tightly controlled by her father?
Spears has reportedly been bristling under a legal conservatorship that had given all financial and personal control to Trawick and dad Jamie Spears. Trawick, however, was reportedly removed today (Jan. 11) with the breakup.
Spears, 31, started on an emotional downslide in 2007 after her aunt Sandra Bridges Covington, with whom she had been very close, died of cancer that January.
Spears landed in rehab the following month, but bolted the facility after one day. She shaved her head bald the next day.
Her divorce from husband Kevin Federline was finalized in July of that year after a bitter custody fight. But she lost custody in less than three months for reasons that were never disclosed. It was during this time she was reportedly under the thumb of Sam Lufti, who allegedly kept her drugged.
The final blowout came in January 2008, when police were called to her house because she refused to give up her kids to Federline. Police suspected she was on drugs.
Three weeks later after more bizarre behavior, she committed under what’s known in California as a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. Her father became her legal custodian and has remained so ever since. Spears can’t even use a cell phone or the Internet without his permission.
As unsettled as her life seemed, Spears put out three albums, all of them platinum sellers, during her most troubled period.
She started dating her then-agent Trawick in May 2010, and seemed to get her life back on track. He quit representing her to focus on the relationship and was made a co-conservator. Last December the two became engaged.
Britney made a bid in August to end legal control over her personal life. The effort failed, again, for reasons that were never revealed. Rumors, unconfirmed, claim she has a bi-polar disorder which includes periods of extreme manic behavior.
Some have questioned whether her relationship with Trawick was real or arranged by her father. The breakup was described as “friendly,” by gossip site TMZ. A source told the site they simply “grew apart.”
The timing of the breakup is odd.
It follows on the heels of Spears’ decision to quit “X Factor,” although she’s reportedly negotiating a deal to do a residency in Las Vegas that would be far more lucrative.
Keith Girard has four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written non-fiction books on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War and Donald Trump and two novels, “The Heidelberg Conundrum” and “The Curse of Northam Bay.”