Dr. Drew shares some insight into the next steps in the singer's conservatorship.
Dr. Drew Pinsky says "it's about time" Jamie Spears was suspended as Britney Spears' conservator of her estate.
"I anticipate they will probably undo the conservatorship altogether. I think that's gonna be the next step," Dr. Drew tells ET. "The reality is the conservatorship in all likelihood saved her life. It was absolutely necessary at one time. It suggests she had [a] very, very serious mental illness and repeated mental health evaluations have confirmed that. But that doesn't necessarily mean somebody needs to be in a conservatorship indefinitely."
As of the latest hearing, Jamie will no longer oversee the singer's fortune and career, with Certified Public Accountant John Zabel appointed as temporary successor. Jamie's official removal will be decided at a later hearing.
Dr. Drew suggests that Britney's conservatorship "probably went on a lot longer than it should have." He attributes the prolonged conservatorship to Jamie being "too invested."
"He's not looking at her as an autonomous adult, but she in spite of a mental illness deserves a chance at autonomy for sure," he noted. "Now they can do it in such a way that they follow her very carefully. There can be checks and balances, psychiatric follow-up that she has to comply with, and the judge can watch her very carefully as she transitions into the world."
In Jamie's recent filing to end the conservatorship, however, he suggested that a psychiatric evaluation is not necessary for Britney. Meanwhile, Britney's attorney, Mathew Rosengart, told reporters after the hearing that "the goal" is to free Britney from her conservatorship by her 40th birthday on Dec. 2.
If and when the conservatorship ends, Dr. Drew explained that there likely will be a transition put in place. "None of us really know exactly what's going on. We're not involved with her care," he said. "She's been stable for a long time. The issue will be, will she remain stable when she goes out into the world?"
As for the allegations brought up in the Controlling Britney Spears documentary that alleged her conservators bugged her phone and home, Dr. Drew said he was "disturbed" to hear that.
"I am disturbed that the conservatorship team felt they had to essentially spy on her, but once again we don't know the parameters of the conservatorship," he added. "They may have been charged with doing things like that lest they incur liability if something bad happened to her. That may have been part of their responsibility. It seems ridiculous, it seems excessive, I don't like it, but we really don't know what their charge was at the time."
Noting that essentially the "court sets the whole thing up," he continued to point out that there is so much we don't know. "The point is it violates all of our sensibilities. The idea that someone was monitoring her bedroom, it's awful. But there may have been a lot involved in that her people were worried about her safety and were trying to keep her safe."
As for Jamie's future, he said that the allegations may warrant an investigation, but also looked at the father's perspective.
"As a father who has been concerned about his daughter with a serious illness for many, many years, if you're the father and you think you've done what's right, you're probably willing to take those punches," he explained. "If you've gotta sit up and take the punches on behalf of your child, you'll just do it. So if he's a good guy, which I suspect that he is --- again she's done exceedingly well, the fact that she's been so stable, she hasn't been in the hospital, she's been able to work, she now has her own money, that speaks volumes about the efficacy of what her therapeutic team and this conservatorship have done."
But above all else, while the relationship between father and daughter is torn, Dr. Drew stated that Britney "deserves the chance" to live her life without the conservatorship.
One relationship that is blossoming is that of Dr. Drew and his daughter, Paulina. The two co-authored It Doesn't Have to Be Awkward (out now).
"This book was a wonderful surprise. It was supposed to be a book about consent but as I was thinking about writing, I thought, it's 15-year-olds or 20-year-olds. I need a young person sitting here," he shared. "So I invited my daughter who is a writer and it was really a kind of glorious experience. We got closer as a result. I learned about what's going on in her mind and there's a lot going on and it's pretty nice. I like what I found there."
Dr. Drew shared that the biggest challenge was working as colleagues and not father and daughter. "It strengthened [our relationship]," he said. "It was a good experience and she's a wonderful partner to have in this project."
For more on Britney's conservatorship, watch below.
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