Britney Spears’ dad Jamie, 71, hospitalized for ‘bad infection’ and remains ‘severely ill’ after emergency surgery
BRITNEY Spears' father, Jamie, has been diagnosed with a severe infection.
Jamie has been hospitalized for weeks and is battling a "bad infection."
The 71-year-old Spears patriarch's infection has worsened to the point where he must undergo surgery, exclusively reported on Thursday.
An insider told the publication that Jamie was "severely ill."
"Jamie has been suffering with a bad infection that has required surgery,” another source told PageSix.
"He has been hospitalized for weeks in a special infectious disease facility.”
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Jamie was hospitalized "just a few months ago" because of health complications following his knee replacement surgery this summer.
Sources told PageSix that Britney's former conservator "lost more than 25 pounds” and looked “extremely thin” while “in and out” of medical care.
Jamie was born on July 6, 1952, making him 71 years old.
He married Britney's mother, Lynne Irene Bridges, in 1975.
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FAMILY MAN
As well as Britney, 41, the couple have two other children, Bryan James, born in 1977, and Jamie Lynn, born in 1991.
In 2002 the couple divorced, but by 2010, they were widely reported to have gotten back together.
Before marrying Lynne, Jamie married his first wife Debbie Sanders Cross. The former couple have remained friends despite their split.
Jamie and Lynne also share five grandchildren - Sean Preston Federline (born 2005) and Jayden James Federline (born 2006) who are Britney's children, Maddie Briann Aldridge (born 2008) and Ivey Joan Watson (born 2018) who are Jamie Lynn's children, and Sophia Alexandra Spears (born 2011) from Bryan.
Jamie now lives in a trailer on the outskirts of Britney’s hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana.
FATHER KNOWS BEST
It was unclear what Jamie was doing for employment before he took on Britney's conservatorship, which became a full-time job for him until he was ousted from the role in 2021.
A conservatorship is a form of legal guardianship.
It grants a chosen individual full authority over another's life and assets.
The conservator typically holds the same rights and responsibilities as a parent would over a child.
It is typically enacted for individuals who are incapable of making their own decisions.
During that time, he was her agent, manager, and minder.
NOT WHAT YOU THINK
In December 2022, speaking exclusively for the first time about the 13-year conservatorship, which controlled almost every aspect of Britney's life, Jamie claimed he is far from the monster fans have painted him to be.
In his first interview in more than a decade, Jamie, speaking ahead of a book by Britney's ex-husband Kevin Federline about fatherhood amid the public drama, said: “My God, where would she be without that conservatorship now? I ain’t gonna paint you no pretty pictures.
"That conservatorship was one hell of a time, and without it, I don’t know if she would be alive now.”
Jamie has endured cruel slurs that claimed he wanted power over Britney to line his own pockets and micro-manage her career.
Even though he says all decisions under the order were taken jointly with a “group of very good people”, her fans saw him as a controlling puppet master.
Jamie added: “I love my daughter with all my heart and soul. This situation between us is just terrible.”
He also backed a claim by her ex-husband Kevin Federline, 45, that the court order did not destroy her relationship with her sons Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden, 17, — it made it possible for her to rebuild it.
Speaking to The Sun one year after a Los Angeles judge finally set his daughter free, he said: “I don’t believe she would’ve got the kids back without the conservatorship.”
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He also insisted he and Britney had “good times under the conservatorship” and claims it gave her two sons a sense of normality.
He said: “We could all help get the boys to and from the doctors, they didn’t ever go to school one day without lunch. The conservatorship also made sure that the boys never left that house without security.”
