Concerns about Britney Spears’ dogs, alleged neglect and subsequent removal led to a confrontation with a housekeeper this week that led to an investigation into the singer for misdemeanors, reports said.
Conflicting reports from TMZ and Page Six offer differing views on whether Spears, 39, neglected her dogs. TMZ sources said their staff were concerned that she was not taking proper care of them, while a source for Page Six said Spears “admires her dogs and would never abuse them.”
Both TMZ and Page Six say the singer has concerns that Jamie Spears, her father, the embattled restorer of her property, was involved in having her dogs removed earlier this month. TMZ found that he was paying the housekeeper’s wages.
“Britney wants answers,” a source told Page Six. “She’s been through this before. In the past, the restorers threatened to take her children away from her, and now her dogs are nowhere to be found. It’s an all too familiar – and heartbreaking – feeling for her. “
Whatever her father’s alleged involvement, Spears became extremely upset and confronted the housekeeper with the dogs on Monday, TMZ and Page Six reported. TMZ said she was upset that the housekeeper took pictures of the dogs on her cell phone.
A scuffle over the phone is at the center of the investigation: Spears “sources” say she merely hit the phone, according to TMZ, but police sources say the housekeeper claimed Spears hit her arm, causing her to lose her grip on her phone. TMZ added.
A Ventura County sheriff’s department would not publicly confirm details of the confrontation, only that Spears is a suspect in a battery investigation after a co-worker reported that she “met her” at her home, “People said.
“Ultimately, this investigation will be referred to the prosecutor for review. It is a minor battery of offenses (investigation), ”Captain Eric Buschow told People, adding that no injuries were reported.
Popular sources, also claiming inside knowledge, say the report that Spears hit an employee is “an entirely made-up” report.
“The housekeeper was holding her phone and Britney was trying to knock it out of her hands,” the insider told People.
Spears attorney Mathew Rosengart told Page Six that Monday’s incident “was nothing more than an ‘he said, she said’ on a cell phone, with no beating and apparently no injury whatsoever.”
Tensions had built up at Spears’ house since earlier this month, according to TMZ because the singer’s dog sitter and housekeeper believed the pets were being neglected. About two weeks ago one of the dogs got sick and the dog sitter who is also a nurse took this dog and the other dog to the vet.
When the sick dog recovered, the dog sitter decided to keep both pets and look after them because she felt they weren’t safe at Spears’ home, TMZ added.
Spears called the sheriff’s department on Aug. 10 to report the theft of her dogs, but when MPs got to her home she changed her mind and sent them away, TMZ said.
“Fast forward to last Monday morning,” Spears still didn’t have her dogs and suspected that her father had something to do with her disappearance, TMZ said. She confronted the housekeeper and asked what happened to her dogs, TMZ added.
The housekeeper expressed concern about the dogs being neglected and showed Spears photos she took on her cell phone of one of the dogs who had just vomited, TMZ said. Then it came to a fight.
As for Jamie Spears ‘involvement, sources told TMZ that it was unlikely as he was “excluded” from what is happening in Spears’ life during the conservatoire court battle. Jamie “is in the dark about what’s going on in their house,” the source said.
The incident comes several days after Jamie Spears announced he would step down as curator of his daughter’s estate, but then made it clear that he would step down from the position when “the time is right”.
“Mr. Spears stands ready to step down when the time is right, but the transition must be orderly and include a settlement of matters pending before the court,” said Jamie Spears’ attorney on a court record The court encourage all interested parties to meet and deliberate to resolve these pending matters in the best interests of Ms. Spears. “
Jamie Spears became his daughter’s restorer after she suffered a mental breakdown in 2008. As a restorer, he was responsible for Spears’ finances, career, and health care.
During a dramatic video testimony in June, Spears described the extent to which others had control of their bodies and personal affairs over the past 13 years, saying she had no privacy, was forced to go to rehab and use an IUD to prevent them from having more children. She said her conservatory was “abusive,” compared it to “sex trafficking,” and said it “traumatized” her. In July, a court gave Spears permission for the first time in 13 years to use her own legal representation.
