It's been a big week for Britney Spears. First, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, her father Jamie Spears files to end her conservatorship. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 12, Spears announces her engagement to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari. And while I am always happy to see Britney happy, I just gotta say, Britney Spears, I love you, I'm going to let you finish, but you need to get a prenup before you put a wedding ring on it for real.
It's nothing personal. As far as fans can tell, Sam has been Britney's most fiercely loyal boyfriend in decades. (Not saying a lot, but we appreciate it.) He's even spoken out against her conservatorship and joined the #FreeBritney movement. But, the fact is, she's Britney Spears and he is not, so you'll have to forgive me that my first reaction to the news — after a gasp of happiness — was to say out loud to absolutely no one, "I hope she gets a prenup." And I'm not the only one who feels that way. Her Instagram post announcing the news is full of comments telling her to get a prenup, including this blunt message from Octavia Spencer: "Make him sign a prenup."
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer is right. This celebrity couple should sign a prenup. Beyond the obvious — Britney is an international superstar, and her new fiancé is a model/actor who, let's be honest, probably didn't pay for that engagement ring — there's also the fact that Spears' finances have been controlled by men for basically her entire life. Thanks to being placed under a conservatorship for a majority of her adult life, Spears' fortune has never truly been her own. Over the past 13 years, she's reportedly paid Jamie well over $5 million — all so he could control her legal and personal decisions. She's paid his legal fees, as well as expenses for other family members, all while living off an allowance that was less than what she paid her father. It's absurd.
In Spears' own words from her devastating court testimony in June, she's spent the last 13 years "making them money," but hasn't "owned my own money." She also claimed that she couldn't access her money without jumping through hoops. "What state allows people to own another person's money and account and threaten them saying, 'You can't spend your money unless you do what we want you to do.' And I'm paying them."
A prenup would give Spears the financial freedom she deserves, while also fulfilling her dream of getting married and trying to have more kids. And for what it's worth, Asghari doesn't seem put off by the idea. After seeing all the calls for the couple to sign a prenup online, he responded in his Instagram Stories, joking, "Of course we're getting an iron clad prenup to protect my jeep and shoe collection in case she dumps me one day."
Now I get why Britney once said, "All I want is to own my money, for this to end, and my boyfriend to drive me in his fucking car." That better be some Jeep.
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Image: Sam Ashgari/Instagram