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Britney Spears' manager formally resigns, citing her 'intention to officially retire'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 7/6/21

Britney Spears addressed the court June 23 and voiced her wish for her nearly 13-year conservatorship to finally end, and while the Los Angeles Superior Court denied her previous request to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as a conservator last week, somebody else is leaving her camp.

Larry Rudolph, Spears' manager for 25 years, formally resigned in a letter first published by Deadline and confirmed by Variety, and he cited the 39-year-old pop star's "intention to officially retire."

The full letter, addressed to Jamie and Jodi Montgomery as "co-executors of the estate of Britney Spears," can be read below.

"It has been over 2 1/2 years since Britney and I last communicated, at which time she informed me she wanted to take an indefinite work hiatus. Earlier today, I became aware that Britney had been voicing her intention to officially retire. As you know, I have never been a part of the conservatorship nor its operations, so I am not privy to many of these details. I was originally hired at Britney’s request to help manage and assist her with her career. And as her manager, I believe it is in Britney’s best interest for me to resign from her team as my professional services are no longer needed. Please accept this letter as my formal resignation. I will always be incredibly proud of what we accomplished over our 25 years together. I wish Britney all the health and happiness in the world, and I’ll be there for her if she ever needs me again, just as I always have been."

In January 2019, Spears posted to Instagram that she would not go through with her Las Vegas residency show titled Domination because of Jamie's hospitalization and near-death months prior:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears)

Jamie then stepped down as his daughter's primary conservator in September 2019 due to his health status.

While speaking to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny last month, Spears touched on what she described as a harrowing experience during rehearsals for Domination as well as the punishment she feels she received because she ultimately did not do the residency.

In reference to her career, the Grammy winner pointed out that she is "not here to be anyone’s slave."

"[Jamie] loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%," she said of that time. "He loved it. I packed my bags and went to that place. I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking. Making anyone work against their will, taking all their possessions away—credit card, cash, phone, passport—and placing them in a home where they work with the people who live with them."

However, the core of Spears' reasoning for wanting to be set free from under her court-ordered conservators' thumbs is to have agency over her personal life.

The mother of two spoke passionately about how depressed and traumatized she feels, crying every day—"I've lied to the whole world 'I'm OK and I'm happy'"—and her desperation to have control over whether she can marry her long-time boyfriend, Sam Asghari, and start a family.

"I just want my life back," she said. "And it’s been 13 years. And it’s enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money. ... I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two to three year break and just, you know, do what I want to do."

Along with asserting she plans to officially petition her conservatorship, Spears also expressed a wish to choose her own lawyer rather than continue with court-appointed attorney Sam Ingham III.

Page Six reported this morning (July 6) Spears's frustration that Ingham has not yet filed her petition, and that was followed by TMZ's report that Ingham plans to resign.

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