For 13 years, Britney Spears' father controlled her life. She still has to pay his legal bills.

Britney Spears may be a free woman, but it's certainly come at a cost.

Following the end of her conservatorship in 2021, Spears and her father have remained in a legal battle over the legal fees pertaining to the conservatorship battle.

This week the duo settled their legal matter, both their lawyers confirming the news in separate statements.

Court documents show it was finalised in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, April 25, though the amount that the case was settled for will remain undisclosed. 

Jamie Spears' attorney said to PEOPLE: "Jamie is thrilled that this is all behind him. He loves his daughter very much and everything he has ever done has been to protect and support her. It is unfortunate that some irresponsible people in Britney's life chose to drag this on for as long as it has."

Watch: Britney Vs Spears trailer. Post continues below. 

As a result of this settlement, the two have avoided going to trial. The trial was reportedly set to start in May.

Spears' lawyer has also been outspoken on the result. 

"It has been our honour and privilege to represent, protect, and defend Britney Spears. Ms. Spears is and always will be an icon and a brilliant and brave artist of historic and epic proportion," Spears' lawyer Mathew Rosengart said to Page Six.

"Although the conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, her wish for freedom is now truly complete. As she desired, her freedom now includes that she will no longer need to attend or be involved with court or entangled with legal proceedings in this matter."

Other reports however suggest that Spears isn't necessarily thrilled by the end result.

TMZ reported that Spears now has to pay the legal fees pertaining to the conservatorship battle, including her father's legal bills — which are said to be around $2 million.

Sources said "Britney is furious" because "in the end, she's paying Jamie's legal bills which we're told amount to more than $2 million". Her own legal bills were reported to be $4 million. 

In 2021, Spears' conservatorship ended.

It was prompted by her open court testimony in June that year, in which the reality she described was worse than many in the long-standing #FreeBritney movement had imagined. She recounted what she described as years of trauma under the "abusive" arrangement and at the hands of the people in charge, namely her father.

Britney testified she was forced to take lithium, made to perform while sick and was unable to remove her IUD.

"I've lied and told the whole world I'm okay and I'm happy," Spears said. "I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don't feel like I can live a full life."

On July 14, she once again made clear she wasn't happy with her father's involvement in her estimated US$60 million (AU$82m) estate and accused him of "conservatorship abuse" in another court appearance.

In November 2021, Jamie then said he supported the immediate termination of the conservatorship.

He stood by his belief that 13 years ago Spears' life was in "shambles" and the conservatorship was "necessary", but its "mission has been successful and it is now time for Britney to re-take control of her life", state the court papers, per Vulture. It was a real turn of events for Jamie, who had previously opposed the end of the conservatorship as recently as August 2021.

Reflecting on the conservatorship, Spears wrote in her memoir The Woman In Me that she was "a robot" during that time.

"I became a robot. But not just a robot — a sort of child-robot. I had been so infantilised that I was losing pieces of what made me feel like myself. The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child," she said.

"I became more of an entity than a person onstage. I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me."

Feature Image: Getty.

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