Jason Trawick says Britney Spears needed conservatorship when they were together: 'I'll be the first to say it'

Jason Trawick, the Hollywood agent who was engaged to Britney Spears and briefly became her co-conservator, is making rare comments about their relationship.

Trawick — whose clients also included Taylor Swift, Paris Hilton and Hilary Duff — discussed his career on Kevin Connelly's podcast. The conversation turned to him managing Britney, whom he met through her brother, Bryan Spears, in 2006. He repped her through some of her most turbulent years, as she was put into the conservatorship in 2008. The following year they started dating, became engaged in 2011 and then split in 2012. He talked about the controversial conservatorship, insisting the "Toxic" singer needed it at the time, and claimed her dad, Jamie Spears, had good intentions — as far as what he witnessed. He denied his romance with Britney was fake, addressing the rumor that Jamie paid him to be a "spy," among other revelations.

"Listen, did she need a conservatorship when I was there? Yes. I'll be the first to say it," Trawick, 50, said. "I think she needed some guidance." He said someone needed to oversee the pop star's finances, as she her ex-husband Kevin Federline "spent a lot of money" in the two years they were married. Plus, "She'd be the worst person on The Price Is Right. She doesn't understand what things cost," he added of the 41-year-old who he hasn't kept in touch with. However, he said she needed the conservatorship for other reasons, including "therapy [and] stopping her from seeing certain individuals that were not great [influences]."

In his opinion, Jamie "100 percent" meant well by putting the strict conservatorship in place, Trawick said, "unless they can prove he somehow stole money from her." He said Jamie gave up a lot for the job. As for whether the conservatorship should have ended before it did, in 2021 after 13 years, he said he wasn't sure, but said when he was present in Britney's life, she needed someone looking after her so people didn't take advantage.

Now that the conservatorship is over, he's happy she gets "the opportunity to show the world" that she can do it on her own. "If she fails, then she fails," he said, "[But] I want her to prove [naysayers] wrong." He said the pop star "has a big heart."

Britney of course waged a battle to end the conservatorship that sparked the fan-driven "Free Britney" movement. In June 2021, she alleged conservatorship abuse under Jamie's control. She claimed, among things, that she was forced into psychiatric care and made to take birth control against her will. After that, she was able to hire her own legal team for the first time in 13 years and Jamie was soon ousted. The entire conservatorship ended in November of that year. The star celebrated getting her first ATM card and full access to her car, two of many restrictions that had been in place under the conservatorship. For his part, Jamie, who earned millions as conservator, has maintained that he's always acted in his daughter's best interest — and reiterated that stance in an interview in December.

Trawick started repping Britney, newly divorced with two young sons, amid "all the craziness" prior to the conservatorship, he said. During that period, he didn't have much contact with her "because there was a person in her life that I don't even want to give the credit to name his name," referring to Sam Lufti, "who took over... My calls didn't get returned because they never got to her. Eventually when she came out of it ... and the family got involved ... I became [her] real agent."

They developed a close friendship ("We were best friends basically. She trusted me. She felt close with me"), and revealed "when they crossed the line" from professional to romantic. He said they were in Las Vegas and she "hated being alone" in her hotel rooms, so it wasn't uncommon that he'd stay with her on a couch. One night, she invited him into her bed. He recalled the morning after when the nanny arrived to watch her sons, Preston and Jayden. He said they should keep what happened quiet from the nanny and he thought they were set on their story. But when the nanny walked in, Britney "just walks by butt naked into the kitchen," blowing up any cover story. "From that point on, we were an item."

He said that time was surreal as he "became a reality star" of sorts. "People were talking about me," which wasn't "a great look" for his career, by which he was supposed to be a background fixture. He ultimately put his career on the back-burner for her because "I definitely was in love," and joined her on two world tours.

The attention on Spears was relentless even in the post-conservatorship era. He recalled them visiting Mel Gibson's vacation home in Costa Rica so the superstar singer could have some peace and privacy amid the glare of the spotlight. Gibson said it was paparazzi-proof because they'd have to drive through eight hours of jungle to get to the home, which they flew directly to. They woke up the next morning and the paparazzi were outside.

He talked about not being traditional tabloid cover star material. He once stayed in the water, with a float around him, so that paparazzi couldn't get a shots of his body, which fluctuated up and down the scale and mean blogs of that era seized upon.

A few years later, he was in super shape and she cast him as her love interest in her "Criminal" video. He recalled filming the scene in a tight leather motorcycle suit, saying "she made me audition."

Trawick talked about being followed to work by paparazzi, who boxed him in, four cars deep, trying to see if his famous girlfriend was in his car, nearly leading to accidents. "It was terrible," he said. When they'd shop at Target together, there would be "three behind her, three in front of her" up and down every aisle of the store. "Everywhere we went there was somebody following us." He said paps would try to provoke him for footage, saying to him, "'You're Britney's bitch going shopping.' ... Just waiting for me to react." He said he only did once or twice, including a spat with a paparazzo outside a Red Robin in Calabasas which led to a "violent Jason Trawick snaps" headline.

He said the long-held rumor — propelled by Britney's first husband, Jason Alexander — that Jamie hired him as "a spy" and "forced me to like" Britney is untrue. "Her dad actually fired me" as her agent after they started dating. "He told me one or the other," agent or boyfriend, he said. "I got fired."

Trawick briefly became the co-conservator of Britney's person, not finances, once they became engaged, which allowed them to travel more without needing permission. He revealed that at the time they were contemplating a move to Louisiana for a quieter life and to raise her boys there. He said that Britney, not Jamie, was behind him taking a conservatorship role.

"She asked me to be conservator," he said, explaining they approached Jamie, who said OK and did the work to get the approval. However, Jamie was still always going to be there. "It was going to be me and [Jamie]." He said that role "took a toll" on his relationship with Britney and was the beginning of the end.

As for their breakup, he said, "It wasn't easy. It wasn't one of those breakups where … you still saw each other. It was a final. It was a breakup. The hardest part was the kids. I'd known them since Preston was born and Jayden was basically a newborn. That was really hard on me — not seeing them … They were 7 and 8 when I left."

He said he recently FaceTimed with the boys, who are now 17 and 16. "To hear their [deep] voices," he said. "I'm at the age where I decided I'm not having kids, but in a way I looked at [it like I] did have kids … Everyone said: 'Well, they're not your own,' but I treated them as they were my own. Obviously they are Kevin's. Kevin is a great dad. We had them 50 percent of the time. I feel like I did raise them in a certain way. They were like my kids. That was the hardest part. [But she] and I, at the end, it was just … a lot of fighting. it wasn't fair in front of the kids."

Trawick, who now lives in Las Vegas and isn't married, said he wishes his ex well on her third marriage to Sam Asghari.

"I don't know much about her new husband," he said. "I'm happy for them [that they got] married. I hope that he's a good support group and also provides and gives her what she needs."

Since the conservatorship ended, Britney has publicly criticized her father and family for keeping her in the legal arrangement for so long. She frequently uses social media to speak out against them, but is working on a memoir to tell her story for herself.