Why did Britney Spears divorce Jason Alexander? 'Controlling' mom Lynne ended 55-hour marriage
Former divorce attorney Mark Goldberg has claimed that Britney Spears' mother Lynne Spears forced her to end her marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander, which lasted a total of 55 hours.
Goldberg, who advised Alexander at the time but is currently retired, claimed neither Spears nor Alexander wanted the nuptials annulled, but Lynne and her daughter's management team forced them to do so. Earlier this month, MEAWW reported how Spears' father Jamie Spears called her a "fat, w***e" and a "terrible mom" shortly after her conservatorship began.
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“It was the mother interfering in and inserting herself into her daughter’s life,” Goldberg told The Daily Mail. “She came to Las Vegas, threw Jason out, and got him a plane ticket home.” But "all hell broke loose" when the young couple called Lynne Spears the morning after the nuptials, he said.
Britney married Jason in January 2004 at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. However, the vows were annulled merely 55 hours later after a petition declared the performer "lacked understanding of her actions." Britney and Jason, who are both 39, had grown up together in Kentwood, Louisiana.
Alexander contacted Goldberg following the annulment, looking for legal assistance.
“Jason was looking for advice,” the lawyer recalled. “He was very emotional and upset. Britney had called him to come to Las Vegas. She was there with friends as I recall, and she paid for his airfare to come. As I remember it, it was Britney’s idea to get married. He said they hadn’t been drinking or doing drugs – or at least they weren’t drunk.”
Goldberg told the British newspaper that he repeatedly asked Alexander whether he and Spears were incapacitated due to alcohol or drugs, but “he was clear, they weren’t… they just really loved each other.”
“Jason was confused because he loved Britney and he didn’t want to hurt her, but he was very afraid of her mother and management,” he continued. “This wasn’t a stranger she’d just picked up. They had known each other for years. He thought if he played the game and did what they asked she’d come around, and he and Britney would be together. I really believe this particular event had a detrimental impact on Britney Spears’s life – the way she’s been controlled and the toll that has taken," Goldberg added.
It's worth noting that Alexander's account of events is remarkably similar to Goldberg's version. During a recent appearance on the “Toxic: The Britney Spears Story” podcast, he opened up about their momentary marriage and claimed he was deceived into signing the annulment.
“They told me if I would sign the contracts — the annulment — they would let me and Britney continue our relationship, and if we felt the same way in six months they would give us a proper marriage,” Alexander recalled. “So I had no reason to believe otherwise. I thought that’s what the truth was. They were allowing Britney and I to still have phone communication.”
“So we were talking every day and I still believed the story I was told,” he continued. “That they were going to let us continue to talk and then we would have this marriage, right, in the future if we felt the same way.”
But exactly one month after signing the papers, Alexander found that Spears' phone had mysteriously stopped working. “Literally the day after, like, the 30 days was up, I remember trying to call the number I had for Britney and it was like, ‘Beep, beep, beep (imitating a call disconnect sound),'” he added. “I’m like ‘F*** they got me! Mothe****ers!’ So that was it.”
Spears would go on to marry dancer Kevin Federline seven months later. The couple had two sons, namely Sean, 15, and Jayden, 14, before Spears filed for divorce in 2006. The 'Gimme More' hitmaker has been embroiled in a legal battle with her father, alleging that his conservatorship has been "abusive." She has retained attorney Matthew Rosengart to help abrogate the conservatorship.