A piece in today’s Times. You can subscribe to the paper here.

Britney Spears is being investigated over assault charges after her housekeeper alleged that the singer attacked her during a fight involving a mobile phone.

The longtime employee filed a battery complaint at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office claiming that a dispute had taken place at Spears’s California mansion on Monday night.

No injuries were recorded and reports taken by deputies who attended the singer’s home will be handed over to prosecutors for consideration, the sheriff’s office has said.

The source of the alleged conflict between Spears and her housekeeper is not known. TMZ reported that Spears had taken offence after the employee booked one of her dogs in for a vet appointment out of concern for its welfare. When the employee returned, they became involved in a disagreement that led to Spears knocking a phone out of the housekeeper’s hands, it was reported.

Less than a week before the alleged incident, Spears called the police herself to report a theft from her home, Fox News reported this morning. By the time officers arrived she had decided not to pursue further action or file a report, Eric Buschow, Ventura County sheriff, confirmed.

Matthew Rosengart, Spears’s lawyer, dismissed the battery investigation in an email as “overblown sensational tabloid fodder”.

“This is nothing more than an overblown alleged misdemeanour involving a ‘he said she said’ about a cell phone, with no striking and obviously no injury whatsoever,” he said. “Anyone can make an accusation. This should have been closed immediately.”

Spears, 39, hired Rosengart last month as part of her efforts to reclaim control of her life after 13 years under a court conservatorship that has power over her money and affairs. She was permitted to appoint him after giving testimony at a hearing last month, in which it appeared that her court-appointed lawyer had not advised her she could petition to end the conservatorship.

Spears was made subject to the arrangement, which is typically used for those with severe disabilities or dementia, after she suffered a mental health crisis in 2008. It stayed in place even after she started performing again, touring the world, making television appearances and doing shows in Las Vegas. Her father was appointed as conservator of her estate in 2008, and also served as conservator of her person until 2019.

Spears has described the conservatorship as humiliating and abusive, saying that she had been forced to take medication against her will and prevented from having another child or getting married. She said wanted her father, James Parnell Spears, 69, charged with conservatorship abuse, and accused him of ruining her life.

James Spears has received millions in cuts from his daughter’s tours and merchandise sales, Rosengart has said, despite “not being a professional business or financial manager”.

Last week, her father agreed to relinquish control over her $60 million (£43 million) estate without giving a deadline, saying only that he would do so “when the time is right”.

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