‘Crossroads’ Director Claims Britney Spears and Jamie Spears’ Relationship Was Strained BEFORE Conservatorship

“Crossroads” director Tamra Davis is opening up on the relationship Britney Spears had with her father, Jamie Spears, even before the conservatorship began.

The court-ordered conservatorship officially began in February 2008 before it was struck down by a judge in November 2021. Britney has spoken at length about her strained relationship with her father in her memoir, “The Woman In Me,” which was officially released on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.

However, Tamra Davis, who worked with Britney on the 2002 film, revealed that Britney’s difficult relationship with her father began years before the conservatorship started.

In 2002, Britney was only 19 when Tamra Davis directed her in “Crossroads,” which is returning to theaters on October 23 and 25 for a limited fan event to promote Britney’s memoir, “The Woman In Me.”

Davis told Page Six on Tuesday that Jamie Spears was “not an active and involved father” only a few years before he became his daughter’s conservator. “I rarely saw her dad, maybe once or twice, but I could tell that her and her father did not have the best relationship,” Davis told the outlet.

“She [Britney] was definitely calling the shots. Lynne, her mom, would come in and out … Felicia [Culotta, her assistant] was the one who was mostly there,” Davis said. Although she noted that Jamie was mostly absent from set, Davis recalled sensing “tension” between Britney and her father.

“She stayed away from him [Jamie] mostly – that’s why I was shocked when I found out the father was stepping in [with the conservatorship],” Davis said. “I was like, ‘That’s not the best relationship.’ She was really close with her mom, but I didn’t see her closeness with her father. That was not there.”

Davis also revealed that Britney’s conservatorship might have prevented her 2002 film “Crossroads” from being rereleased, despite the demand from fans. “I tried to contact her back in the day because people would ask me — like when she was in the conservatorship — could I do these interviews and I was told not to,” she said.

“I was told Britney doesn’t want people talking about her and to ‘please not do any interviews,’ so I didn’t. I don’t know to this day if that was really her telling me not to say anything or if that was her father telling me not to say anything,” she continued.

Davis recalled the “grace” in which the “Toxic” singer conducted herself at the tender age of 19. “She was 19 when I first started working with her. I was like, ‘You are controlling this whole thing in this amazing Southern way of being so nice and gracious,’ but yet if she didn’t want to talk to you, you weren’t in the room and she did it with such beautiful grace,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, I really admire this woman.’”

However, in her memoir, Britney stated that she was not a fan of acting after she realized that she slipped into method acting, which became difficult for her to control. “My problem wasn’t with anyone involved in the production but with what acting did to my mind,” she wrote. “Some people do method acting, but they’re usually aware of the fact that they’re doing it. But I didn’t have any separation at all. I ended up walking differently, carrying myself differently, talking differently.”

Davis said that she had no idea that the "Piece Of Me" singer was struggling with method acting. “You never know what’s going on in someone’s head. I thought she was having the best time of her life but you know that’s because I would see her smiling and do that crazy funny laugh of hers,” she said. “When she acted she really had to play tennis with professionals and be real. It took a lot of effort for her to do that.”

“I really just admire her vulnerability. That she went so deep and was able to access this emotion,” she continued. “She could have been like, ‘Hi, I’m running this, and everyone do what I want people to do or whatever,’ and she wasn’t.’ But she really emboldened all of us,” Davis said.

“Whether it was giving Shonda [Rhimes] her first job as a featured film writer and saying, ‘I believe in your words and this is the film I want to be in,’ and listening to what my advice was for her character – she was such an incredible professional and really trusted all the women she put around her to guide her through this experience,” she added. “History will show that she’s a fantastic actor.”

Fans have already seen proof of Britney Spears's acting chops when she shed real tears during her "The Notebook" audition tape.