“I could have told Britney’s dad: she doesn’t play,” he tweeted, identifying his mother, Brenda Penny, as the woman who presided over the last hearing.
After the launch of New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, the pop icon’s longstanding tutelage is in the headlines – and an unexpected turnaround after a Thursday hearing left Twitter users in a frenzy: the judge handling the case is Insecure showrunner mother Prentice Penny.
On Thursday afternoon, LA County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny decided that investment advisory and wealth management firm Bessemer Trust will continue to act as a co-conservator of Britney Spears’ equity alongside her father, Jamie Spears. The decision is consistent with his previous decision in November, but it was still widely celebrated by fans because the judge dismissed Jamie’s objections to the division of power when it comes to his daughter’s financial investments.
News from the audience spread quickly and widely on Twitter among the #FreeBritney movement, a collective of devoted followers who have been closely monitoring each development in the guardianship for years. But one thing that has gone unnoticed even by them so far is the judge’s connection to Hollywood.
One of the fan accounts featured in Framing Britney Spears – @BritneyHiatus on Twitter – replied to Thursday’s hearing with a tweet that said: “Judge Penny supported Britney by overcoming her father’s objections and will sign the order giving the Bessemer Trust equal #Free Britney power”. A little over an hour later, Prentice Penny pondered, responding to that tweet with a revelation of her own: “Also: Judge Penny is my REAL mother. I could have told Britney’s dad: she doesn’t play. “
On Friday afternoon, Prentice Penny’s tweet recorded over 63,500 likes, 6,596 retweets and surprising responses from a number of high profile industry professionals, including Franklin Leonard, Chelsea Peretti, Gabe Liedman, Mimi Valdés, Camilla Blackett and others. The family connection led to Insecure showrunner posting a photo of his mother being sworn in.
According to her legal profile, Judge Penny has been in her current position at the High Court since October 2018. Graduated from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law and the University of Southern California, she has held positions in the same court as a commissioner and assistant attorney for supervisory inventory. During an appearance on Sam Sanders’s NPR podcast, It was a minute, Prentice opened up about her mother, saying that she decided to go to law school after separating from her father. “I was raised by some strong black women,” he said, praising his mother and grandparents.