Episode 80:
Shifter Jason Trawick
(Originally released on March 29, 2021)
Before we get to who Jason Trawick is, let’s talk about who he is not: he is not Sam Merlotte, shapeshifter and owner of Merlotte’s Bar in Bon Temps.
He graduated from Sachem North HS Lake Ronkonkoma in 1990 and was a defenseman on the Flaming Arrows ice hockey team.
In a poll on Sachem Patch asking who the community thought was the most famous Sachem alum of all-time, Trawick finished fifth in voting with 5 percent of the votes.
His dad William was an executive at PC Richards and his mom Susan was an art teacher at another local HS and is still an artist now.
His parents still live on LI (in Setauket) and Britney (& Jamie!) visited them.
Jason’s mother was contacted by the NY Post at the time of their breakup, saying that she “liked Britney. I liked her very much.” Susan Trawick also said that Spears and her son made a great couple.
In the 90s, he designed a beach cooler bag that he patented.
He wanted to be a pro hockey player, then worked at the NY Daily News, before he moved to LA, started in the mailroom and worked his way up at William Morris, later William Morris Endeavor (WME).
He became Britney’s agent in 2006 when she was still married to KFed.
He was the one who facilitated her appearance on How I Met Your Mother that filmed in early March 2008 and aired later that month (just about a month after she was put into the conservatorship).
He was also thanked at the end of For the Record (we talked about it in our final For the Record recap episode.)
According to Radar’s sources, "Jason absolutely made the first move on Britney and it happened when they were on vacation at Mel Gibson's Costa Rican vacation home," (which possibly would’ve been May 2008).
But it’s also possible that Jamie might’ve set them up?
By March 2009, there were rumors that Britney & Jason were dating.
In early June 2009, Jason was papped out with Britney and the boys in London and it was reported they were dating. Also from TMZ at that time, “Britney Gives BF More Than 10 Percent.”
Jason went through a physical transformation once he started dating Britney that The Daily Mail reported on.
TMZ was reporting in December 2009 that Jamie and his team were exploring ending the conservatorship of Britney’s person.
In December 2010, Star ran a story alleging that Britney had been physically abused by Jason with proof through a voicemail supposedly from Britney to Jason Alexander, which Britney’s team strongly denied with a statement on her website.
In mid June 2011, the Femme Fatale tour began (Jason was there).
In August 2011 while at Nassau Coliseum on the Femme Fatale tour, Britney brought Jason onstage (in his Islanders jersey) for a lapdance.
In September 2011, Jason played the love interest in the Criminal video (we talked about this a bit during our VideograhKNEE episode).
Jason was there (and the boys, Jamie Lynn and Maddie) when Britney ended the Femme Fatale tour in San Juan, PR in early December 2011.
Jason proposed during his bday dinner in LA on Thursday, December 15th (he’s a Sag like her!).
The day he actually proposed, Radar had an exclusive source saying that although an engagement was imminent, “Britney won't be getting married until several lawsuits that have been filed against her, including one by her former manager, Sam Lutfi, are settled or dismissed.”
Radar also had another exclusive right after the engagement about her family’s reactions.
Most of the coverage of the engagement didn’t mention the conservatorship, but E! had an article the day the engagement was announced wondering “How Does Britney Spears Get Married Under a Conservatorship? Legal expert breaks it down, from wedding expenses to...Jason Trawick's prenup with Britney's dad?!”
Soon after the engagement, sources were sharing wedding details with Radar.
About a month later, sources told Radar that the wedding would have to be pushed back further out due to the Sam Lutfi lawsuit.
In early March 2012, it was reported that Britney might join the second season of X Factor on Fox.
At the end of March, Britney appeared in court with Jamie and Jason for Judge Reva Goetz to sign off on the $15 million X Factor deal.
The week after Britney was in court, Radar had another exclusive about Britney wanting to get out of the conservatorship.
In early April, sources told Radar that paperwork was being filed to make Jason one of Britney’s conservators.
On April 11, Britney’s X Factor deal was broken by E!. In addition to money, Jason was a topic of the negotiations. Radar’s sources had more info about the deal.
A few days after Radar’s initial story about paperwork being filed for Jason to become one of Britney’s conservators, Radar had another exclusive that it was actually Simon Cowell’s idea for Jason to become a conservator.
On April 25, 2012, Judge Reva Goetz approved Jason becoming co-conservator of Britney’s person. TMZ reported that Britney also wanted Jason on as co-conservator.
Leading up to Britney’s premiere on X Factor, there was lots of speculation about how Britney would handle live TV. According to the Daily Beast article, “during audition rounds, gossip sites were salivating at reports that Spears frequently had to abandon her judge’s perch for a break—it became part of the hype of the show—and, according to one TV source, Trawick was always waiting in the wings. To prove that she’s normal, he’s booked her first magazine covers and talk-show appearances in a while.” There were also mean stories about how Britney looked in the upfronts in mid-May
In late May 2012, Radar’s sources talked about how Britney insisted she was ready.
In June 2012, Radar’s sources were again saying that Britney “wants to know when the conservatorship is going to end.”
Also in June, Radar’s sources talked about how closely involved Jason was in the audition tapings.
By July, Radar’s sources were talking about the show causing tension for Britney & Jason.
By September, Radar’s sources reported that Britney & Jason were delaying the wedding again.
Britney was on the cover of ELLE in October 2012 and Jason was with her for the interview. Radar’s sources had more background on the interview.
The live X Factor shows began on Halloween and Britney did well despite speculation that producers were anticipating issues and had asked for an extended time delay.
Also in October 2012, Britney’s money purchased a $8.5 million house in Thousand Oaks that she moved into with Jason and the boys.
In November 2012, there were reports of Britney and Jason having issues, with UsWeekly’s sources saying that Jason was “mocking” Britney for being needy and Radar’s sources talking about the wedding being called off.
In December, the X Factor season ended and Radar’s sources were reporting that the holidays were “make or break for Britney and Jason.”
Britney and Jason officially broke up January 11, 2013.
Britney did not seem to be looped into this fully since that morning before the announcement came out, Radar ran an exclusive saying that Britney wanted Jason removed from the conservatorship to save their relationship.
Jason resigned as co-conservator the same day their breakup was announced.
Also on the same day they broke up & Jason resigned, it was also announced that she wouldn’t be returning to X Factor (even though it had been reported that Jason had negotiated a $15 million for her to judge the second season) and TMZ started talking about residency rumors after first saying she was going back to music.
Her dog Hannah was also super sick at the same time as all these other things were happening.
At the time of their breakup the a close source told People that they wanted “different things.” E! had additional breakup details, including not agreeing about kids. TMZ echoed the kids thing.
Britney gave Jason her $90k engagement ring back.
According to Radar’s sources, Jason did not get any money from the breakup except the money he made from X Factor.
At the time of their breakup, TMZ reported that Jason had had to sign an NDA to become a co-conservator.
Fox411 ran a story that “Being a pseudo-parent to Britney Spears 'exhausting' for Jason Trawick.”
A few days after the announcement, Radar had an exclusive that was Jamie and Jason together who orchestrated the breakup.
Also a few days after the end of the engagement, Radar ran a story about how there was “No End In Sight For Britney Spears Conservatorship, Dad Will be Keeping 'Very Close Eye' On Her Now Jason Trawick Is Gone.”
By March, Britney was being seen with David Lucado (who Jamie set her up with).
Here’s a recap of Britney & Jason’s relationship from UsWeekly.
And here’s our Hello! Magazine article close read episode.
Thank you for listening!