Sam Williams, Son of Hank Williams Jr., Asks For Release From Conservatorship

Sam Williams, the son of country artist Hank Williams Jr., is asking to be released from a conservatorship placed on him by his father and sister more than 18 months ago.

Williams says his father and half-sister, Holly Williams, hired a lawyer to take control over his finances and other aspects of his life, just 55 days after the death of his older sister Katherine “Katie” Williams-Dunning, who died in a car accident on June 13, 2020, at the age of 27.

In a silent video posted on YouTube, which has now been deleted but re-uploaded by TMZ, Williams holds up handwritten signs pleading to be released from his conservatorship.

“I’ve been quiet a long time now,” read the caption to his video. “I want out of this, and I don’t mind people knowing. They took my grief process, my spirit, my money, my car, my home, and everything possible in order to ‘protect me.’ Well, I need protection from them.”

Court documents reportedly confirm that Williams Jr. filed a petition for an emergency conservatorship on Williams’ behalf in August of 2020, but it is unclear of its current status.

The 24-year-old was originally reluctant to get into the music industry (although he’d been writing music and poetry on the side for years). He even considered a career in politics and spent two-and-a-half years at University studying business, before leaving to focus on his music, releasing the singles Darkwater (2016), The Lost Grandchild’s Plea (2018), which honours his late grandparents, Hank and Audrey Williams, and Gemini (2019). In 2020, he released a cover of Weatherman, as well as SHUTEYE and The World: Alone, a song he released in honour of his late sister Katie’s 28th birthday.

He released his debut album, Glasshouse Children, on August 20, 2021, right around the same time the conservatorship documents were filed. The album earned accolades, especially for the song Happy All The Time featuring Dolly Parton. He has also collaborated with singer Keith Urban and songwriters like Jim Lauderdale, Lori McKenna, and Mary Gauthier. 

At the time, he told People it was a difficult record to complete while mourning his sister -- "I definitely broke and went through a really, really, really hard time. I'm still climbing out of it. But it's the 'still climbing' part that is the most important. That'll just always be a big part of my story."

Noting that he’d been placed under a conservatorship once before (per American Songwriter), Williams added: “I have worked my broken heart to quit since my dear Katie left for home. I do not deserve this. This is a scary step, but I don’t see what else to do here. I am ashamed of my family and embarrassed. I am beyond done. I have my spirit back. Get. Me. Out. Please.”

Williams’ plead to end his conservatorship comes in the wake of Britney Spears’ success in fighting to end her own. The pop star was placed under a conservatorship in 2008, and spent years fighting for her freedom before being liberated from the arrangement last November.

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Image: via Facebook