Cindy Birdsong’s family demanded that the Supremes singer be placed under conservatory as her health continued to deteriorate.
Relatives of the 83-year-old boy have asked a Los Angeles court to have his brother Ronald Birdsong and entertainment director Brad Herman act as co-guardians and fire his current caregiver, Rochelle Lander, according to a New York Times report. .
The family claims in court documents obtained by the point of sale that Lander, who was deputized by Cindy more than a decade ago, “isolated” the singer from her friends and family to control her health and finances.
Although the two women have lived together for years, Ronald claims Lander has kept them “secret” about his deteriorating health.
The family claims that after Lander’s second stroke nearly seven years ago, “Birdsong has become more and more secretive about the state of his health.”
In fact, after the health scare, Lander allegedly refused to even tell the family where Cindy was receiving treatment.
“We didn’t even know where Cindy was,” claimed the singer’s sister-in-law, Melody Birdsong.
Several family members claim that they repeatedly tried to visit Cindy, but Lander wouldn’t let them.
Their concerns reportedly only increased when they were finally able to visit Cindy only to find it in a feeding tube.
“The last time I went to see my sister, I was devastated because she wasn’t the last I saw of her,” said Terri Birdsong, Cindy’s sister. “I was able to feed him and cook for him and then show up and he’s using a feeding tube?”
Soon the family involved the police and Cindy was evicted from the home and placed in a qualified care facility in 2021. At the time, police stated that her “condition was deteriorating”.
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However, Lander claimed to police that Cindy “had a complete mental breakdown” and that “no one else” would “help her”.
While family members claimed that Cindy was “totally incapacitated”, the care facility also shared a summary of her condition, stating that the singer “could not get out of bed or communicate” and is still in a feeding tube.
Family members claim that Lander initiated the conservatory process to ensure that Cindy no longer had control over her already dwindling life and finances.
The court set a hearing date for August.
Cindy joined The Supremes in 1967 but left the band nine years later. After her musical success, she decided to step back from the spotlight and has been largely hidden from the world ever since.
“The Cindy tragedy has been an open secret among the Motown family,” said Herman, who has previously worked with clients such as Burt Reynolds and Pat Boone.