Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel married Friday in Italy, and have been together for so long that his serious relationship with Britney Spears has been all but forgotten. It’s been revisited in unlikely fashion, thanks to Sam Lutfi’s lawsuit against Britney. Lutfi says Britney overdosed on drugs , which he tried to stop, and that she owes him money for past managerial duties, along with damages for defaming him since. Her attorneys tell a drastically different story. Britney’s breakup with Justin a decade ago left her depressed and angry, the beginning of a downward spiral that lasted for years, an attorney for the Spears family said. In the defamation and breach-of-contract case brought against Britney and her parents by her Sam Lutfi , Leon Gladstone sought to portray Spears’ dad as her savior. Britney’s relationship with onetime fellow Mouseketeer Timberlake ” ended painfully ,” he said, after which her parents, Jamie and Lynne, noticed a change in her. “This is a story of a close family, but not a perfect one,” Gladstone said. “It’s a story of a man who actually wanted nothing more for his daughter than to live and be well.” “It’s a story of a father who has had to step up and take action that he never thought he would have to take… actions that didn’t perhaps endear his daughter to him.” Jamie Spears ultimately had to “force his daughter into rehab,” Spears’ counsel said. “He had to take her kids away. He had to get her into a conservatorship.” Britney underwent treatment at Promises in Malibu in early 2007 and ex-husband Kevin Federline was awarded primary custody of their sons, Sean and Jayden, that fall. The conservatorship was established in February 2008 after Britney Spears had been briefly hospitalized twice for psychiatric issues at UCLA Medical Center. At the same time, Jamie took control of his daughter’s estate, he and ex-wife Lynne (they have since reconciled) got a three-year restraining order against Sam Lutfi. They have accused him of manipulating their daughter and marshaling the paparazzi’s surveillance of her during the months he became her near-constant companion. According to the attorney, Jamie told Britney in 2077, “You are going to kill yourself or one of your kids,” and that’s when he pushed her to go to rehab. Britney flew to Antigua for treatment, but flew right back. Then she checked into Promises, but left after a day, prompting K-Fed to get permanent full custody. “To Jamie, this was a life and death battle,” he said, “and Britney at this point was at her most vulnerable – and at the point that she is at her most vulnerable, she meets Mr. Lutfi.” The rest, as they say, is history we’d rather forget.
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Britney Spears-Sam Lutfi Case: Justin Timberlake Breakup Blamed For Downward Spiral
