Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake: Painful Break Up 'Changed' Songstress, Led to Meltdown, Sam Lutfi took Advantage

According to Britney Spears' family attorney Leon Gladstone, the 30-year-old pop star was taken advantage of by former manager Sam Lutfi during a time when she was very emotionally disturbed and vulnerable- problems which supposedly stemmed back from her painful breakup with pop star Justin Timberlake. According to the Spears clan, the 2002 breakup changed Britney for the worse, leading to her troubling drug addiction and ultimate public meltdown.

According to an E! News report, Spears' relationship with Timberlake over a decade ago "ended painfully." Gladstone noted in his opening statement in court on Friday (Oct. 19) that after the breakup, Spears' parents Lynne and Jamie Spears noticed a negative change in their young daughter. The split left her depressed and angry, and led to the beginning of her downward spiral - including an impulsive Las Vegas marriage, heavy drug use, and eventually a serious psychological breakdown. Gladstone insists that this was "the beginning of the worst period of Britney's life," and Lutfi was there to take advantage of it.

Lutfi is currently suing Lynne Spears for defamation and breach-of-contract, claiming that she made false allegations against him (including that he gave Britney drugs in order to control her) in her 2008 memoir Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World. 

(Related: Britney Spears Jason Trawick Wedding Called Off? Couple Buys $8.5 Million Mansion, Rumors Dismissed?)  

In his opening statement, Gladstone said to the court, "This is a story of a close family, but not a perfect one. 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."

After a few failed attempts at rehab, Britney broke ties with her family and from there many fans remember the rest of her devastating meltdown. The "Princess of Pop" impulsively shaved her head and eventually lost custody of her sons (one night in January 2008 she locked herself in the bathroom with her son Jayden, prompting calls to police and paramedics). Jamie Spears was finally able to establish a conservatorship and force his daughter back into rehab after she was hospitalized later that same month. Lynne Spears also filed a restraining order against Lutfi.

According to Britney's attorney Joel Boxer who also addressed the jury on Friday, "Sam Lutfi tried to take advantage of a very vulnerable Britney Spears. Whether he gets away with it is a chapter to be written by you, ladies and gentlemen."