Britney's former manager credits himself as the one who tried to save her when she was at the lowest point in her life and staged a successful comeback for her.
- Oct 24, 2012
AceShowbiz - Britney Spears' ex-manager, Sam Lutfi, took the witness stand for the first time in the court battle between him and her parents. He claimed she relapsed when they met in 2007 and he was the one who encouraged her to ditch drugs that led her to infamously shave her head.
"She told me that she had wanted to get clean but that she was struggling with it," Sam said in the courtroom. "Britney was involved in a wicked child custody battle. She told me someone told her they could scientifically test her hair for history of drug use, so she shaved it all off."
"I told her it was very difficult to kick a drug habit," Sam who now serves as a manager of Hole's singer Courtney Love additionally testified, "but I told her she needed to do it. I explained to her that society was not going to tolerate a mother with two kids abusing drugs."
Sam remembered running into Britney in a nightclub in 2007. They became friends and close acquaintances after the southern belle confided in him about her drug problems and her doomed marriage to the father of her kids, Kevin Federline.
"Britney called me from her car and asked me to come back and manage her and help her kick drugs," he recalled a phone conversation that led him to manage the "Toxic" hitmaker. "She was in a car parked behind a tanning salon. She said she was parked there all night."
Sam said he agreed to be her manager only if she gave him permission to bring in drug-sniffing dogs to search her house. "I just didn't want to manage anyone who did drugs," he insisted. In the house search, he allegedly found a bag containing crystal meth and flushed it down the toilet.
The manager denied allegations made by Britney's parents that he drugged and manipulated her. He admitted he took Adderall for attention deficit disorder but insisted he never shared his medication with his client, as Lynne Spears claimed in her memoir.
Sam credited himself as the one who arranged a meeting between Britney and paparazzi so that they could get to know her as "a human being in order to sympathize with her." He reportedly also urged her to rehire celebrity agent, Jason Trawick, after she fired him.
"She said she had fired him but was somewhat conflicted about using him again," Sam claimed. Jason is engaged to Britney now. He also serves as her manager and co-conservator of her personal affair along with her father, Jamie Spears.
On top of that, Sam claimed he helped Britney make decision on "Circus" world tour that became a major successful comeback for her. His testimony reportedly made Jamie hunch over on his seat in the second row and laugh.
Sam sued Jamie and Lynne for defamation. Sam's request to admit medical records from Britney's stay in a neuropsychiatric unit during her meltdown was denied by judge. The singer's testimony was also deemed unnecessary in the trial.
