Britney Spears' Meltdown Started After She Split From Justin Timberlake

As the court battle against Britney Spears' former manager Sam Lutfi and her parents continued on, more details of her infamous meltdown including how it started were revealed. In a latest hearing, Jamie Spears' lawyer Leon Gladstone claimed that the southern belle started to lose focus after she broke up with NSYNC's then-member Justin Timberlake.

"They had a big relationship, and it ended painfully," the lawyer said. "In 2003 her parents noticed that she had changed over the breakup of her and Justin and noticed she was depressed....[Britney] went to Vegas and got married to a childhood friend for 55 hours and they saw that she was becoming distant with her parents and become concerned she was using illegal substances."

The depression took its toll after Britney divorced Kevin Federline, the father of her two kids. Leon described how horrified Jamie was when he found her strapped to a hospital bed in 2007. "He is scared to death," the attorney said, "and he's thinking to himself, 'My daughter has lost everything. Here she is, in a psychiatric ward, out of her head.' "

Saying that Britney met Sam while she was at the most vulnerable point in her life, Leon exclaimed, "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.''

Through his lawyer, Jamie claimed Sam emotionally tortured Britney in addition to accusing him of drugging her. Sam was described as a master of manipulation who would stoop so low as to hide her beloved dog before faking a search and "finding it" for her.