It’s shaping up to be one of the most “toxic” battles of Britney Spears’ life.
Her third husband, 29-year-old fitness trainer Sam Asghari, launched an explosive series of attacks after filing for divorce Thursday, claiming that the star cheated on him and beat him up — and dismissing their six-year relationship by saying: “S–t happens.”
He accused her of giving him a black eye while he slept.
And the Iranian-born Asghari claimed that Spears asked a staffer to film her naked and alleged that she had an affair with a man who works at the house.
There may be video of Spears and the stagger in a “compromising position,” TMZ reported Thursday.
After a dizzying succession of claims, Asghari issued a somewhat softer statement saying that “after 6 years of love and commitment to each other my wife and I have decided to end our journey together.”
“We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other and I wish her the best always.”
But then he wrote: “S–t happens.”
He added: “Asking for privacy seems rediculous (sic) so I will just ask for everyone including media to be kind and thoughtful.”
Spears has not commented publicly yet but has hired Hollywood powerhouse divorce lawyer Laura Wasser to represent her.
A source told Entertainment Tonight that Spears maintains she “didn’t cheat” and is “hurt” amid the devastating breakup.
“No one ever said life would be easy,” Adam Streisand, the LA trial lawyer who Spears tried to hire as her attorney in 2008 after a very public breakdown, told the Post. “Only that she has the right to be terrible at relationships all on her own.”
Suspicion of problems in her 14-month marriage to Asghari swirled earlier this week when she was seen without her rang. Then it was revealed to be in serious trouble Wednesday afternoon, with a report that he was separating from her.
But less than 24 hours later he filed for divorce, following that with the claims from his camp of her cheating and violence.
And there were reports of threats from his team that he may reveal more embarrassing secrets about her if she doesn’t pay him more money than their pre-nup allows.
“Sounds like extortion,” one of Spears’ past boyfriends told The Post.
The two married at her California mansion in June 2022, inviting a slew of famous guests like Madonna, Drew Barrymore and Paris and Kathy Hilton.
TMZ reported that he listed July 28 as the official date of separation, meaning their marriage lasted barely 13 months.
“She really doesn’t have anyone now,” an old family friend in Kentwood, Louisiana who went to school with Jamie Spears told The Post Thursday. “She ought to come back here.”
But so far, Spears isn’t showing any signs of going under. Rather she has posted upbeat, if bizarre, videos and photos to Instagram in recent days.
“Buying a horse soon !!!” she wrote in a Wednesday post showing her at the beach astride a horse, just before her separation was made public. “So many options it’s kinda hard !!! A horse called Sophie and another called Roar ??? I can’t make up my mind !!!”
She added, “Should I join the camaraderie and put a pink cowboy hat on ??? Either way I think I found my sweet spot with Roar !!!”
On Sunday she had posted a video of herself dancing to Nine Inch Nails in a tiny leopard-print bikini around a stripper pole. The pole, she said, was newly purchased for her home; it is now clear that Asghari had left weeks before.
Spears is planning to record a new album amid her divorce, sources tell Page Six.
“She has an upcoming writers camp and is getting songs from some big artists,” one insider close to the Princess of Pop reveals to us exclusively.
LA-based author Steve Dennis, who wrote the 2010 biography, “Britney: Inside the Dream,” says that up until now, Asghari seemed to be keeping Britney on the straight and narrow.
“Sam has represented stability for Britney for so long that you have to be concerned how this will impact her,” Dennis told The Post.
“His support had been a mainstay during such a turbulent time. But if we know one thing about Britney it’s that she’s resilient. What’s more, if there is no turning back, Britney has for the first time a conscientious legal team in her corner, protecting her and looking out for her interests.”
Spears observers say she made a smart move by hiring Laura Wasser.
“She’s got the creme de la creme of divorce lawyers,” said Dennis, who knows Wasser. “The only hope now is that Sam is going to be reasonable and if not he will have Laura Wasser to contend with.”
Dennis pointed out that Britney’s upcoming memoir, “The Woman in Me,” which is set for release Oct. 24, is probably very pro-Asghari. The couple often portrayed themselves on social media as loved-up.
“She may want to do some heavy editing of the book now but I’m not sure there’s time,” Dennis said.
Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline, 45, to whom the singer was married from 2004 to 2007 and with whom she had two sons, Jayden, 16, and Sean, 17, has had his ups and downs with Britney but sent his support after news of her split with Asghari.
Federline, for his part, has been almost a full-time parent and recently announced plans to move permanently Hawaii where divorced spouses have to pay child support until their kids are 23.
“He just hopes that they work it out,” the DJ’s longtime attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, told NewsNation Wednesday, shortly after the split news first broke.
Kaplan also said that Federline, 45, “just hopes” that Spears, 41, and Asghari, 29, “make good decisions and work out, either go their separate ways or get back together.” He concluded, “Whatever is best for them. He wishes her the best.”
The divorce battle is the latest sad episode in a life which saw Spears go from a television debut aged just 11 as a member of the “Mickey Mouse Club” to global superstardom.
But fame turned toxic: Spears’ family put her in a conservatorship in 2008 after a series of erratic incidents, including shaving her head as paparazzi filmed.
The conservatorship itself became the focus of the “Free Britney” campaign, and exploded into a court battle which revealed how her family had enriched themselves while she lived on tiny amounts of money.
Spears is now estranged from her parents, Jamie and Lynne, and the siblings with whom she’s feuded publicly for decades.
The loss of her family was leavened somewhat by her longtime relationship with Asghari. They met on the set of her “Slumber Party” music video in 2016.
Her relationship with Asghari had seemed to be a source of hope. The two reportedly signed an iron-clad prenup in Spears’ favor after the Grammy winner’s conservatorship ended in 2021.
But now that she’s facing her third divorce, Spears is older and more alone than ever, as the one person who appeared to be her rock since 2016 now is accusing her of beating him, sometimes when he was asleep.
The 41-year-old is also nowhere near as rich as most pop stars at her level, with an estimated net worth of only $60 million — a pittance compared to singers like Celine Dion, whose fortune is believed to be about $800 million.
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