It’s been almost three years since the conservatorship placed on Britney Spears by her father was dramatically ended during a Los Angeles court hearing. Since then, sadly, the pop singer’s freedom has unleashed fresh fears for the 42-year-old. The latest in a series of worrying chapters came at the start of this month when her on-off boyfriend Paul Soliz – who used to work at her house in Thousand Oaks, California – moved into her mansion in Thousand Oaks, California, with three of his nine children.

Aside from the fact her divorce from Sam Asghari was only finalised in May, the new relationship with Soliz has those around her concerned for many reasons. Spears started dating the 38-year-old, who was working as a maintenance worker for her, shortly after her split from Asghari last September. Red flags immediately emerged when he was fired after it was discovered that he was convicted of felony possession of a firearm in December 2022. On 11 September 2023, he was in court for alleged probation violation in relation to that charge. He has also been charged with multiple misdemeanours over the years, including child endangerment, disturbing the peace and driving without a licence.

While this ruled Soliz out as Spears’ housekeeper, it didn’t deter her from dating him. Last week, his estranged wife, Nicole Mancilla, filed for divorce citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ and also filed for legal and physical custody of their five minor children. She claims that she and Soliz were still together when his relationship with the singer first started.

Mancilla’s mother, Sandra Smith, has since called him a ‘deadbeat dad’ on The Drew Lane Show podcast, claimed Soliz doesn’t pay child support and then made a plea for him to return the three kids ‘he took’ to live at Spears’ house. At the time of going to press, Soliz had not responded to these claims.

All of which appears to spell trouble for the Toxic singer. In May, for example, the paramedics were called after Spears allegedly injured her foot during an altercation when she was with Soliz at Chateau Marmont in LA. Two months later, Spears took to Instagram to declare herself ‘single as f*ck’ and said she ‘will never be with another man’ as long as she lives, with sources later claiming she felt Soliz was taking advantage of her. A month later, she was spotted with him and three of his kids at a trampoline park.

The growing worry, then, is that history may be repeating itself. ‘Britney has a long history of picking love interests and hangers-on who are bad news,’ a source close to the situation tells Grazia. ‘Besides his criminal record, he is by all accounts not a stable presence in her life.’

When Spears had multiple breakdowns in 2007 and 2008 – most famously shaving her head and hitting a photographer’s car with an umbrella – it ultimately led to the messy, public breakdown of her marriage to Kevin Federline, which cost her custody of their two sons, sparked her controversial conservatorship, and led to some harmful relationships, including one with Adnan Ghalib, a paparazzi photographer she dated in 2008 for three months before her father filed a restraining order against him.

‘It’s clear that Britney is in a lonely, vulnerable place, and the fear is that Paul is monopolising that,’ Grazia’s source says. ‘The ultimate worry now he’s divorcing his wife is that Britney might marry him.’

None of this is helped by the fact Spears is currently said to be isolating herself from friends and family.. She reportedly has little contact with her immediate family, aside from her brother Bryan.

As someone with a well-documented fragile mental state, it’s easy to understand why those who care about her are wary of this relationship – as things currently stand, they have every right to be.