Britney Spears split with Justin over a decade ago.

Jessica Biel's new husband Justin Timberlake has been blamed for the meltdown of X factor USA judge Britney Spears.

The claim is that the Justin and Britney split was so traumatic on Spears, she spiraled out of control.

Long before Britney would sit as a panelist on USA X Factor, the childhood sweethearts split.

The break up was over a decade ago, but the pain was so bad, it caused a domino effect on Brit's life a family lawyer has argued.

After the split with JT, Britney got married twice and reportedly started using drugs and her father Jamie Spears' lawyer Leon Gladstone argued the painful break-up was the cause of much of Britney's woes.

Speaking in court in Los Angeles on Friday where her parents Jamie and Lynne are being sued for defamation by Britney's former manager Sam Lufti, Mr. Gladstone said:

''They a big relationship, and it ended painfully. 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.''

Britney has been under a conservatorship controlled by her father since a breakdown in 2008 and Mr. Gladstone insisted his client has done everything he can to protect the star, even when it caused problems in their family.

He said: ''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.''

Jamie ultimately had to force his daughter into rehab. He had to take her kids away. He had to get her into a conservatorship.

''To Jamie, this was a life and death battle and Britney at this point was at her most vulnerable--and at the point that she is at her most vulnerable, she meets Mr. Lutfi.''

In addition to defamation against Jamie and Lynne and breach of contract against Britney, Mr. Lutfi is suing Jamie for battery, alleging he hit him during an argument over Britney's care.

© Bang Showbiz