Britney Spears in ‘Serious Danger’ Amid New Relationship With Paul Richard Soliz, Friends Fear
The scene was chaotic. Barefoot, wearing short shorts, draped with a blanket and clutching a pillow to her apparently topless chest, a disheveled Britney Spears walked out of the Chateau Marmont Hotel in L.A. in the early morning hours of May 2 with her security and her boyfriend, convicted felon Paul Richard Soliz, as first responders swarmed around them. An ambulance and fire trucks had been dispatched to the scene following a 911 call at 12:42 a.m., an LAFD spokesperson said, “with reports of an adult female injured,” though Britney was not taken to the hospital. (She later claimed in a rambling Instagram post that she’d twisted her ankle.)
But the incident was alarmingly reminiscent of her dark past. “She had a boozefueled bust-up in a hotel room with Paul and refused treatment,” says a source, adding that a “crazed” Britney, who’s been boasting about drinking wine, hit “rock bottom” after a seven-day spiral that began on April 25 when the pair were caught behaving erratically in a series of dramatic photos.
“It’s like 2008 all over again.” That year began with a series of public meltdowns, prompting her father, Jamie, to take charge of her life via the infamous conservatorship, which would last for the next 13 years. Though she was finally freed in 2021, the troubled pop star settled a legal dispute over her dad’s management of her finances on April 25, in which she was reportedly ordered to pay him $2 million in legal fees from her already dwindling bank account. Then on May 2, she settled her divorce from Sam Asghari, who had long been considered a stabilizing influence.
“Now, she’s hanging out with this criminal, and friends fear history is repeating itself,” the source says of Paul, who was first hired to do housework around her L.A. mansion in 2022. “She’s in serious danger.”
Britney Spears Is Dating a Felon
It’s no secret that Britney has been lonely. “She’s usually holed up around her mansion all day, making disturbing videos,” says the source, adding that Paul “provided a distraction. They’ve been hooking up for a while. Sam was convinced she cheated on him with Paul because of how she openly flirted with him.”
The 38-year-old sure seems sweet on Britney, 42. “She’s a phenomenal woman,” he’s gushed. “She’s very good, positive …. She’s a good person.”
But is he? “I’m not a bad dude. I understand that things have been said about me and that I have a criminal record. I get it. But I’m a working man,” insists Paul, who was convicted of possession of a firearm by a narcotic addict in December 2022, stemming from a 2020 incident, and had previously been convicted of robbery in 2008, among a slew of other arrests. He has also revealed he has “a handful” of kids with a late ex, including one who is involuntarily hospitalized in a mental institution.
“That certainly raises red flags, considering Britney’s history,” says the source. “Who knows what his motives are?”
Her loved ones are so concerned that they are considering a drastic step. “There’s actually been talk of pursuing another conservatorship,” the source says of her friends and family, who have attempted at least one intervention since 2021, and fans have even called 911 on her behalf. “No one wants to see it go this far, especially because of all the publicity and backlash over the last one, but Britney really needs help.”
Posting disturbing videos — including one in early May where she called her little sister, Jamie Lynn, “a bitch” online is one thing, adds the source, “but now she’s intimately involved with a felon and she’s been drinking, which she should definitely not be doing if she’s taking medication for her bipolar disorder.”
The star is also reportedly blowing through the $60 million she had when her conservatorship ended, thanks to monthly trips on private jets to luxury resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia. And since she’s vowed to never make music again, “she needs to save her money,” notes the source.
Time is running out. “This latest meltdown proves Britney’s only getting worse,” says the source. “Her friends and family are desperate to save her before it’s too late.”
