Brittany Spears' mother Lynne Spears was spotted touching down at LAX on Tuesday - just days after the pop star sparked fresh concern with the shock sale of her music catalog.
The 44-year-old singer has reportedly inked a sweeping $200 million deal with publishing powerhouse Primary Wave, a staggering figure that immediately set tongues wagging.
Insiders told the Daily Mail the move was driven in part by her 'heavy spending,' while others suggested it may signal a sobering reality: that her chart-topping music career could already be in the rearview mirror.
The eyebrow-raising business decision came as Spears was also photographed behind the wheel of her Mercedes SUV, appearing to hold her phone while driving - a violation of California's strict 'No Touch' law (Vehicle Code 23123.5).
Now, Lynne, 70, appears to have flown in from Louisiana to Los Angeles, seemingly closing ranks around her eldest daughter as questions swirl.
Her arrival comes amid the famously rocky mother-daughter relationship, which has returned to the spotlight after Britney claimed she is 'scared' of her family and 'lucky to be alive' in a bombshell social media post earlier this month.
Four years after ending her 13-year conservatorship, largely controlled by her father Jamie Spears, Britney slammed her relatives for 'isolating' her and insisted they will 'never take responsibility' for their actions.
'I'm incredibly lucky to even be alive with how my family treated me once in my life and now I'm scared of them,' the singer wrote in a lengthy caption.
'They will never take responsibility for what they did,' she wrote, adding, 'We can forgive as people but u don't ever forget.'
It's not clear whether Britney's post was aimed at her mom, her father Jamie, younger sister Jamie Lynn, or even their brother Bryan - or all of them.
If Lynne was included in the criticism, the two did manage a brief reconciliation in 2023 after three years of little to no contact.
At the time, Britney shared that her mother had shown up at her doorstep, writing about the moment with gratitude and even joking about planning to go for coffee together.
Still, Lynne's history with her daughter has been far from simple.
During Britney's 13-year conservatorship, which lasted from 2008 until it ended in 2021, Lynne became legally involved around 2019, filing court documents and positioning herself as an interested party amid the intense battle over Britney's finances and personal life.
She publicly criticized Jamie's control and backed efforts to remove him as conservator, saying she stepped in during a 'time of crisis' and didn't believe the arrangement was in Britney's best interests.
But Britney has not held back in blaming her mother for her conservatorship.
She once claimed on Instagram that Lynne "gave [Jamie] the idea" for the arrangement and said it "secretly ruined my life," in a post that has since been deleted.
In her memoir The Woman In Me, Britney revealed how the conservatorship drained her of much of her creative spark.
'The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child. I became more of an entity than a person onstage,' she wrote. 'I had always felt music in my bones and my blood; they stole that from me.'
She went on to describe feeling 'like a shadow of myself' after losing her independence, explaining how the psychic toll of the conservatorship caused rapid shifts in her personality.
On November 12, 2021, Britney marked what she called 'the best day ever' when a judge finally ended her controversial conservatorship.
Jamie insisted his control over Britney's finances, career, and personal life was intended to protect her wellbeing, but Britney claimed it was 'abusive,' even comparing her situation to being a 'sex trafficking victim.'
Brittany and Lynne did manage a brief reconciliation in 2023 after three years of little to no contact.
The patriarch maintains he still loves his daughter, but their relationship has never recovered.
By the end of 2023, he faced a new health crisis, having his right leg amputated above the knee after a bacterial infection nearly cost him his life.
Meanwhile, Britney raised eyebrows by signing the sweeping agreement that hands over her ownership stake in decades of chart-topping hits -- including ...Baby One More Time and Toxic.
Legal documents show the catalog was sold to music publishing powerhouse Primary Wave, though TMZ reports the exact price tag has not been officially disclosed.
Sources described the transaction as a 'landmark deal,' with estimates putting it in the same ballpark as Justin Bieber's reported $200 million catalog sale.
The records reveal Britney signed off on the agreement on December 30, and TMZ insiders say she's happy with the decision, celebrating the milestone by 'spending time with her kids.'
Spears shares her two sons, Sean, 18, and Jayden, 17, with ex-husband Kevin Federline, to whom she was married for just under three years before their 2007 split.