Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean is backing his old friend Britney Spears in her fight for freedom from her 13 year conservatorship. 

The two shot to fame in the ‘90s and developed a friendship, but the Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) hitmaker admits she wasn’t herself when they last met. 

“My thoughts and my prayers are with her; I am 100 per cent team Britney,” he told Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM.

“There’s this amazing cupcake shop that she goes through, that I go to. The last time I saw her, it broke my heart.

“Last time I saw her, she was with a gentleman. I’m assuming it was security or maybe a driver. She just kind of had this glass face… She looked right at me and I was like, ‘Hey, it’s AJ!’ She just didn’t know who was there. It took her a minute.

“And then she realised it was me, and we hugged and we talked for a brief moment, but I could just see that this wasn’t her. Like, I’m not looking at the person I knew from years and years ago.”

In June, Britney admitted she’s been left “traumatised” and “depressed” by the conservatorship, as she pleaded with a Los Angeles judge to call time on the conservatorship, and shared her wish to cut ties with her father and open legal proceedings against her family.

Reflecting on the pop star’s testimony, which saw her suggest she she was not allowed to remove an IUD contraceptive device despite her dreams of becoming a mum again, AJ added: “That, to me, is physical abuse.

“Just the whole thing to me is just, it’s grotesque. I really feel in my heart that she’s going to break free of all of this, and I really hope that she does. She’s a sweetheart.”

Since her testimony, Britney was granted permission to select her own legal counsel, following the departure of court-appointed attorney Sam Ingham. 

Former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart will take over as Britney’s lawyer, and vowed to fight for the end of the conservatorship, and investigate whether it was appropriate to begin with.