Britney Spears' friend AJ McLean has opened up about the last time he saw her, admitting that it left him worrying about her.
The Backstreet Boys star said he ran into Britney, 39, at a cupcake store in Los Angeles they both frequent and claims she didn't even recognise him.
AJ, 43, claimed Britney had a "glass face" and said the encounter "broke his heart" as he hit out at the singer's conservatorship, which gives her father Jamie Spears control over her personal and financial affairs.
It comes after Britney won the right to choose her own lawyer after asking a judge for a new attorney who she wants to file a petition to free her from her dad's control.
Speaking on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, AJ called for the conservatorship to end completely.
He said: "For it to go on for this long is absolutely asinine. I think it's insane. It is completely brutal."
AJ continued: "She's pretty much my neighbour. I see her often.
"She goes to the same shopping centre that I do. There's this amazing cupcake shop that she goes through, that I go to."
He went on: "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 can't do anything."
AJ added: "Went in, she was there, she looked right at me, and I was like, 'Hey, it's AJ.' And she just kind of had this glass face. Like, she just didn't know who was there."
"It took her a minute," he said. "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."
AJ shared his belief that the strange way Britney was acting could be down to medication.
He said: "In my opinion, that could be whatever they're keeping her on, which is just insane. It's not fair, and I don't think it's right."
"My thoughts and my prayers are with her," he added.
Britney was granted the right to choose her own lawyer after she appeared before Judge Brenda Penny on Wednesday.
She had said in court last month that the conservatorship she has lived under since 2008 is "abusive".
Britney claimed she had been forced to use birth control, stopped from being able to marry or have more children and forced to perform.
