LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Britney Spears’ former assistant, Alli Sims, is breaking her silence for the very first time about the years she spent with the music superstar.

Alli lived with Britney in the pop star’s former gated community for over a year. She saw everything and in an Access Hollywood exclusive, revealed even at it’s worst, things with the pop star weren’t as bad as they were portrayed.

“I feel like the media made it appear a lot more insane than it really was,” Alli told Access.

Alli revealed that while she was at Britney’s side, they were constantly followed by the paparazzi.

“It was a minimum of 50 people following us,” she said. “It made everything look so much more hectic. It was crazy.”

Alli was Britney’s assistant for one year until reports said she was let go.

When asked if she was fired from the job, Alli said, “No.”

“I still lived with her after I wasn’t working with her and we’re still best friends,” Alli said.

When asked about the reports that Britney’s dad, Jamie Spears, said she couldn’t come around anymore, Alli said that was true.

“Yeah, he definitely said that,” she said. “You know, they’re very controlling and that’s fine and I just stepped back. I’m not going to fight nine lawyers and parents.”

In fact, it was a team of lawyers that handled a divorce, child custody and questions about Britney’s mental health. And with Jamie in charge, they brought order to Britney’s life.

“They pretty much cut out everyone, honestly,” Alli said.

And despite reports that Britney is bi-polar or suffers from post-partum depression, Alli said she didn’t see evidence of such conditions.

“I just feel like, you know, she had kids fast,” Alli said. “There was a divorce going on and that’s a lot for a young person to handle.”

In January 2008, Britney barricaded herself and son Jayden at her then home, refusing to give him back to ex-husband, Kevin Federline. Alli said the reason Britney refused is quite simple.

“She was just like, ‘I wasn’t ready for them… you know, to go home,’” Alli recounted. “It was a mom just being protective and a mom that didn’t want her kids to leave… I mean, it’s weird when you have kids three days a week and you’re used to having them all day everyday.”

During one stretch of Alli’s tenure with Britney, the star was hospitalized twice in one month. The second time she was taken by ambulance to the UCLA Medical Center’s Psychiatric Ward.

When asked how Britney was in the hospital, Alli said she was OK.

“Fine, fine. Honestly, fine,” she said.

As a result, Britney temporarily lost visitation rights to both her boys in January 2008.

“I think that was a really harsh step,” Alli said. “It looked a lot worse than it was… I actually got subpoenaed for the custody case and I was in there for eight hours and it was brutal. But, I mean, I just sat in there and told the truth. There was nothing bad to say.”

Alli hasn’t spoken to Britney in over a year. She’s spent the time doing what she says Britney encouraged her to do – pursue her music.

Alli’s first single, “Driving Blind,” is about missing someone. In this case, Britney.

“I want her to know when she hears [it], that it is about her and I miss her friendship,” Alli said.

Copyright 2009 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
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