Britney Spears' mum Lynne has revealed she and her estranged husband Jamie used an argument between her daughter and then-manager Sam Lutfi to "start taking charge" of their troubled daughter's affairs.

Spears claims Lutfi had shut her out of Britney's life, but the singer's parents knew it was time to take action when it appeared she was heading towards a nervous breakdown.

She explains, "We had police calling us telling us things that were going on. That's when we said, 'We've got to do something, we prayed about it.'

"We had been trying to get in; we couldn't... When she had an argument with that individual, who I just don't even want to talk about, that was the opening and we took advantage of it, we got in and that's when we were able to start taking charge."

Speaking out on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest's Los Angeles radio show, Spears confirmed Lufti was the "individual" she was referring to.

Shortly after Lynne and Jamie took charge of their daughter's personal and professional affairs at the beginning of 2008, Jamie was made a co-conservator of the pop star's estate and the couple was granted a restraining order against Lutfi.