Britney Spears' husband files for divorce — court papers

LOS ANGELES, California - Britney Spears is headed for another marital split after her husband of just 14 months, Sam Asghari, filed for divorce, in the latest personal crisis for the troubled pop star.

Asghari, a 29-year-old Iranian-born model, cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for ending the marriage, court documents filed Wednesday in Los Angeles show.

The couple was married in 2022, about a year after a California judge dissolved a controversial 14-year conservatorship that had barred her from handling her own life and finances, a legal arrangement many fans considered exploitative.

Under the conservatorship -- which was largely managed by her father Jamie Spears -- the now-41-year-old singer has said she was prevented from having a contraceptive IUD removed despite her desire for more children, claimed she was forced to work and said her phone was tapped.

"I just want my life back," Spears told the court in 2021.

The singer -- whose hits include "Oops!... I Did It Again," and "Toxic" -- reportedly has a prenuptial agreement in place that will protect her assets.

Asghari's divorce petition says the two have been separated since last month.

Spears rocketed to fame in her teens on hits like "...Baby One More Time," becoming one of the world's reigning pop stars at the turn of the millennium.

But she suffered a highly publicized 2007 breakdown, which included attacking a paparazzo's car at a gas station, and the conservatorship began just a year later.

Asghari and Spears met in 2016 when he appeared in a music video for her single "Slumber Party."

The couple announced a surprise pregnancy in 2022 but said it had ended in miscarriage only weeks later.

Spears has two teen sons, Sean and Jayden, with her ex-husband Kevin Federline. She was also briefly married -- for less than three days -- to childhood friend Jason Alexander.

After reports of her split with Asghari began to surface, Spears posted on Instagram Wednesday night that she was planning to buy a horse, but made no mention of her marital status.

Her memoir, "The Woman In Me," is due to be released in October. — Agence France-Presse