After filing for divorce and asking for financial support, fans are calling out Sam Asghari for allegedly trying to extort his estranged wife, Britney Spears.
According to the Associated Press, Asghari filed paperwork in Los Angeles County on Wednesday. The couple married in June 2022 after dating for six years and had separated almost three weeks earlier, with Asghari seeking financial support from Spears and for her to pay for his divorce lawyers.
Officially, the reason for Spears and Asghari’s divorce is “irreconcilable differences.”
Spears hasn’t publicly addressed the divorce announcement since news of their split broke (although Spears’ most recent photos indicated she’s planning to buy a horse). Asghari posted an update on Instagram Stories on Thursday confirming the split.
“After 6 years of love and commitment to each other my wife and I have decided to end our journey together,” he wrote. “We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other and I wish her the best always. Shit happens. Asking for privacy seems rediculous [sic] so I will just ask for everyone including media to be kind and thoughtful.”
But several tabloid reports include details of what might have allegedly happened, along with Asghari’s push for financial support, that paints a different story.
The allegations about exploiting Britney Spears
TMZ, citing “sources with direct knowledge,” says the couple had an argument revolving around infidelity on Spears’ part. Page Six, which includes quotes from a “source,” reported that Asghari is “threatening to go public with extraordinarily embarrassing information about Britney unless he gets paid” more than the couple’s prenup allocated for him.
But as reports claiming that Asghari was trying to exploit Spears spread, fans called Asghari out for allegedly trying to exploit Spears (who spent more than a decade under a conservatorship) even further.
Octavia Spencer, who previously went viral after telling Spears to get a prenup, commented on an Instagram post about Asghari threatening to reveal “extraordinarily embarrassing” information that “Exploitation is illegal.”
And she was far from the only person pointing to words like “extortion” and “blackmail” to describe what reports allege Asghari is trying to do to Spears.
After Asghari released his statement, others criticized him for being hypocritical and blamed him for some of the recent stories about their divorce.
Amid reports of their divorce and a new divorce album from Spears reportedly in the works, memes surrounding new events also emerged.
Asghari’s response to the reports
Asghari’s manager, Brandon Cohen, pushed back against reports that Asghari was trying to change the prenup or exploit Spears.
“There are many claims that Sam is challenging the prenup and threatening to exploit his ex-wife with videos,” Cohen told Variety. “However, all these claims are false, as no negative intention has ever been directed towards her and never will be. Sam has always and will always support her.”
