Britney Spears Is Dating a Former Convict and Her Friends Have Mixed Opinions

Oops, Britney Spears did it again. She and her new boyfriend, Paul Richard Soliz, have managed to keep Britney’s name in the headlines. For years, Britney had stayed out of the spotlight, but once reports of her conservatorship led to allegations of abuse, the world rallied behind Britney to “free” her from her father’s clutches. Since then, Britney’s life still hasn’t been the smoothest, from her relationship with her kids to her dating life.

Britney dated and married Sam Asghari, who then filed for divorce in August 2023 after 14 months of marriage. But just hours after the divorce was finalized on May 1, an altercation between Britney and her new boyfriend, Paul Richard Soliz, rocked the paparazzi. Many of us didn’t even know Britney was dating someone new! So what do we know about Paul and will this be Britney’s “Lucky” relationship?

While the reason behind her split from Sam has been cited as “irreconcilable differences,” her dating timeline with Paul seems to closely follow her relationship with Sam. Paul and Britney first met in 2022 when he was hired to help maintain her $7.4 million mansion, but he was fired after two months due to his criminal record.

Even still, the two of them remained friends and supposedly began dating shortly after Sam filed for divorce. In September 2023, Paul spoke exclusively with Us Weekly about his relationship with the pop star and her ex-husband. “She’s a phenomenal woman,” he told the outlet. “She’s a very, very good, positive … She’s a good person.” He added that Britney was “doing great” and that Sam is a “great guy.”

While his exclusive quotes were pretty vague, it does give us some insight into their relationship timeline. The two had been in an on-again-off-again relationship since, according to sources close to Britney. In February 2023, a source confirmed to Us Weekly, “Britney and Paul are definitely together. He’s still in the picture.”

Paul is a working man and a father of a “handful” of children. “I’m not a bad dude. I understand that things have been said about me in the past, and I have a criminal record — I get it,” he explained to Us. “I’m a working man. I own my own business. I do a licensed contractor technique tile.”

Britney and Paul have been keeping a low profile, although they go on plenty of vacations together. Britney has also met Paul’s kids and absolutely adores his 7-year-old son. “That’s her favorite,” a source told Us. “They just click … She’s great with [the kids], and they like her.” But Britney’s friends have conflicting feelings about Paul.

Paul’s criminal rap sheet includes disturbing the peace, child endangerment, firearm possession, unlawful possession of ammunition, driving without a license, possession of a controlled substance for sale, and possibly more. He started working for Britney when he was released on probation in May 2022, and while reports said he was fired because of his criminal background, a source suggested that he was fired for sleeping with Britney.

“He fixed things around the house. Things like doorknobs and unclog toilets,” the source told Us. “He was fired when Britney’s team found out they were sleeping together, but then he came back into the picture,” the insider claimed.

Another source told Page Six, “He’s been bad news from the start,” and another added that Paul is “extremely dangerous.” A third added, “[Paul is] a bad influence on her just as she is moving on with her life, flexing her freedom and moving on from Sam.”

In fact, Britney’s team is worried for her. Her friends told Us, “Her assistants don’t want [Paul] around; they’ve made that clear from day one. She is such a sweetheart and generous by nature, but he doesn’t want anything. He isn’t in it for that and genuinely cares about her as a person. [But] her managerial team probably thinks he is out to do something shady.” While her friends believe their relationship is genuine, they also added that it’s “casual” and he’s not technically her boyfriend.

Regardless of what happens, we just want the best for Britney, so we hope that if she is in an unsafe situationship, she’ll get help and find her way out of it.