"Britney felt a lot of her recent troubles started and stopped with Shannon," an insider close to Britney tells Life & Style. “Britney thought she was talking badly about her. She was very rude and Britney felt she was letting business emails fall by the wayside.�?

Britney, who's been the target of negative publicity with her recent, erratic behavior, and her previous assistant/cousin, Alli Sims, parted ways within the last month. But the insider says that Britney made peace with Alli, saying, “They have agreed to move forward as friends.�?