LOS ANGELES – As Britney Spears awaited a conservatorship hearing Thursday meant to decide whether her father can retain control of her life, her self-proclaimed manager Sam Lutfi reportedly called a former rep for Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday to seek the California governor's aid.
"Britney says her civil rights have been violated and she wants to talk to Arnold about it," a source with firsthand knowledge of the conversation told the New York Daily News.
"She wants the governor to look into why she can't get an attorney," the source added, referring to the star's inability to keep a lawyer in her continuing custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Click here for the Daily News report
Meanwhile, a source close to the situation told E! News that Spears hopes her attorney will head into court Thursday — the day Spears' father Jamie Spears' temporary conservatorship initially expires — with "compelling evidence" showing she is fit to take back control of her own life.
Britney is "getting along great" with mom Lynne, but resents her father's interference in her personal and financial affairs, the source said.
Jamie was placed in charge of Spears' welfare on Feb. 1 while she was still under observation at UCLA Medical Center.
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz has since upheld her father's argument that Britney wasn't fit to hire her own counsel to fight the conservatorship; Goetz has also given Jamie and co-conservator Andrew Wallet the power to fire Britney's business manager, Howard Grossman.
E! News reported that a court representative has evaluated Britney and a status report summing up the results was turned in Wednesday and will be evaluated by Goetz at Thursday's hearing, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.
But Spears is "just fooling her parents" at the moment, the insider told E!
She "is telling her friends she wants the conservatorship to end. She keeps talking about it. She is behaving herself because she wants to get her [life] back together and get rid of her dad."
Click here for more on this story from E! News
Spears and her mom were spotted shopping together in West Hollywood this week and, on Wednesday, Lynne accompanied her daughter to her third dance lesson in as many days at Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood, where she's been working with a group of youngsters, ages four to seven.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox