Brit Bodyguard Ups Subpoena Count

Tue., Aug. 14, 2007 2:42 PM PDT by Gina Serpe and Tina Dirmann

The manny will take the stand.

Just one night after Kevin Federline's legal team served Britney Spears off-on personal assistant and confidante Alli Sims with a subpoena to testify in the ex-couple's ongoing custody case, Spears' former bodyguard and manny Daimon Shippen was slapped with a deposition order as well, E! News has learned.

Like Sims before him, Shippen is expected to be quizzed on Spears' skills as a mother, going over everything from her parenting choices to her late-night habits.

Once again, Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, dispatched security specialist Aaron Cohen to do the deed Monday night.

Shippen was Spears' bodyguard for nearly a year, but eagle-eyed tabloid readers may best remember him as the mustachioed detail who swooped in to make sure an eight-month-old Sean Preston's cranium didn't make contact with the New York City pavement when a drink-and-baby-balancing Spears stumbled in front of a throng of paparazzi in May 2006.

At the time, Shippen was working for a private security firm, though he soon went solo amid reports that employers discovered he was running an adult-toy Internet company on the side. Shippen has never commented on those or any other reports.

Regardless, Spears rehired the newly independent bodyguard earlier this year, and the two had made a habit of hanging out, with Shippen escorting the pop star to a production of Wicked and to church. Tabloids and gossip sites were buzzing last month that the two were romantically involved, although both claim the relationship has always been nothing but professional.

It's unclear whether Shippen is still in Spears' employ; he was working security for another client Monday night when he was served with the subpoena.

Meanwhile, sources very close to Federline say he is struggling with whether or not to subpeona Spears' parents. Especially her mother, Lynne Spears.

She has been a sympathetic ear to Federline for months now, and it appears that she and he have talked at great length about Spears' problems.

"Lynne Spears has stopped short of criticizing Britney in public, choosing instead to support Kevin behind closed doors. But that's become such a sore sport between Brit and her mom," the source told E! Online.

"Britney really resents her parents for backing Kevin. And if Kevin drags them all in court, it's going to get so ugly."

So far, Federline has put off that decision. "He knows the trouble that will cause, so he's trying to avoid it. He doesn't want to put Britney's parents in that position. But if he has to, if it means the difference between getting his kids or not, he'll do whatever it takes."

Spears and Federline's divorce was finalized July 30, and they were granted joint custody of sons Sean Preston and Jayden James. However, Federline went to court last Friday to seek primary physical custody of the boys. Sources say he is concerned with Spears' erratic public behavior.

Lawyers for Spears and Federline are due back in court Tuesday to wrangle over the matter.