By David Perel - Executive Vice President/Managing Editor Breaking Celebrity News

A person who was once close to LeAnn Rimes has emerged as a potentially crucial witness in the singer's lawsuit against Kim Smiley, a teacher and mother-of-six, Breaking Celebrity News is reporting exclusively.

The secret witness was close to Rimes when the incident at the heart of the lawsuit occurred and her information could be damaging to Rimes in the realm of public relations, multiple sources claim to Breaking Celebrity News.

Rimes instructed some of her followers to send negative tweets against people who were pro-Brandi Glanville and anti-LeAnn, according to two people who spoke to the secret witness.

“LeAnn texted (the witness) a lot and those texts could play a big role in this suit,” one source told Breaking Celebrity News.

Breaking Celebrity News has independently verified that the witness was close to LeAnn.

But a source close to Rimes’ camp told Breaking Celebrity News exclusively that LeAnn explicitly told her followers NOT to engage in harassing behavior against her detractors for months before she went into a treatment center recently to deal with anxiety and stress.

This latest development adds a bizarre and significant dimension to Rimes' lawsuit against Smiley. Rimes alleges the teacher taped their phone call without permission. The tape was later posted online.

The circumstances of Rimes’ call to Smiley plus information from Twitter users who regularly interacted with the singer are now important issues in the case, Breaking Celebrity News has learned.

The witness has spoken to several people and one told Breaking Celebrity News: “(The witness) told me that LeAnn was obsessed with Brandi and her supporters… that she was jealous of Brandi.”