Larry Rudolph assisted in crafting one of the greatest comebacks in pop history, but Larry credits Britney for taking back the reigns.

“I do my part, and with her I do it very well,” Larry tell L.A. Confidential. “When I got back in her life, I knew the things she needed to do to get it straight. At the end of the day, all I do is sort of help guide—it’s really her that gets it done. She really wanted to win. She had the same kind of eagerness and drive she had much earlier in her career, and she still has that.”

Rudolph admits there’s a separation between Britney-the-superstar, and the the real Britney, both of whom he knows very intimately.

“To anybody who meets her today, she’s ‘Britney Spears: The International Icon,’” he says. “She’s not that to me, nor will she ever be. She’s just that girl from Kentwood, Louisiana, I met when she was 13. We have a unique relationship that would actually be impossible, I think, for her to recreate with anybody else. I really do know her better than anyone.”

Rudolph’s also helped shape the careers of Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, Backstreet Boys 98 Degrees, and more recently Jersey Shore’s Pauly D, but he still hasn’t grasped the magnitude of his work with A-listers like Britney.

“I don’t think of the social impact of what I’m doing, but I do recognize the fact that what I do absolutely impacts culture in a big way—and yeah, I’m very proud of it.”