Britney Spears has been removed from her home and committed to a psychiatric ward for the second time this month. This time, it was the product of a plan hatched by her mother to have her committed for a two-week period as a danger to herself and/or others.

The latest chapter in this tragic saga came after another series of bizarre behavior, and her mother decided that enough was enough. A little schadenfreude is one thing, but this has gone from an entertaining sideshow into a full-fledged tragedy. The article claims that she is being treated for bipolar disorder, but: a) there’s no one checking to see she’s actually taking prescribed medications, and b)those medications take time to get the dosages right, and the wrong dosage can actually exacerbate behaviors rather than reduce them.

There are claims of drug abuse, notably crystal meth, but I’d actually be surprised if this were the case. The way she’s hounded by paparazzi, how would she go get it without being photographed making the deal? And if she’s not doing the deal, who would be the person bringing her the drugs? This is one rumor I’m not buying. I think it’s simply a case of a little girl who never had a chance to grow up the way the rest of us did, and has completely lost her stuff trying to deal with the media circus that her life has become. Probably the best thing that could happen to her would be an extended retreat overseas away from the media’s prying eyes.

But is that going to happen? No way. I feel her mother is more concerned about ending the gravy train that Britney’s career has become for her and her family than she is about actually doing what’s best for her. This is the same woman that has pimped her daughter out to any media outlet willing to give her an audience since she was a little girl. Why should I believe that now, all of a sudden, all she cares about is taking care of her daughter? Sorry, not buying…

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Health

Popularity: 81%

Britney Spears has been much in the news lately as K-Fed has been handing subpeonas to everyone who ever so much as sat in the same room as his ex-wife, Britney Spears. The ostensive reason is because he’s so terribly, terribly, awfully concerned about his children’s welfare that he needs to have custody of them. Yeah right.

1) He’s such a concerned dad that he had no problem skipping out on his other children with Shar Jackson as soon as Britney showed interest in him. I’m not saying that makes him an awful person, but it does kind of put into perspective where his priorities lie.

2) He didn’t have any problem at all with her parenting when he was with her. Let’s remember it’s her who dumped him. He hadn’t expressed one negative thought to anyone about her parenting before she decided to kick his second-class, white trash, free-loading rear end the door.

3) Here’s the real reason, brought to us courtesy of TMZ from K’Fed’s court filings. He claims that Britney makes $737,868 per month, while:

The documents reveal K-Fed is receiving $20K a month for spousal support but the payments end on November 15.

And there you have it. His alimony runs out in just over 60 days when he has to go back to Ramen noodles, so he and his lawyer cook up the masterplan to drag Britney through the dirt in an attempt to extort money from her.

I’ve been extremely critical of her on these pages in the past, so no one is going to mistake me for an apologist. But quite frankly, if Britney is white trash then K-Fed is the maggot that feeds off of it. Her relationship with him has been a huge personal and professional mistake, and he is intent on sucking every bit of dignity from her before he finally skulks back into the shadows. Is she a perfect mother? Far from it…But try to imagine living with K-Fed, and just maybe you’d go a little crazy too…

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Babies, Celebrity Divorce

Popularity: 56%

Well, lo and behold celebrities aren’t that different from the rest of us. Britney Spears is reportedly continuing to drink and live it up despite her stint in rehab.  The only difference is that now she is trying to hide it by pouring alcohol into less conspicuous containers like energy drinks and carafes at restaurants.  Celebrity or not, the rules are the same: once an alcoholic always an alcoholic.  A few days in rehab isn’t going to get to the root of her emotional issues and certainly isn’t going to have any real effect on her depression.  Until she takes some real time to deal with her issues, she will continue to drink, shop, overeat, anything to fill the void in her life that seems to have hit her over the head like a brick.  It’s as if her career kept her so busy that she couldn’t see that she never grew up.  When she stopped to get married and have kids all the sudden she can’t handle real life.  Regardless, alcohol seems to be her drug/solution of choice and it will always be her first impulse to drink away her problems and bad feelings.  She is no different from the bum on the street except she has money.

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Health

Popularity: 50%

Britney Spears has issued an apology to the paparazzi whose car she whacked repeatedly with an umbrella earlier this year around the same time she decided to go for the “light and breezy” look for her scalp…

She claims that it was in preparation for a movie role that she never got, but that excuse doesn’t exactly pass the smell test… Hey Britney, part of the step program is admitting the truth, and we’re not buying that this was it…

Tags: Britney Spears, Paparazzi

Popularity: 33%

That’s the real question now that there are rumors that Freeloader is trying to extort millions from her based on a threatened release of a sex tape.

Based on what’s happened to the careers of other starlets who found themselves on the shelves of their local video stores, the answer is a resounding no. Would anyone have ever heard of Paris Hilton without hers? And we’d still be watching Baywatch reruns to catch a glimpse of Pamela Anderson without hers…

Both of these women owe pretty much their entire careers to the release of their tapes, so how effective is his extortion likely to be?

Granted, she probably wants to be spared the public embarrassment of having her sex lives in every living room around the world. But given her current career arc, it couldn’t help but ensure the success of her comeback, could it?

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Divorce

Popularity: 36%

Just in case you had any doubt as to just how far Kevin Federline was willing to go to get his hands on Britney Spears’ money, he had his lawyer file a response to her divorce petition in which he is seeking sole custody of their two children and, of course, child support.

But wasn’t he the one who was out partying all night while Britney staying home with the baby? Why does he want the kids all of a sudden? Because he signed a pre-nup which is going to keep his grimy paws off her money, unless, of course, he can get custody of the kids and live off the child support.

His lawyer tried to intimate that Kevin was planning on filing himself, but Britney just beat him to it. Yeah right, Kev. We believe you. Honest. It’s not like we didn’t see your reaction for ourselves when you found out the Britney Spears money train had come to a stop.

What this means is that we’re going to see a very nasty custody battle in which a lot of dirt is going to be thrown in both directions. Luckily the children are too young to be aware of the nastiness and will hopefully be largely unaffected.

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Divorce

Popularity: 36%

In the “couldn’t happen to a nicer guy” department, it turns out that Kevin Federline was as surprised by Britney Spears’ decision to dump him as almost everyone else. (OK, unlike Kevin, we all knew it was a matter of time, but you have to admit no one expected it to happen yesterday.)

In an ironic moment, earlier in the day I was just discussing with a friend who was asking for advice about ending his relationship with his current girlfriend that, in Singapore, a man can divorce his wife merely by text messaging her three times “I divorce you.” It looks like Britney did something similar.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, you can see the exact moment he finds out he’s getting d-u-m-p-e-d.

As I mentioned yesterday, the tone of the article definitely intimates that she is moving ahead with her comeback plans and was in New York recording new music. Even a quick readthrough reveals how much the tone of the Britney Spears coverage has changed literally overnight. I mean, when was the last time you heard a tabloid reporter say something positive about her?

It also talks about how much her marriage to him was dragging to her down:

“There is probably no other couple in showbiz who are as hated as them… He’s been seen as a gold-digger, an opportunist, using her to further his own career,” [eTalk gossip blogger Elaine (Lainey) Lui] said.

If this is a sign of things to come, Britney could be headed for a monster 2007.

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Divorce

Popularity: 35%

Britney Spears is finally living up to expectations. After on-again, off-again rumors of trouble throughout her two year marriage, she is filing for divorce on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences.”

So why now? I think there are some significant factors at play:

1) She’s had her children, and he’s not any help with them anyway.

2) Her PR people have told her that her chances for a succesful comeback are pretty much zero as long as she’s still with that laughingstock.

3) She’s had enough of him draining her bank accounts to fund his pathetic attempt at a rap career.

4) The sex tape lawsuit falling through was the last straw.

I’m admittedly speculating here, but I’m guessing this is how things unfolded:

Some time ago, Freeloader convinced her to record their intimate moments. She reluctantly agreed after making him promise that no one would ever see or find out about it. Then someone absconds with the tape and a story appears in Us Weekly, and she’s furious. She tells him that since the whole thing was his idea, he had better fix it and get that story retracted or else. He assures that the lawyers can get the story retracted by threating a huge lawsuit and everything will be fine.

In the meantime, he’s living the big life: going out and partying while she stays home with the baby. He even convinces her that he could be a huge rap star, if only he had the opportunity. Being young and in love, she agrees to back him and puts both her celebrity and her money behind creating a career for the ne’er do well.

The album is finally released, and the entire world laughs at him, and at her for believing that this latter day Vanilla Ice ever had any talent. She feels betrayed because he had assured her over and over again that all he needed to prove all his critics wrong was a chance to get out there and show them how good he was. She gave him his shot, and he rolled snake-eyes.

Then the other shoe dropped with the decision to throw out the lawsuit. Not only has the story not been retracted, but essentially the judge told her that there was really never any grounds for a lawsuit in the first place. She’s embarrassed again, and this time it’s the last straw.

After all, she wants her career back. She’s had her children, and now she wants to get back in the spotlight. His antics and schemes are just holding her back, and her priorities have changed. It’s Britney’s time, and this is the first step to staging her comeback…

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Divorce

Popularity: 35%

Britney Spears can’t sue for defamation about her sex life. So says the judge in a case she and Kevin Freeloader brought against Us Weekly after the magazine published an article saying that there was a sex tape of the two which they feared would be broadcast on the internet.

I have to agree with the judge on this one. It was a rare common sense from the bench which said, in essence: Hey Britney. You’ve made your entire living from selling your sexuality. Your reputation can’t possibly be ruined if someone says you made a sex tape with your husband since your reputation is entirely based on sex.

I don’t think anyone has ever argued that Britney Spears is a great singing talent…at least not with a straight face, anyway. Her popularity is entirely based on guys that fantasize about her and the girls who want to have her level of sexuality.

Evidently, her lawsuit never claimed that there was no sex tape: only that she was upset that the article claimed that she acted “goofy” when they went to their lawyers to discuss their options. It was a moronic lawsuit to bring on the flimsiest possible grounds.

Based on this decision, I can only conclude that the sex tape does indeed exist, because Britney never contested this portion of the story. The judge correctly decided that, because Spears and Freeloader couldn’t refute that basic truth of the story, they tried to sneak in a lawsuit designed only to intimidate Us Weekly based on a claim which was essentially beside the point.

I’m all for celebrities having a remedy when lies are told about them, but I’m also glad the judge found for Us Weekly in this case. Using thelegal system and their vast financial resources to intimidate people into silence is an abuse of the law, and it’s great that the case was heard by a judge who recognized it for what it was…

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Lawsuits, Tabloids

Popularity: 35%

As with so many things where she and hubby Kevin Federline are concerned, it turns out that: a) they had a baby girl and b) that it was a boy named Sutton Pierce, were both wrong. They had a baby boy all right, but his name is Jayden James.

The little one, born September 12 at Cedars Sinai hospital, just officially got his name after an official birth certificate was filed with Los Angeles this week. It kind of makes you wonder: what were they calling him for the last month? Did it take Britney and Kevin this long to decide on a name or were they just playing games with the media?

Given their history, I wouldn’t bet money one way or the other…

Tags: Britney Spears, Celebrity Babies

Popularity: 39%