As Britney Spears' Circus Comes To Town A New Book Looks At The Night She Went Into Meltdown

The following italicized article is from www.mirror.co.uk:

Amid a frenzy of anticipation, Britney Spears’ sell-out Circus tour rolls into town today.

It won rave reviews across the Atlantic, so hopes are high for the 27-year-old pop star’s UK dates, beginning at London’s O2 Arena.

Yet a mere 18 months ago it seemed as if the curtain had come down on her pop career for good.

With the world watching, Britney fell apart – crumbling under the pressure of a messy divorce, a custody battle over her two young sons, and family feuds.

Now a fascinating book reveals for the first time what went on in Britney’s mind during her meltdown.

Here, in the first of our exclusive serialisation of Britney: Inside the Dream by Steve Dennis, we expose how booze, rows and a famous ex led to her chaotic comeback performance at the MTV Video Music Awards…

Seven minutes before her live performance, Britney’s dressing room door opened and a collective look of horror fell upon the faces of her management team.

“What the f***?” shouted one.

It was immediately clear that her much-hyped comeback was about to become car crash TV, a global display of a pop star unravelling.

At the MTV Video Music Awards, Britney had pledged to show everyone “the bitch is back”.

In front of millions of fans, and some sceptical industry bosses, she had to prove that despite the messy divorce, custody battle, head shaving and stints in rehab, she still had the talent that had made her a global phenomenon.

Now, for the first time, the backstage events leading up to that disastrous performance can be revealed.

Raged

Efforts were made to ensure it all went smoothly. Britney had rehearsed for five weeks with handpicked dancers.

She had got Dita Von Teese’s stylist Trish Somerville, to create a flattering black one-piece for the make-or-break performance. And she had managed to secure the services of Ken Paves, dubbed Hollywood’s hottest hairdresser.

But Britney herself managed to ruin the most important performance of her life. Hours before the show, her anxieties raged. She decided it was a good idea to start drinking tequila shots to calm her nerves – one after the other.

Her prickliness wasn’t helped when her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake popped by to say good luck.

“He was cool and couldn’t have been friendlier, but that wigged her out more,” says a backstage source. “She was freaking out over the littlest thing.”

Her low self-esteem, until now hidden, was making itself known as anger and a difficult attitude. And the sagas of the previous months were all stirred up by the pressure to deliver.

Britney was terrified, and the good luck gesture from Justin was a final reminder that this was a huge broadcast.

Unworthy in her own mind, she would render herself unworthy in public.

The source says: “Brit is someone wanting to be loved, not used, not treated like a robot, not there for everyone else to make money, and not working all the time. It was inevitable she was going to reach the ‘F*** it! F*** you!’ stage. The great sadness is that she reached it in the run-up to this big moment.”

Ninety minutes before the show, Ken Paves entered the dressing room with an assistant, carrying golden hair extensions in his little box. “I don’t like him! I want his assistant,” announced Britney.

The assistant pledged her loyalty to Ken and Britney instructed her bodyguard to forcibly remove Ken from the room

In the corridor outside, observers saw Ken being shoved out the door, remonstrating: “I’ve never been so insulted in my life!” He was still carrying Britney’s hair extensions, tissue-wrapped.

Then word came through to management: “Britney’s just fired Ken Paves.” As they gained access to her dressing room, she explained she didn’t like his attitude.

“That’s great Britney, but you need him right now. He has your hair extensions,” she was told.

Britney, whose hair was still short following her head-shaving incident, pondered this reality: “OK then, he can come back.” But after retreating to his hotel room, Ken Paves wasn’t answering his phone or his door.

Fishnets

Britney seemed oblivious to the distress she had caused. And it dawned on MTV that their opening act was playing up – and she had no hair.

Nelly Furtado’s stylist came to the rescue, but Britney still needed hair extensions – from the hotel’s salon. The source says: “By now everyone was frying.”

In her dressing room, Britney was knocking back another shot. Once the stylist had saved the day, everyone was asked to leave so that Britney could slip into her striking Trish Somerville one-piece.

Instead she emerged in a black bra, black hotpants and fishnets, showing an unflattering paunch.

Britney’s reps insisted she change.

“It’s too f***ing late! We’ve got to get her on stage!” shouted an MTV assistant.

The source says: “Everyone knew it all hinged on her hitting the first line we’d rehearsed to a T – look down the camera on a close-up and lip-sync, ‘It’s Britney, bitch!’ If she could hold that line, and get through, she’d won.

“But the music started, and she stood and stared at the camera without moving her lips. At that moment, we knew it was over.”

What followed was an infamous performance in which Britney looked more like a wasted clubber in Vegas than a pop princess who was “in the zone”.

In one evening, she had sabotaged her hair, her designed outfit, her choreography and her reputation. Britney got the attention she craves, but this time as a laughing stock and an object of pity.

Within minutes of leaving the stage, she was in tears as the show continued.

A door from a backstage corridor burst open on to the emptied casino floor outside the auditorium. Britney, wearing a hooded sweater over her stage outfit, tore through, shoulders up, head down.

She spotted an open-air, but closed, restaurant called Guardino’s and dived under its roped-off barriers. She walked to the second floor and sat on the floor.

From a distance, Britney was seen using a mobile phone, either furiously texting or repeatedly dialling. An off-duty waiter brought her a glass of water and there she sat for 45 minutes, crying.

Lesser stars could never have recovered. But no one should ever underestimate Britney.

Bald truth of rebel’s hair shave

Britney sat still and looked in the mirror at her newly shorn head, tears welling in her eyes.

Minutes earlier she had ordered her driver to pull over at Esther’s Hair Salon in LA, complained her hair extensions were too tight and announced: “I want my hair shaved off.”

Now, after grabbing the electric buzzer and shearing her mousy locks off, there was nothing anyone could do.

“She said her mom was going to be mad,” remembers hairdresser Esther. “And she got a little teary-eyed. She all of a sudden realised what she did.”

The stylist, who had tried to talk her out of this public sabotage, tried to make her feel better by complimenting her “nice shaped head” while photographers outside rushed to their laptops to wire the photos that would, in minutes, be circulated around the globe.

The pictures convinced the watching world that Britney was losing the plot and on the verge of a cataclysmic breakdown.

But the head-shaving had little to do with self-loathing, more a loathing against the public persona that had defined her until then.

What few people knew was that Britney was rowing with her mum, Lynne, who seemed to be incessantly reminding her of her motherly duties and responsibilities. What made Britney most irate was that her mama kept mentioning how her ex Kevin Federline wasn’t forever on the town. This was all being viewed as controlling behaviour.

The head-shaving moment was the culmination of an escalating rebellion, heightened by heartbreak over her divorce and custody battle, that can be traced back to 2004 when Britney decided she no longer wished to conform, be controlled or take instruction.

Britney had been well-coached in the messages that imagery conveys and this one dramatic image told her mama, and any other interested controllers: “So now what are you going to do with the pop star?”

What better way to rid herself of the performer’s identity than by losing the very hair she was famous for; sabotaging the act to free the person?

Suddenly, the superficiality of the pop star lay on the salon floor.

Source: Mirror

Never Before Seen VMA 2007 Rehearsel Footage

She’s Back, and Now She’s Angry

The following italicized article is from www.nytimes.com:

Eighteen months ago Britney Spears took the stage at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and, it surely seemed, doused her career in lighter fluid and struck a match. In her brief performance she looked fatigued, unhappy and disoriented. With Ms. Spears already in the middle of a hostile run in the tabloids, this was something worse than self-injury; it was a speeding car with no driver. Surely no good ending was possible.

That she might attempt a tour on the scale of the one that arrived at the Nassau Coliseum here on Wednesday night would have appeared laughable and worrying. That she pulled it off was nothing short of a shock.

Even though Ms. Spears is essentially operating under the auspices of her father, Jamie Spears, who last year was granted legal conservatorship over her, she is 27 now, a mother of two and finally in righteous possession of the anger and frustration that have long animated some of her best music, but never her persona.

Not that she was sneering her way through this warp-speed-quick hour-and-a-half performance. This was less a concert — the vocals appeared to be recorded — than a Las Vegas-style revue of intimidating complexity. Throughout, though she spoke little, Ms. Spears appeared radiant and unfettered, often smiling and never uncommitted.

There was efficient, expert use of a huge stage set in the round, featuring about a dozen backup dancers choreographed impressively by Jamie King.

The rigid execution extended to image management as well: Ms. Spears’s handlers denied access to photographers except under the strictest of usage terms.

From the tour’s title — “The Circus Starring Britney Spears” — on down, the night was rife with blunt-force imagery: Ms. Spears locked in a cage and working her way out, Ms. Spears suspended in a picture frame, Ms. Spears as a ringmaster wielding a whip. During many segments of the show she and her dancers wore bondage-inspired outfits reminiscent of early-’90s modes of sexual transgression.

And there was no room for reflection; the past had moved by far too quickly to dwell on it. Ms. Spears performed a version of her first hit, “ ... Baby One More Time,” and, in a video montage before the encore, flashed through scenes and images from her entire career. (Her kiss with Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards received the biggest cheer.) But otherwise there were no references to her first two albums. Any song with even a whiff of naïveté was stricken from the record — no “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” no “Sometimes,” no “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.”

Instead she leaned heavily on the surprisingly strong “Circus” (Jive), her sixth album, released late last year, and her previous album, “Blackout,” from 2007: songs about empowerment and disempowerment set to frantic production. Rarely varying from script, she resisted deep reading, though midshow she briefly erupted into a military shout. “I don’t know what you’ve been told,” she said. “This mama is in control.” She seemed certain of it.

Source: NY Times

Britney Heads to Big Easy for High-Stakes Comeback

The following italicized article is from www.people.com:

The elaborate costumes are packed. The 16 semis filled with magic props and big-top sets are on the road.

When Britney Spears takes the stage at the New Orleans Arena on March 3 – the opening night of her Circus tour – the stakes will never be higher.

After more than two years of personal drama, the tour will either make or break the professional comeback she began last fall.

According to sources, Spears, 27, who left Friday for Louisiana, has been hard at work preparing for the show, which will feature her signature sexy dance moves, a stage filled with three circus rings, and magic tricks.

"She's pretty determined," a friend tells PEOPLE. "She missed singing and performing and the freedom of that. It gives her an escape and it's what she loves to do, so she's definitely thankful to be doing that again."

Redeeming Herself

Though the pop star seemed to be back in old Britney form when she sang "Womanizer" on Good Morning America in December, the concert will be her biggest performance since her disastrous, out-of-shape appearance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.

"I've got to believe she's ready and will do a professional show," Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of the concert trade magazine Pollstar, says. "If she doesn't, it's over."

Spears's last tour, in 2004, was canceled after the singer injured her knee during a video shoot. (She spent her newfound free time with then-boyfriend Kevin Federline; they were engaged that summer.) So far, the buzz for the upcoming 31-city outing is strong.

"In general, the tickets have sold very well. Some shows are already sold out," Bongiovanni says. "Obviously, it means there is significant fan interest in seeing her do her live show. That fact that she's been off the scene for a while helps with the pent-up demand."

Lingering Issues

Of course, some interest may stem from the sideshow that has been her personal life. On Wednesday, her father, Jamie, was granted an extension on a restraining order against his daughter's ex-manager Sam Lutfi. (Jamie holds indefinite legal control over her life following her two forced hospitalizations in January 2008.)

In a hearing on Monday, Jamie testified that prior to his stepping in, Britney's life "was pretty well a disaster. She had nothing going on, just mostly [being] in the tabloids. [But now] weight-wise she's eating properly, she's very stable, making her meetings, taking care of her babies [Preston, 3, and Jayden, 2], doing things she's supposed to do," he said.

Jamie also testified that during her breakdown, Britney was "kind of wild" and "just very messed up."

Britney's current manager, Larry Rudolph, told PEOPLE in November that dancing and singing is what helped the singer get her life back on track. "She identifies with her career in a lot of ways and getting her career back is a great therapeutic thing for her," he explained.

Seconds the pal, "She's better when she puts her energy into that."

Still, legal experts say her father could remain in control for months or even years. She'll only regain her independence once she proves to the court – backed by doctors' opinions – that she can handle her own affairs.

Is She Ready?

The pop star's friend worries the tour may be too much for the singer to handle, but notes that "it's what her team thought was best."

What will make the trip easier is that Federline is taking the couple's kids on the road so they can keep up their regular visitation schedule with Mom.

"Having the boys with her is going to make all the difference," says a source. "They are the reason she can do this."

Source: People

Britney Spears Celebrates Sons' Birthdays With Car-Themed Bash

The following italicized article is from www.usmagazine.com:

Britney Spears and her family - including sister Jamie Lynn and her daughter Maddie, brother Bryan, mom Lynne and dad Jamie - threw a car-themed joint birthday party for sons Sean Preston and Jayden James in Beverly Hills Saturday.

Sean, who turns 3 on Sunday, and Jayden, who turned 2 on Friday, were given miniature SUVs with personalized license plates.

"Britney was looking on like a very proud mommy," a source told Usmagazine.com. "She got a kick out of watching the boys in their cars and was laughing and smiling."

The celebration - which took place at pal Adrienne Maloof-Nassif's home - was a contrast to the boys' birthdays last year.

In 2007, ex-husband Kevin Federline threw their sons a pool party as Spears disappointed with an embarrassing performance of "Gimme More" at the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas.

Source: US Weekly

The World Wants A Piece Of Britney Again

The following italicized article is from www.timesoftheinternet.com:

Ironically, Britney Spears sang "You want a piece of me" at a time when many people didn't. In fact, people were getting so tired of her constant antics that she'd nearly become a pariah in star circles. Now, Britney is climbing her way back to the top. Experts credit the fact her family is back managing her career. I credit a lobotomy.

Britney Spears is getting rave reviews lately for a restoration of her 'hotness.' Let's face it, Britney had always been a sex symbol, up until the disastrous hookup with K-Fed. After having two kids, gaining a lot of weight, and spending her time acting ridiculous, Britney hit an all time low in popularity.

Now she's making a video with Madonna, in-studio recording another album, and making heads turn again.

Despite her debacle at last year's MTV awards, there's even talk that Britney Spears will be invited back this year to make things right.

Once again, it looks like the whole world wants a piece of Britney again.

Source: Times Of The Internet

Never Before Seen VMA Footage

Britney Spears' £5m Gig

The following italicized article is from www.newsoftheworld.co.uk:

TROUBLED pop star Britney Spears is in secret talks for a spectacular comeback worth a whopping £5MILLION.

The Gimme More singer, 26, is poised to get a lot more with a mega-bucks one-off Las Vegas show, followed by a string of dates.

A success could see the Princess of Pop put behind her a disastrous year that included losing her two sons to ex Kevin Federline.

Our source confirmed: "The concert will be one to top them all—a spectacle.

"It will have jaw-dropping lights, amazing costumes and a performance from Britney to roll back the years."

Britney, whose last UK No1 was in 2004, will play the gig at Palms Hotel And Casino in Las Vegas at the end of the year. Her record company, Sony BMG, have given the thumbs-up despite Britney's shambolic comeback at the MTV Video Music Awards last year.

The source added: "There's a total of £5million on offer but the onus is on Brit to put in a top show.

"Britney is finally getting her life—and career —back on track and the whole world will see the evidence when she steps on that stage."

Source: News Of The World

Britney Spears in secret talks for $100m comeback tour

The following italicized article is from www.showbizspy.com:

Troubled pop princess Britney Spears is in secret talks over a $100m comeback world tour, it has been claimed.

The 26-year-old star is said to be desperate to get back on the road and leave her recent troubles behind her.

Sources claim that the Toxic singer has already begun training for the mega-money shows with grueling dance sessions at the Millennium Dance Complex.

Spears’ record label BMG are confident that she can restore her squeaky-clean image on the road. “Things are looking up for Britney,” said a source. “She’s finally focusing on her career again.”

But since her disastrous performance at the MTV VMAs in 2007, Britney has a lot to prove.

“There will be no more on-stage blunders,” the source tells the News of The World. “Britney’s turned a corner and the world will be amazed with her.”

Source: Showbiz Spy

Yes, Mother, Britney Can Still Draw a Crowd

The following italicized article is from www.eonline.com:

Britney Spears gawking lives.

Spears' guest appearance on Monday's How I Met Your Mother helped boost the sitcom by 1 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research stats show.

The CBS show averaged a season-high 10.7 million viewers, up from last week's 9.7 million.

It was the most-watched prime-time Spears moment of the Spears family's especially tumultuous last six months. It topped Britney Spears' sleepwalking routine at the MTV Video Music Awards (7.1 million). And it topped the first new Zoey 101 (7.3 million) to air in the wake of teenager Jamie Lynn Spears' announcement that she was pregnant.

How I Met Your Mother was Britney Spears' first gig since the MTV debacle gave way to months of personal, but not terribly private, drama. On it, she plays a sensitive secretary at a dermatologist's office visited by Josh Radnor's Ted. She appears about, rough estimate, 1,000 percent more engaged than she did at the Video Music Awards.

Spears curiosity factor or no, How I Met Your Mother remained an also-ran on Monday.

Source: E! Online

Coke Fiend Brit Back in Studio?

The following italicized article is from www.tmz.com:

Coca-Cola in hand, Britney Spears went to the Alley Kat Rehearsal Studio yesterday -- the same place she rehearsed for her disastrous VMA performance.

It's possible she was preparing for a new music video ... but keep in mind her last one was animated, and ended with a "to be continued."

Source: TMZ

Dallas Austin: Jive pushed Britney to do VMAs

The following italicized article is from www.untouchablebritney.net:

Speaking to MTV News music producer Dallas Austin, who partied with Britney and P. Diddy the night before the 2007 VMA's, revealed how Britney told him she was not ready to perform.

"The night before the VMAs she came in and told me and Diddy "You know what, I am not ready to do the show" and her management were basically saying "No you have to, you can't back out now". But Diddy and I told her "No, no, no if you aren't ready to do it, then don't do it." Both of us said they'll forgive you later if you deliver something great, but if you ain't ready to do it, then don't"

The music producer, who has worked with the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna also revealed that he is a fan of Britney's latest album 'Blackout'.

"To tell you the truth this is one of my favourite albums. I'm not a Britney Spears superfan but this album is ridiculous to me. I play it over and over again. It just shows you how big of a star she is. She hasn't done one promotional thing for this album period and her record sales and gone up and people love it."

Source: Untouchable Britney

Britney Gets a House Call

The following italicized article is from www.eonline.com:

Look who's in the zone.

Two UCLA psychiatrists paid Britney Spears a house call at her Beverly Hills residence Saturday afternoon, one week after a court commissioner granted the "Baby One More Time" songstress permission to see sons Sean Preston and Jayden James for the first time since Jan. 3.

A source tells E! News that Spears' bodyguard escorted the doctors from the Westwood-based medical center to her home in the posh, gated community of Summit Circle at approximately 2 p.m. They subsequently met with her for two hours before departing around 4 p.m.

No word on the nature of the checkup.

However Mark Vincent Kaplan, the attorney for the popster's ex-hubby Kevin Federline, told E! News last week that as part of her agreement to retain visitation rights with her kids, Spears is obligated to undergo "custody evaluation" by medical experts among other requirements.

The "Toxic" singer's privileges were reinstated after a deal was hammered out between Federline's camp and lawyers for Luce Forward, the law firm which is handling Britney's temporary conservatorship for her dad, Jamie Spears.

A court awarded the elder Spears the conservatorship on Jan. 31, giving him control over her assets on the very same day his 26-year-old daughter was forcibly admitted to UCLA's psych ward on a 5150 hold. She remained there a week before quietly being released.

Since regaining face-to-face contact with two-year-old Sean and 17-month-old Jayden, Spears has reportedly seen them on three occasions since last Saturday. But not without supervision. A court-appointed monitor, her father, K-Fed's security guard and an attorney for Luce Forward were on hand to observe the visits.

Meanwhile despite her recent personal travails, Britney has been trying to put her pop star skills to good use beyond nightclub appearances. Two hours after meeting with the psychiatrists, she turned up at the Millennium Dance Complex and taught an hour-long dance class for kids.

And nearly six months following her disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Spears is also reportedly on the comeback trail.

The "Gimme More" purveyor has purportedly been holed up in a North Hollywood dance studio rehearsing moves for a new video for her next single, "Hot as Ice," off her latest album, Blackout, which is set to shoot in the coming weeks.

Source: E! Online

Britney Headed Back in the Zone

The following italicized article is taken from www.eonline.com:

For better or for worse, another Britney Spears comeback is in the works.

E! News has learned that the "Gimme More" songstress, who has been logging numerous hours in a North Hollywood dance studio recently, is gearing up to start work on a video for another tune off of her latest album, Blackout.

"She wants to do the single 'Hot as Ice' as her next video and is ready to take the next step," said a source close to Spears. "She's been working a chair routine out in the studio and is ready to animate it."

To get herself camera-ready, Spears is going to start rehearsing up to four days a week and is looking to hook up with some top local choreographers.

The 26-year-old divorcée, who spent another three hours at home with sons Sean Preston and Jayden James Thursday morning as part of her new visitation arrangement, is "very clear" and focused on her dance training, the source said.

While her much maligned performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in September was also referred to as a comeback, the troubled popster—who at that point hadn't yet lost joint custody of her boys—apparently was fated to face far more serious issues before she could worry about the ol' song and dance.

"Now that a lot of the drama is behind her, she's really getting serious about making a comeback," the source said.

And what of Spears' physique, which as all of her critics know isn't quite what it was back in her heyday?

"Once she gets working out more in the studio, the pounds will come off," the insider added. "They always do."

Spears saw her children for the first time in nearly two months on Saturday, although, per the deal hammered out by attorneys overseeing her father's conservatorship and longtime Kevin Federline counsel Mark Vincent Kaplan, mother and sons were far from alone.

Jamie Spears; a lawyer from Luce Forward, the firm handling his coconservatorship of his daughter's estate; and one of Kevin Federline's security guards were on hand Saturday and are believed to have been present for another visit Monday, as well.

Source: E! Online

A Show Business Fortune At Risk

Britney Spears’s klieg-lighted meltdown sent her to the psychiatric ward twice, and left her long-divorced parents, her brother, and a SWAT team of lawyers and accountants grappling with how to protect her from predatory hangers-on, from the paparazzi who dog her every move and from her own erratic behavior.

Britney Spears, performing in 2000 on Long Island, has been a breadwinner for her mother, Lynne, and sister, Jamie Lynn, as well as for her father, Jamie.

Beyond the psychodrama being played out on tabloid covers, celebrity-news shows and gossip Web sites is another serious subject for the Spears family: how to protect the millions of dollars that Ms. Spears, 26, has amassed over a decade as one of America’s biggest pop music, merchandise and endorsement engines.

It’s impossible to say how much money she has. Published estimates of her net worth have varied wildly, up to $125 million. But one of her former financial advisers, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of his relationship with his client, estimated her current fortune at around $50 million.

That’s an enormous amount, but, as Michael Jackson proved, being a wealthy cultural phenomenon doesn’t make one impervious to financial disaster. Celebrities, like athletes, often have a small window to make their money, typically at a young age when they are probably not thinking about the future.

As a result, many child stars like Macaulay Culkin are dragged into family squabbles over money while others — too numerous to mention — end up looking to revive their careers long after the money has run out.

Ms. Spears will not run out of money anytime soon, but her longer-term prospects have taken a hit in the last year because of bizarre behavior — her public scenes, questionable parenting skills and a shaky comeback performance at the MTV Awards — and her tortured personal life after her divorce from Kevin Federline, formerly one of her backup dancers.

According to court documents, her everyday finances seem to have fallen into disrepair as well. A Feb. 14 court filing put it starkly: “Members of Britney’s household,” it said, “have been paying for her basic necessities, including medicine, food, and other day-to-day needs.”

On Feb. 1, the day after Ms. Spears was involuntarily admitted for treatment at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center, her estranged father, Jamie Spears, was named her co-conservator, giving him control over her treatment, security, visitors and daily life.

Mr. Spears is sharing oversight of her estate with an independent lawyer, Andrew M. Wallet, to dispel the notion that Ms. Spears’s parents were making a grab for their daughter’s fortune. With the court’s permission, they immediately fired her business manager.

Another team of lawyers was hired for the conservators and quickly set out to assess the financial damage. Yet another lawyer was appointed by the probate court, as is routine, to look out solely for Ms. Spears’s interests. Ms. Spears’s brother Bryan, along with a lawyer, were given control of her revocable trust, which contains all her liquid assets, so they could begin paying her bills. And Ms. Spears’s criminal lawyer, Blair Berk, was said to be overseeing the whole Humpty Dumpty-like effort.

All the independent lawyers aside, one cannot ignore money as a motivating factor as the estranged Spears parents joined forces. Since she first became a pop star in 1999 on the strength of her hit “Baby One More Time,” she has been the primary breadwinner for the entire Spears clan.

The earning power of her 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn, the star of “Zooey 101” on Nickelodeon, probably suffered in December when she announced her pregnancy, which also helped sink her mother’s deal to write a book on parenting.

What little light has been shed on Ms. Spears’s finances came last May, when part of an income statement surfaced in her divorce case. It put her average monthly earnings at more than $730,000, mainly from royalties, but said she earned only $13,000 a month from investments. (Her spending, including $102,000 a month for entertainment, gifts and vacation and $16,000 for clothes, was more eye-catching.)

The nature of her investments might be unclear as well. Accountants are trying to learn whether her money was moved into overly risky investment vehicles, whether any business deals need to be undone and whether her assets were outright looted. (Her father filed a report of grand theft, according to The Los Angeles Times, asserting that paintings, jewelry and other valuables had been stripped from her Beverly Hills home).

Click READ MORE to finish the article.

Source: New York Times/Breathe Heavy

Dude! She made 8 million from June 2006 to June 2007 so she ain't running out of money any time soon!

Danja Q&A

Keri Hilson was saying because Britney wouldn’t open up about her own personal experiences, it made it tougher to write for her. Did you find that it made it harder for you as well?

It wasn’t hard for me in the creative process with Britney because I was totally left to do pretty much whatever I wanted to. If she felt it, she was gonna ride with it. If she didn’t, you’d see it in her face. I don’t think she needed to open up. She did have one record where she’s mentioning certain things, but it’s in a clever kind of way, not necessarily pouring her heart out. We’ve known Britney for entertaining, dancing and giving you a sexy record, getting you moving. And that’s what we did. Unfortunately, she’s in the state that she’s in, but the music speaks for itself. In the studio she was dancing, laughing in the booth. She gave the right type of energy. That’s all that matters.

Did it disappoint you that the public didn’t respond as well to her VMA performance as they did to the actual “Gimme More” song?

It didn’t bother me until nine months down the line. I was like, "I wish she could’ve really nailed that performance ‘cause that really would have set it off." It was still top five [on the Billboard] Hot 100. I didn’t think the performance was really that big of a deal. She looked a little spaced-out. To me it looked like she was completely nervous. She hadn’t been on stage in I don’t know how long. During the performance, I was watching like, "Just give me that one pop to let me know you back." And it never happened. I was rooting for her regardless.

At the end of “Gimme More,” you were talking on the record. What prompted that?

[Laughs.] I just felt like I needed to say something. People haven’t really seen me or heard my voice, and that was one of my first solo productions. So I definitely had to stake my claim. There's a lot riding on my future, because people think I’m around because of Tim and they don’t really know what I’m capable of. After we mixed that record, I just knew that record was crazy. Period. We got all these hit records and I haven’t got any on my own. Well, here’s one.

Has all the drama overshadowing Britney’s project and Duran Duran's lackluster sales had any affect on you?

It definitely weighed on me. At one particular point last year, I felt like, "Man, I did all this work, and it ain’t pop like it’s supposed to pop." I was down for a little bit. It wasn’t that I wasn’t proud of my work. It’s just things with the business that sometimes happen that affect your music. You could put your all into the music, and it’s some executive decision that ruined it. I don’t count it as a failure. It’s just a lesson learned. In the Britney case, every producer, songwriter or arranger on that record did their thing. The record label did their thing. That was just something uncontrollable on her part. Duran Duran [is] an old group, [and] a lot of people are not familiar with them. Not saying that it’s over for them. It’s just a matter of reintroducing them.

Source: Rhapsody

It All Began With A Head-Shaving

The following italicized article is taken from www.pagesix.com:

It was the electric razor buzz heard ’round the world. A year ago on Saturday — on February 16, 2007 — just days after a 24-hour stint at Crossroads rehab center, Britney Spears marched into a California hair salon and announced that she wanted to shave her head. We thought that she’d hit an all-time low back then, but it turned out that Britney had a lot further to fall. And here’s how she unraveled over the next 12 months.

After the head-shaving, the newly bald Brit rounded out the evening by getting two new tattoos. Days later she checked into rehab again, this time at the Promises treatment facility — only to leave less than a day later. Then came the bizarre incident on February 21, in which she attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella.

The following day she was back in rehab, this time for a month, but Britney’s troubles were far from over. The next year would find the singer trotting out an assortment of odd wigs and hair extensions, often wearing short dresses without panties. She gave new meaning to the word "May flowers" last May when photographs surfaced showing her posing topless with little more than flowers covering her nipples. One hot summer day she pulled over on the side of the road, stripped down to her bra and panties and jumped into the ocean in front of a group of photographers.

It seemed as if the fallen pop star never forgave her parents for forcing her into treatment and refused to let them see their grandsons. In June, she even went so far as to serve her mother, Lynne, with a letter instructing her to stay away from her grandchildren.

Fans hoped for a comeback last fall with the release of her album Blackout and the announcement that she would be opening the MTV Video Music Awards. But Britney’s performance fell flat when the starlet showed up onstage looking dazed and lipsynched and stumbled her way through the song "Gimme More."

Her odd behavior culminated with her losing custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline in the beginning of October. Even Britney’s neighbors turned against her. While out with her sister Jamie Lynn in October, a woman came up to Britney and made it clear that her presence wasn’t wanted. "Nobody wants you in this neighborhood Britney!" she shouted. "You are making this neighborhood very unsafe!"

Jamie Lynn lunged at the woman and screamed in her face, "Then move the f*** out of it!"

Later that month, Britney got her lips plumped and then ran over a photographer’s foot on the way out of the doctor’s office (and didn’t bother to check and see if he was OK).

Along the way there was a string of random men in the singer's life. She had her heart broken early in the year when her ex-boyfriend of six weeks, model Isaac Cohen, sold details of their sex life to a tabloid.

She hooked up with Mindfreak illusionist Criss Angel. She also had a brief dalliance with bodyguard Daimon Shippen, who had caught her older son, Sean Preston, the year before when Britney stumbled on the street and nearly dropped him.

She took on a man named Sam Lutfi as her manager and he quickly became her confidant, rarely leaving her side. She began dating married photographer Adnan Ghalib and brought Chad Hardcastle and paparazzo Filipe Teixeira into her entourage.

The new year brought even more drama. Britney started off 2008 with a three-hour custody standoff at her home. Eventually police had to be called — she was taken to the hospital via ambulance and spent a few days in the psych ward. After her release, she fled to Mexico with Adnan. But by January 31 she was back in the hospital for a week, undergoing mental evaluation. Over the past few weeks, her father, Jamie, has been granted conservatorship over her estate, prompting a turf war with Sam.

The next year is sure to bring more custody battles and theatrics in the life of Britney Spears, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel: She has nowhere to go but up.

Source: Page Six

Britney Spears attacks Amy Winehouse’s Grammy performance

The following italicized article is taken from www.showbispy.com:

Bitter Britney Spears reportedly attacked Amy Winehouse’s amazing Grammy Awards performance - even shrieking: “She is so obviously stoned!”

Spears’ last public performance, at the MTV Video Music Awards, was so universally mocked and criticized - many wondered if it would kill off her career. But that did not stop the star trashing most of the people on-stage at the Grammys, even having harsh words for former Beatle Ringo Starr, according to a friend who was with her when she watched the show.

“Too bad the least talented Beatle was the one who showed up,” Britney reportedly sniped. “They should have got Paul [McCartney].”

But the harshest words were for five-award winner Amy - and also the most ironic, given Britney’s own last big performance.

The friend insists Britney could not get over how “stoned” Amy looked - even though most people thought the British singer was in good form and the biggest attack against Britney for her VMA’s performance was SHE looked stoned. “Look at her! Look how stoned she is!,” Britney screamed at her friends, according to a U.S. report. “She is so obviously stoned!”

Britney told her friends that the show was “a mess”, according to the U.S report, especially the parts celebrating the 50-year history of the Grammys. “They didn’t explain to kids why the old stuff was important,” she reportedly complained.

One performance she did love, however, was Tina Turner - but not her partner on-stage, Beyonce. “She sure knows how to toss her hair,” Britney said sarcastically. “Too bad she can’t dance as good as Tina — who’s old enough to be her grandmother!”

Along with raving about “how great” she thought Turner’s performance was, Spears was moved to tears by Kanye West’s emotionally charged tribute to his late mother, Donda West, as he performed “Hey Mama”.

And she also loved another part of the show - the hat worn by John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, saying she would “kill for it”.

The star was also full of criticism for Recording Academy president Neil Portnow who was an almost constant presence throughout the show. “Nobody knows who he is … and they care less,” said Spears, according to the friend.

Source: Showbiz Spy

Spears planning 'Blackout' world tour?

The following italicized article is taken from www.digitalspy.co.uk:

Britney Spears has started planning a world tour to promote her Blackout album, say reports.
The troubled popstar has been practising dance routines at LA's Millennium Dance Complex, claims the New York Post.

"Britney will be leaving the country in the next few weeks, after training in privacy for a month. She is planning a global tour," said a source.

Spears was critically panned for her live comeback in 2007, when she lip-synched Blackout's lead single 'Gimme More' at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Source: Digital Spy

The Top-Earning Women In Music

#14 - *Even Britney Spears snagged a spot on our list, though she toured minimally, lip-synching her way through a handful on House of Blues clubs last spring. Despite near-daily public meltdowns culminating in September's humiliating "comeback" performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, the troubled 26-year-old mother of two still managed to eek out $8 million from old hits and surprisingly strong sales of her perfume, Curious, which grossed $55.4 million in 2006.

Source: Forbes