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Like many who follows entertainment news, I’ve been watching the downward spiral of Britney Spears. Some believe her spiral towards a 5150 mental lock down began January 2007 when she infamously shaved her head. I personally think it all began when she split from Justin Timberlake because she hasn’t been “normal” since. Let’s take go back in time for a moment.

After being [allegedly] dumped by Timberlake for cheating with choreographer Wade Robson, rumors began circulating that she had a thing going with Limp Bizkit frontman, Fred Durst. Spears, then still considered America’s Pop Sweetheart, denied the allegations. Many of her fans, buying into her carefully manufactured image, called Durst a liar. However, I was one of the minority who believed him. I know that the music business is about manufacturing fiction, and I had a feeling that Spears’ image of the “sexy virgin” was false, although I’m sure many men wanted to believe otherwise. I remember getting into light debates with friends over the Durst/Spears affair because they refused to believe she could “sully” herself with the likes of Durst. While a light-bulb affair with Durst is not the mark of insanity (at least for some), it was an early indicator that the real Britney Spears was starting to surface.

When she hooked up with a no name backup dancer (Kevin Federline/K-Fed/Fed-Ex) after annulling her 55 hour marriage, I knew something was “off” about her. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was a backup dancer. It was because he was already involved with another woman (Shar Jackson) and had a ready-made family that he dumped to be with Spears. Most people with common sense would have noticed that K-Fed was a huge red flag from the very beginning. I mean, what woman in her right mind would want a man who leaves his pregnant girlfriend to social climb into a larger purse? Call me crazy, but that doesn’t sound like a man you would want in your life; however, Spears invited him in with open arms. And of course, we all know what happened next:

• Spears and K-Fed marry in a trailer park trash wedding.
• Spears gets sperminated and has Sean Preston nine months later.
• A few months after giving birth, Spears announces another pregnancy and has Jayden James nine months later.
• Rumors began circulating about troubles (surprise, surprise) in Spears and K-Fed’s marriage.
• Spears announces she’s divorcing K-Fed and notifies him of the news via text message.

Now, some attribute Spears’ troubles after she married K-Fed. There’s no denying she took a definite nose dive in the public eye, but I don’t think it’s because K-Fed drove her crazy. She was already going crazy if she hooked up with and married K-Fed in the first place.

Many breathed a huge sigh of relief after she left K-Fed, but I knew that the divorce was not an instant fix for Spears’. In fact, things only got worse. She started partying with LiLo and Paris Hilton, the two poster children for wild and rich Hollywood stars. While partying every night is not a crime, it didn’t look good for a young mother of two leaving her children behind nearly every night to go clubbing. Neither, I might add, was her decision to go out without panties. Still, many thought it was just a case of her celebrating her freedom a bit too much…until she shaved her head.

Hollywood “super mom,” Lynne Spears, was off to the rescue to get Spears in rehab. While I did wonder if the fading pop star had a substance abuse problem, I felt she her main issue concerned a mental disorder of some type, namely postpartem depression. When she came out of rehab and continued down her path of strange and bizarre behavior, I was more firm in my convictions that Spears needed a mental health evaluation, especially after discovering that her paternal grandmother committed suicide after suffering longterm depression. It’s unfortunate that it took a police standoff after a custody dispute for Spears to get the mental evaluation she so badly needed.

As I’ve stated before, I’m not a Britney Spears fan. I think 99.9% of her music is pure pop trash and that her looks got her a long, long way in the music industry because it sure wasn’t her “singing.” That being said, I don’t hate Spears, and I don’t like to see anyone fall down and hit the ground as hard as she has, especially over the past year. The custody dispute that sent her on a mandatory 72 hour, involuntary mental evaluation, is the saddest turn in Spears’ life thus far. I would like to think this is Spears’ rock bottom, but only she will know if she’s finally hit her bottom.

Many out there are blaming Lynne Spears for Britney’s current condition in addition to to Jamie Lynn Spears’ unexpected pregnancy at 16. Some are also blaming the entertainment industry and the “child star” factor. While I think all of these are contributors, I think she became mentally unstable along the way, and I think it all started with what I think was postpartem depression after she gave birth to Sean Preston. Since then, her mental state grew worse, and I wonder if anyone in Britney’s camp tried to help her. Like many young Hollywood and music stars, she had “hanger ons” in her entourage who were all “yes men/women.” Was there anyone around who tried to encourage Spears to see a psychiatrist? No one really knows for sure, but I hope at least one person had enough of a conscious to try to get her some help. Of course, I realize that Spears has become an island lately, but unless she gets the help she needs (psychiatric drugs and psychiatric help), it would not surprise me to hear that we have another Anna Nichole Smith type death on our hands.