| by Victoria Adamo | 3/05/07 | 326 views |
Britney Spears. These two words used to represent a multi-million dollar empire, a fan base that could cover the world several times over and worship from young girls and hormonal boys that could almost compare to that of Jesus. Let’s face it, if it was still 2000, Britney would be the toast of the town; however, a lot has changed.
I long for day when the most controversy surrounding Ms. Spears was that she posed on the cover of Rolling Stone at seventeen years old in her underwear snuggling with a teletubby. The publicity from the controversy over that magazine cover propelled her stardom and made her the pop princess we all grew to love. Britney went on to sell over 76 million albums worldwide and is ranked as the eighth best-selling female artist in our nation’s history. Though some may not praise her for her vocal ability, Britney’s dancing and performance skills are undeniable. Britney was an accomplished gymnast, off-Broadway actress, Star Search contestant and Mouseketeer all before the age of fifteen.
In 1998, her first solo album "…Baby One More Time" debuted at number one on the charts and set the tone for her largely successful career. Her next two albums also debuted at number one; making her the only female artist in SoundScan history to have their first three albums hit the top spot. Spears’ success escalated at a record-breaking speed and she continued to lead the pop music movement into the new millennium. After she established herself as a singer, Britney made her way into books, movies and endorsements. With the tremendous success Britney acquired at such a young age, the world knew it was only time until she had a breakdown. When Britney’s world finally came crashing down, it was more intense than we could have ever expected.
Britney’s downward spiral began with the break-up that shattered hearts all over the world; her four year relationship with curly-haired crooner, Justin Timberlake expired in March 2002. Despite the nasty break-up, Justin went on to produce two platinum records and act in several acclaimed films. Whereas Britney went on to have two kids and go bald. Britney’s break-up with Timberlake was just the beginning of the disaster that became her life; two years later she added a 55-hour marriage to her list of mistakes. On January 3, 2004, after a drunken night partying in Las Vegas, Brit and longtime friend, Jason Allen Alexander, headed to a wedding chapel and exchanged vows. At the vehement urgings of her manager, Larry Rudolph, and family, along with about everyone else in the English speaking world, an annulment was granted on January 5th. Our girl wasn’t single for long before she snatched up what looked to be her next flavor of the week; Mr. Kevin Federline.
Kevin Federline, aka KFed, was preoccupying his time dancing back-up and impregnating his girlfriend at the time, Shar Jackson, when he met Britney at an LA club. The attraction was instantaneous and three months later in July 2004, the happy couple was engaged. In true Britney fashion, the engagement was not very long, and on September 18, 2004, in a glorified shot-gun wedding, the couple had a surprise non-denominational ceremony at a house in Studio City, California. The nuptials were officially made legal on October 6, 2004. Some may argue that the wedding to Federline was the demise of Britney’s life, career and health. Within the next two years Britney and Kevin welcomed sons Sean Preston and Jayden James, but even the birth of two healthy sons couldn’t save Britney from destruction.
Britney seemed to have everything in perspective during her heyday and even her biggest fans couldn’t imagine that she would end up like she has. Which now begs the question, what the hell happened, Britney? It finally looked like Britney was ready to get back into the nude-colored rhinestone suit and refocus on her career when she finally served KFed with divorce papers in November of 2006. She was appearing on television and at various clubs looking amazing and acting almost like the Britney we all knew and loved, unfortunately this Britney was about to become a distant memory. A few outings with Paris Hilton and some very public shots of her private parts caused a stir and we all could sense this was the beginning of the end for Britney. On February 17th, Britney did something that literally left the nation speechless; she shaved her head! When I received multiple text messages saying “Britney is bald” I literally had no idea what that meant and had to rush to a computer; to my horror and surprise, Britney Spears had shaved her head and quite frankly repulsed me. If Britney was shaving her head because of a role or because she was making some kind of political statement, it would be a completely different story, but this was her grand gesture, her cry out for help.
Fortunately, on February 15th, Britney checked herself into rehab at Crossroads in Antigua. Unfortunately, Britney checked herself out the very next day. Four days later on February 20th, Britney, sporting a horrible wig, checked into Malibu’s Promises Treatment Center. Britney, distraught over the thought of loosing custody of her sons to Kevin, checked out of rehab the next day. Oops, she did it again. Fresh out of her second rehab center, Britney headed to Kevin’s house in Tarzana, Calif., and demanded to see her sons. Federline, in a role reversal, acted very mature in that he stuck to an agreement he made with Britney’s parents to not let her see the children if she checked out of rehab again. Britney, already at the point of no return, completely lost it and repeatedly smashed the car of a photographer who had been following her. Britney’s mother, Lynne, took her distraught daughter back to rehab later that night.
Britney’s crazy spree has caused her to get a lot of attention in the past few weeks, but we cannot forget about the important issue here, what will happen to her two sons? If their mother goes completely insane and has to spend months in rehab, will little Sean Preston, 17 months, and Jayden James, 5 months, be adequately taken care of? We all rooted for Britney when the divorce was first announced, citing KFed to be “trashy” and a “player” but he has been nothing but supportive towards his family during this hard time. He has really taken the initiative and if custody becomes a court issue, he could potentially have a very good case against his ex-wife.
If I could talk to Britney for five minutes I would plead with her to get healthy. I would tell her how much we miss her slammin’ dance moves with a 15-ft snake and her sparkly outfits. I would beg her to grow her hair back, give KFed custody of the babies and beg Justin Timberlake to take her back. Honestly, you don’t need twelve steps to get your old life back, just three: Grow your hair back, rehire your personal trainer and try your hardest to get a sympathy date from Justin Timberlake. I know Britney still has some fight left in her, and even though she can’t erase the disturbing photographs from the past several months, she can sure as hell try to make up for them when she resurfaces from rehab in the future.
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