Britney Spears loses custody

[IDrinkaRum]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/.../people_spears

Kevin Federline now has full physical custody of their 2 kids. Britney's visitation rights have been completely revoked! However, there will be a court date on January 14 to decide things permanently, I suppose. I hate to say this, but between the 2, Mr. Federline is the better parent.

[Rapscallion]

Is it inappropriate of me to shrug?

Sure, there are children here, the ones who are the real victims, but we only know about them because their parents are famous for ... being famous, I guess. I know many people who had to grow up without both parents due to breakups and arguments, and I'm grateful because I was never in that situation. However, when are people going to do something about society?

Rapscallion

[CancelMyService]

What gets me is that after all the crazy Britney tales, and now her sister getting pregnant at 16, no one is really calling her parents (mom in particular) out for being ridiculous stage parents that push their kids into fame instead of, you know, actually raising them.

Britney has been in the public since she was on the Mickey Mouse Club, and spent her teen years as the poster child for underage sexuality. Throw in being the biggest pop star on the planet and you have all the makings of a disaster waiting to happen.

Then her mom seemingly couldn't wait to throw Jamie Lynn into the same machine, I guess she wanted to make sure the gravy train would keep rolling.

[horror]

I don't want to get all Chris Crocker here, but I really think a lot of the problem is the fact that she's constantly hounded by the media, and if anyone had the slightest bit of concern or compassion they would lay off.

As soon as she was introduced to fame the world put her life under a microscope, and has yet to let up one bit. While there's always the argument that she "asked" for it by wanting this fame, there's no denying that this kind of over-attention can seriously warp someone.
If someone already has issues with mental (in)stability, following them absolutely everywhere they go is surely going to add fuel to the fire.
I mean after all, if someone is going to jump off a bridge you don't build them a diving board and toss a target into the water.

While I may not condone all of her behaviour I can certainly understand her breakdowns. Hell, I've had two massive breakdowns this week alone and I don't have to worry about helicopters flying over my house, live video feeds of my home being broadcast over the internet, as well as dozens of cops, fire fighters and EMS attendants surrounding my home. And that's not to mention all the paparazzi.
And that was all in one night.

If I had to put myself in her shoes I think I would be a mental wreck as well.
I truly believe that the only way she will get better is if people back off. Though it's very unlikely that that will happen any time soon.
I mean, the woman can't even buy RedBull without being harassed!

As much as people think I'm a dweeb for being on the side of Britney Spears I am. With only knowing her through the media the opinion I've formed of her is that she's a truly good person who just needs a lot of help.
I don't think she's a bad mother, but she's not mother of the year either. She does need treatment, but that doesn't make her a bad person.
Sure she's a "wreck", but who among us could say that we too wouldn't be a wreck if we were forced to live a life of absolute scrutiny by the entire world?
And yes, I do believe she is forced to live this life, as no matter how famous you are or want to be, I doubt any person would willingly ask to be followed 24/7.

I am unapologetically a member of Team Britney!

[Ree]

I'm not a huge fan of the girl, but I do feel very sorry for her...to a point.

She really does court the media.
If she's out of the headlines for any length of time, she does something to get herself back in there.
She's crying out for attention, and even negative attention is still attention.

It seems that, at some point, the media decided it was open season on her.

When she first started out, she had this "good girl" persona. She was supposedly this virginal young thing, but there she was, splashed all over magazines, posters and album covers in her little schoolgirl uniform posing suggestively and singing songs with suggestive lyrics.

It was as if catching her in any situation to prove she wasn't as virginal as she claimed became a major goal for the press.

She appeared in a movie, that probably wasn't quite as terrible as it's been made out to be, and her performance was panned. The movie tanked big time at the box office, and the press was merciless.

Next thing, they became obsessed with the size of her breasts. "Did she have a boob job? Look at the pictures and judge for yourself!"

She had a five minute marriage and was soundly mocked.

From then on, the poor girl couldn't do anything without it being in a headline.

She married K-Fed and had a baby and the press went wild.
"Let's catch a picture of Britney eating or drinking stuff she shouldn't while she's pregnant. Let's get some really unflattering 'fat' pictures for the front page."

She began to exhibit bizarre behaviour after the baby was born, and then it became "Let's catch her doing stuff that we can claim is neglect of her baby."

She got pregnant again, and it was 'lather, rinse, repeat' with the news stories.
Her marriage broke up and the press gloated.

I honestly think she has some undiagnosed and untreated postpartum depression.

More bizarre behaviour followed.

She attempted a 'comeback' and performed on TV looking pretty damn good for someone who had just given birth to her second child, but the press mocked her, calling her fat and criticizing her performance.

All the while, she has had the stage mom from hell pushing her and living her own stardom vicariously through her daughter. That wasn't enough, so she pushed her other daughter into the spotlight as well.

The poor kid didn't stand a chance, simply because she was related to Britney. The sharks were circling before the poor girl had even sung her first note.

I, for one, am sick of all the over exposure on this news story.

The media creates these icons and then moves them around like pawns to sell magazines, and the, when they end up broken, they are there to take the pictures and shake their heads at how low the mighty have fallen.

[AFPheonix]

And yet, they do it because people buy the freaking magazines.

Easy fix for Britney? Stop dating paparazzi and bringing them into your home. Move waaaaay far away where they won't follow. Think about all the other celebs in the world who manage to not get photographed every other nanosecond. I suspect she has a hand in her sheer amount of exposure.

It is clear that she's mentally ill and her family is far too self-absorbed to really get her the help she needs, so unfortunately it's going to be one of those things where she's going to have to decide when it's time to step off the merry-go-round and actually tackle her problems with the goal of getting them fixed. She's not there yet.

[IDrinkaRum]

I'm getting tired of all the "entertainment" shows saying how much she generates for those around her (the paparazzi & the magazine owners importantly).

I think she needs to go into obscurity. Or at least just go back to her home state, and stay hidden for at least a little while. *le sigh* It's sad, really.

[blas87]

I'm so sick of hearing about her. Every morning on the radio, that's all the morning DJ has to talk about. And if I miss that, then TMZ has her on their show every night.

Is it possible to get sick of someone? I guess not.

[protege]

They do that here too, Blas. It's always during the morning rush too. I'm tired of that crap--put something useful, like the traffic or weather on!

[AFPheonix]

Behold. National Public Radio, where no mention of Britney Spears is to be had.