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Britney Spears - Source: BANG Showbiz
Britney Spears hit back at the gossips, publishing a list of the top 75 most ridiculous or offensive stories written about her in 2009 - including one claiming her family was once so poor they ate squirrels.
The list culled mostly from US and British websites, celebrity magazines and newspapers, included various reports of new boyfriends, claims of emotional breakdown on her Australian tour, allegations she was being drugged by her father and supposed demands for stripper poles in her hotel room.
The list, published on her official website www.britneyspears.com, also took aim at claims during 2009 that Spears, 28, was pregnant with a third child, that she is addicted to gardening, under orders to read the Bible every day - or converting to Judaism - and that her family once hunted and ate squirrels.
Topping the list was talk that Spears was dating Indian choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, trumpeted in one headline as "Britney Spears introduces her new Bollywood man to her parents."
Called The Year in BS, the post said there were more than 13,000 stories written about Spears in 2009, when she staged her first concert tour since 2004 after a personal and career meltdown.
"We ranked the ones we believe were the most ridiculous. Either because they were factually inaccurate, because they reported the patently absurd, or because we believe they are simply offensive to the sensibilities," her posting said.
Spears rocketed to fame as a teenager 10 years ago with hits like "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "...Baby One More Time" and is still one of the best-known celebrities in the world.
Her Circus tour took her around the United States, to Europe and Australia and helped to give her three chart-topping singles.
