Britney Spears has entered a rehabilitation center, after the
troubled pop star's recent wild ways escalated this weekend to a
bizarre incident in which she shaved her own head.
"Britney Spears has voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed
rehab facility today," publicist Larry Rudolph said in a statement.
"We ask that the media respect her privacy as well as those
(privacy concerns) of her family and friends at this time."
Rudolph did not elaborate on the treatment Spears was seeking or
where the facility was located - though People magazine and TMZ.com
both reported that it was in Los Angeles and that the 25-year-old
singer checked in at the urging of family members.
Since her split with husband Kevin Federline in November after two
years of marriage, Spears has raised eyebrows with heavy partying,
sometimes with celebrity heiress Paris Hilton, and a series of
pictures that caught the Grammy-winning entertainer wearing no
panties under her short skirts.
This January, Spears posted an impassioned letter to her fans on
her official website (www.britneyspears.com) in which she
acknowledged that her image had taken a beating and pledged to come
back "bigger and better than ever."
But on Friday reports swirled that Spears, a former child star who
exploded onto the pop scene as a teenager and has since sold 70
million albums, had entered rehab on the Caribbean island of
Antigua, only to drop out 24 hours later.
Later that evening she was spotted at a hair salon in Los Angeles,
shaving her own head in pictures that made headlines around the
world. She followed that up with a trip to a tattoo parlor and on
Sunday night she was photographed heading into a West Hollywood
night club wearing an ill-fitting blonde wig.
Her website has been taken down and replaced with a message saying
that a new one was in the works.
After she filed for divorce, Federline quickly sought custody of
the couple's two young sons Sean Preston and James Jayden, claiming
that he needed to "safeguard" them.
Child welfare authorities visited Spears twice in 2006 after she
was photographed driving a car with her infant son on her lap, and
after Sean Preston fell from a high chair and hit his head. No
charges were brought.
Since early in her career, Spears has generated as much attention
for her personal life as for her music, including a highly
publicized romance and break-up with singer Justin
Timberlake.
Spears famously pledged in 1999 to keep her virginity intact until
her wedding day but gradually shed that image as she grew in
popularity, assuming a more overtly sexual persona known for
provocative costumes and stage
performances.
Some facts about Britney Spears, pop princess:
Spears is the biggest-selling female artist of the 2000s with more than 70 million records sold. In 2002, she was ranked the most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes Magazine. The same year she earned a Razzie Award for worst actress for her movie debut Crossroads.
Spears, 25, got her start as a child star on the The All New
Mickey Mouse Club TV show in the early 1990s, along with Christina
Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.
She was catapulted to fame by her first single Baby One More Time
in early 1999 and its music video, in which she was provocatively
dressed in a Catholic school girl's uniform.
As a teenager she famously said she would remain a virgin until she
married but later admitted to having had sex with her first
boyfriend, Justin Timberlake.
Spears inspired fashion fads like low-rise jeans and exposed
navels, caused outrage by kissing Madonna on live TV in 2003 and
was blamed for sexualising hordes of preteen girl fans.
In November, she filed for divorce from her husband of two years,
Kevin Federline. They have two children.
Spears was photographed several times in December wearing no
underwear under her miniskirts. In January, she posted a message on
her Web site acknowledging the negative publicity and writing, "I
look forward to coming back this year bigger and better than ever
and to reaching out to my fans on a more personal level."
Last Friday, she caused a stir by shaving her head at a Los Angeles
hair salon.
