AFTER 18 dramatic months of crotch-flashing, head-shaving, paparazzi-bashing and redneck-divorcing, it looks like Britney Spears has done it again. The 25-year-old has been ordered to surrender custody of her two children to her ex-husband, Kevin Federline. Oops.
Having reportedly failed to obey the orders of a judge to meet a drug counsellor, take random drug tests, enrol in parenting classes and cease driving with her children without a valid California driver's licence, Britney saw her sons, two-year-old S
ean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James, handed over to Federline (or K-Fed, to use his rapper name) on Monday.
After handing over her children, Spears - whom the court labelled "a habitual, frequent and continuous" user of drugs and alcohol - went straight to a Bel Air tanning salon to top up her tan, the latest strange event in more than a year of bizarre behaviour.
In February last year, she was photographed driving with her eldest son on her lap, while in November she celebrated her divorce by hitting the town with socialite Paris Hilton - and without underpants. The paparazzi bulbs flashed frantically as she exited a car in a short skirt, legs splayed, the first of a series of knickerless outings caught on camera.
Her humiliation was made complete in February this year, when she spontaneously and publicly shaved her head. Clearly all was not well: Spears checked into Promises Rehab Treatment Facility in Malibu a few days later, only to check out again within 24 hours.
Such a public and dramatic downfall has proved irresistible to gossip magazines and online celebrity blogs, including perezhilton.com, who describes the star as simply "a f***-up".
Her every disastrous move has been documented, from her recent firing of her personal bodyguard Tony Barretto for refusing to pick up her hat, and his description of her "nudity, drug use and safety issues" around her children.
But what's next for the troubled child star?
An attempt at a comeback proved disastrous when she swayed on stage, looking vacant and bored, and lip-synching badly at last month's MTV awards, and experts have suggested that she needs to take some serious time out to get herself clean and back on track before trying once again to pick up the pieces of her once-dazzling career.
Where to start, though? We asked six women in the know what advice they would offer to the unhappy starlet.
KIRSTY SCOTT
Author of the novel Mother's Day
WHILE it's hard to feel sorry for a pampered pop princess, as a mum this situation made me wince. It's a mother's worst nightmare, but maybe it's the jolt that Britney needs to sort herself out.
My advice to her is to get some genuine friends around her. Never underestimate the power of a great girlfriend that you can call upon. She has spent her life in showbusiness, I assume surrounded by hangers-on, and in her situation good friends are so important. She needs to be given a good dose of reality by a straight-talking friend. Actually, what she really needs is a Scottish granny who doesn't pull any punches. That would sort things out!
LINDA RUSSELL
Director of The Parent Coaching Studio in Edinburgh
DESPITE the fact Britney has been labelled a "bad mother", very few parents are bad parents. They are usually fundamentally good people who want the best for their children. In Britney's case, I think that she probably has post-natal depression.
She needs help in lots of areas of her life, but I would recommend that she seeks professional help when it comes to raising her children. This doesn't make her a bad mother. We all need help at times, and she needs to work with someone on a daily basis who can help her to bring some consistency into the lives of her children by working with her, her ex-husband and any nannies and family members involved in her children's upbringing.
LINDA PAPADOPOULOS
TV psychologist
BRITNEY has been in this downward spiral for some time now, and a big part of the problem is that she has lived her whole adult life in the glare of the media. The first thing that I think she needs to do is to get herself out of the media spotlight. She seems to switch between behaving spitefully towards the media and courting them, almost like a jilted lover.
A part of her will crave media attention as it's been a part of her life for so long, but I don't think she can start to get better, to fix any of the troubled areas of her life, until she steps back and attempts to get back on track as privately as possible.
DAWN BRESLIN
Edinburgh-based life coach, author and TV presenter
I'VE OFTEN thought about how I'd try to help Britney if I could sit down with her. The first thing I'd tell her is that this has to be a long-term thing. She has to get off the screen and maybe take a few years out before returning to her career. There's no magic pill to solve this. I'd start by asking her to accept who she is and to like herself again. There's probably a lot of self-loathing there that perpetuates all sorts of behaviour. She needs to be thankful for the things she does have and to focus on them.
It's important she leaves past mistakes behind. At the moment she is the property of other people and she needs to take that back, to get off the world stage, to let go of what others think and take responsibility for her actions. She needs to learn to be kind, patient and gentle with herself, and to go back before she can move forward.
FIONA McCADE
Columnist
THIS has been a long time coming, and I actually think that if Britney deals with this setback wisely then it could be the making of her. She needs to take the time out, clean herself up, accept the rap on the knuckles and start doing what she's told. She's been going downhill for a while now, and this should perhaps have come sooner. It's imperative that she puts her children before any attempts to recover her career. These are two people who need to be put first, and she is in such a bad state that she has no choice but to let her career take a back seat for now. This is her last chance. If she doesn't sort herself out this time, then it's bye bye Britney, I'm afraid.
NICOLA MORGAN
Children's author and writer on child development
EVEN if only a small part of the reports about Britney Spears' parenting is true, it's still a very sad story. At two and one-year old, her children are too young to understand what is happening, thankfully, but they can still be affected by the disruption. My advice to Britney is to focus on making sure that her children's routine remains as normal as possible. Young children don't need or want things like expensive holidays, cars and gifts. They just want routine, calmness and love. If she works with her ex-husband to ensure that they receive all of these things, then hopefully they will be unaffected while she works through her problems.
