Britney Spears: Girl Interrupted- The Reality Behind the Gossip

Britney Spears has been all over the news lately as she heads for a very public breakdown but is this more than just the average juicy celeb gossip to keep us entertained in our coffee break? Do we really understand the sad truth behind the fall of the world's most famous pop princess? Female First look at the reality behind Britney's problems and speak to those who have been at breaking point themselves.

At the tender age of eight Britney was already an accomplished young gymnast and regularly competed in national competitions as well as performing in local musicals and revues. This was also when she first auditioned to be in the world famous Disney Mickey Mouse Club and headed on the road to international stardom.

However the seed for the problems she is now facing could have already been planted before the fame even began. There have been numerous rumours about Britney's unstable upbringing with reports of an alcoholic drug addict father and a Grandma who committed suicide.
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TV presenter and mental health worker Trisha Goddard went through a nervous breakdown herself and she believes upbringing has a lot to do with Britney's problems: “Bad stuff happens to a lot of people but it depends on your background and how you're brought as to how you deal with it,” she says.

In fact Trisha thinks Brit's problems may have been predictable before she was even born: “We've heard her father had a drug addiction – so there may well be a mental health weakness in the family- it often runs in families the way breast cancer runs in families and heart disease runs in families.”

“Also you don't know what she heard as a kid. You don't know what messages she picked up. Were there rows between her parents going on around her? We don't know what she learnt about what being a good woman is and all of that,” adds Trisha. “You can put two people in exactly the same situation- one person could have a real solid background and see the common sense and get through- look at someone like Joss Stone- and the other reacts differently.”

By age 16 Britney was familiar with the showbiz world and was no stranger to US TV screens so when she was signed by Jive Records the young starlet was already used to be surrounded by the rich and famous. Her debut single 'Hit Me (Baby) One More Time' became a huge international hit and soon Britney's Disney cuteness was replaced with sexed up school girl naughtiness.

“Britney was so novel, and it was such a huge time for teen pop that I think we overlooked a lot of signals that something eventually was going to go wrong,” said Shirley Halperin, music journalist, Entertainment Weekly in the True Hollywood Story: Britney Spears- Fall From Grace documentary on E! Entertainment next month.

And the experts agree the trouble started early on: “It's hard to imagine what it's like to constantly have to monitor what you say, how you behave, what you wear. It forces you to think about creating a false image of who you are,” says Dr David Levy, Psychologist at Pepperdine University.

Like any teenage girl Britney wanted to rebel against everything but for someone with so much money and power this meant more than just staying out all night or dating a boy her dad didn't approve of. Teenage rebellion superstar style is a lot more destructive.

“As she grew older, I think she began to rebel from wanting to be the nice girl,” says psychotherapist Stacey Kaiser , “She wanted to be who she really was, and since she didn't know who she really was because she was so young and so in the limelight, everything sort of got distorted for her.”

“Britney spent a lot of her life trying to conform to what she thought she should be. And what often happens when people try to conform is, they go the whole other way. 'I'm going to surprise everybody. I don't care what you think. This is my man. And not only am I going to be with him, but I'm going to make you take him if I have to force feed him on you.”

Being so young and having access to so much fame and money may seem like a teenage girl's dream but in reality it makes growing up a lot harder and trusting people can be even more difficult.

“Like Britney I had those skewed views of what success was and what being a women was and all of those things.” says Trisha Goddard. “Now the total difference between myself and Britney is that I only came into the public eye at 28 so I still had a good idea of how to make friends, who to trust and all that.”

“I already had firm friends in place who absolutely weren't with me for the money because they knew me when I didn't have any. They could say 'don't do that' or 'do that'. Britney hasn't got that safety net.”

Another big issue for teenage girls is body image and this becomes and even bigger issue when your body is splashed on posters and in magazines all over the world. Britney's yo-yo dieting a varying weight shows the problems with image she has. Trisha thinks airbrushing has a lot top answer for.

“When you live in an unreal world you start to question whether you are real too because you sense of reality is taken away. You also get used to being airbrushed to hell,” she says

“When your used to being airbrushed you think that's what you really look like. Now Britney is seeing pictures of herself looking rough because the whole 'Britney Descends into Hell' story would not work if they airbrushed all her spots out and her hair extension joins. If they took all that out and slimmed her down as they have in the past then those headlines wouldn't work. Now she's seeing very real, very unflattering pictures of herself and that's not going to be nice.”

During the height of her career Britney launched album after album, generating record-breaking sales with each release. But soon the cracks started to show: a much-publicized break-up with long-time boyfriend Justin Timberlake, a quickie Las Vegas marriage to (and annulment from) childhood pal Jason Alexander, and finally a whirlwind romance with backup dancer Kevin Federline which produced two sons, a divorce and one of the ugliest custody battles in years Britney's way of coping was to escape into a world of non-stop partying. And 2007 became a year of infamy. First, she spent just 24 hours in rehab then, in a move that shocked the world, she shaved off her trademark golden locks. Insiders feared the one-time teen idol was spinning out of control while the paparazzi loved it! “Britney had all the power and the minute she showed that crack in her image it was almost like people were just like yeah, let's take her down,” says Tamara Conniff, Editor in Chief of Billboard.

With so many people out to catch Britney up to the next crazy stunt her life became a media circus and certain people would do anything to get close to her and stab her in the back just to make a quick buck. The biggest example of this is her latest love interest brummie photographer Adnan Ghalib.

“He needs shooting,” says Trisha, “I don't advocate violence but he deserves it. When you fall down in the desert the first thing to come are the vultures circling around you. The paparazzi that are befriending Britney are vultures.”

While the world can see that our favourite teeny bopper has grown into a desperate young woman heading for a breakdown Britney seems to be living in denial and still refuses to accept any help.

“You may know your unhappy and feeling in pain but when everyone around is telling you it's OK and your single is going up and up the charts then why would you think anything was wrong,”says Trisha.

Britney so obviously needs someone to rescue her from the drama that has become her life but pointing the finger of responsibility isn't easy. So many people in Britney's life have let her down it's easy to see why she find it hard to trust someone enough to let them help her. “Maybe some people in her management are telling her she needs help but these are probably the same people who pushed her to work hard when she wanted to stay at home or the people who made her lose weight when she didn't want to so why would she trust these people, “ thinks Trisha.

Britney's mother is also a doubtful option when it comes to helping out her daughter. With news that the younger Spears, Jamie Lynn, is to become a teenage mum Trisha thinks we would be naive to believe that mum always knows best:

“Where has her mother been before now? And we've seen Jamie get pregnant now...so Hello...maybe mum isn't the best person to help,” she says.

Well who does that leave? Surprisingly a rank outsider seems to be Brit's best hope for a shoulder to cry on. Kevin Federline was public enemy number 1 when he first started dating her but this week he's been voted top Dad by a US magazine.

“I don't know what sort of guy he is but I think he might be able to get through to her,” says Trisha. “Taking someone's children away and never letting them see them again is a wonderful way to push someone's self destruct button. So maybe if they can agree to some conditions by which she can see them he might be able to calm things down.”

We could debate for hours about what made Britney go flying off the rails and who's responsibility it is to bring her back on track but there's one important group of people everyone seems to be neglecting....and that's each and every one of us! When she was at the top of her game, entertaining us with her unique brand of cheesy pop and enviable dance moves she was public property and everyone loved their pop princess. Now when she needs support more than ever some people are far too keen to turn their back on her and watch her fall.

Reading the tabloid stories of Britney's bizarre antics may be entertaining and watching her flashing her bits and shaving her head might make you giggle but in reality we are witnessing the very sad and distressing breakdown of a young woman. We have to wonder would we all find it so funny if this was our little sister, cousin or best friend who's life was falling about around them?

She may be a celebrity, musician, icon, pin up, whatever you want to call her but when it comes down to it she's a 27 year old young woman, losing her children and her career, going through a very scary mental illness and just crying out for help- is that really entertainment?