A photo of Britney and Adnan from December
Britney on vacation with photographer
Britney Spears is with photographer and new boyfriend Adnan Ghalib in Palm Desert, California, where she drinking champagne for breakfast and he’s presumably getting plenty of exclusive shots of the world’s most-watched fallen celebrity. There was a story this weekend that Ghalib approached British papers with intimate photos of Britney that weren’t that revealing and wanted an astonishing $5 million for his story and the photos. The snaps were said to just show Britney on the couch with Ghalib with her hand on his knee, and he should have aimed lower or had more compromising photos. We’ve all seen Britney’s kitty on multiple occasions so it’s not like photos of her relaxing in one of the many hotels she frequents are going to bring much on the open market. There are also a ton of stories floating around about her many exploits, told by the guys who were along for the ride, so one more is not going to shock anyone.

Dr. Phil overstated his visit with Britney, violated hospital policy
Britney managed to sneak away from Cedars-Sinai hospital, where she was placed on a medical hold and released earlier than the standard 72 hour wait time, without being photographed. Dr. Phil claims to have counseled her for a full hour before she left, and will surely bring in huge ratings for having her folks on his show on Tuesday. He of course wanted to have Britney on too, but she wasn’t having any of that. TMZ has a story that contradicts Dr. Phil’s statement in which they say that Dr. Phil showed up after Britney was released, tried to talk to her for 15 minutes, and was summarily dismissed. They also say the TV psychologist didn’t walk her to her car as he claims, either. Given that it’s Britney and she won’t listen to anyone, it seems like TMZ has the right story.

Criticism of Dr. Phil for entering Britney’s room without patient permission
There’s also a story that Dr. Phil’s visit violated hospital policy in that he entered a patient’s room without it being cleared with her. TMZ consulted medical experts who say this is highly unprofessional and that Cedars-Sinai must have been starstruck by Dr. Phil, because his unannounced visit violated the patient’s rights and would typically not be allowed.

For his part Dr. Phil says that the family requested that he be involved and that he spoke to Britney’s mother, father, and her older brother before going to the hospital. Britney’s family was worried that she wasn’t going to be held longer, according to Dr. Phil.

Rumors and false stories in the case
It seems like this outrageous story is opening the floodgates for papers to make even more incredible claims about the situation in order to move copies. News of The World ran a story that would be laughable if the subject hadn’t already defied all belief. They claimed that Britney had a gun the night of the police standoff, that she offered Federline $100 million to hand over custody of the children to her, and that she took over 100 pills that night. It was also K-Fed who called the cops, not the court-appointed monitor, according to their account.

The LAPD has denied that there were any firearms involved, and I think we can safely assume that the majority of that story was fabricated.

PageSix reported that Spears’ “cousin” and assistant, Alli Sims, used a hammer to break down the bathroom door where Britney was holed up with her youngest child, Jayden James. This contradicts earlier reports that had all the staff leaving at least an hour before Britney was escorted out. Indeed, Sims denies that she broke down the door and says that she wasn’t even threre.

Was Britney’s drug test really negative and was she on something or just off the deep end?
Many of you have said that there’s no way Britney’s toxicology tests could have come back as soon as the report in Life & Style that all her drug tests were clean. Some commentors mention a rumor that Spears’ camp is leaking these false stories to the press in order to clear her name.

Courteney Love has speculated that Spears is taking too much Adderall, an ADHD prescription medication that has speed-like properties and can cause erratic behavior at high doses. Another report has her on Clenbuterol, a dangerous horse steroid that is being abused as a quick-fix diet drug.

Whatever happened to Britney, she’s dominating the news again. Surely she’s mentally ill, but she seems aware enough to realize that her episode has managed to take the focus off her young sister’s pregnancy. Many are pointing that out, while others are saying it’s just not fair to hold a mentally disturbed person to the same standards as the rest of us who just watch in disbelief.