Britney Spears checked into a mental health facility earlier this month. I won’t get into the giant backstory, suffice to say that I believed the more intensive 24-7 treatment was probably necessary. I didn’t buy that Britney was being held against her will, or that Jamie Spears was organizing some massive scheme to make Britney look unstable or whatever. I think Britney has legitimate mental health issues and she needs to be under the care of doctors constantly. When she’s on her meds, she knows that too. Britney slapped back on the conspiracy theories earlier this week too. And now… Britney is out of the facility. For good.
Britney Spears will have a big reunion today … with her kids. Britney and Kevin Federline have joint custody of 13-year-old Sean and 12-year-old Jayden. The arrangement has been that she gets them 3 days, he gets them 3 days, she gets them 3 days, he gets them 3 days, and so on.
Britney has had less than the agreed-upon 50/50 custody for several months leading up to her stay at the mental health facility. While she was doing poorly, the kids would visit, but Kevin had the kids most of the time. So, Britney begins her 3 days with the kids today, but there’s still significant concern about her mental state. Our sources say the 30-day stay at a mental health facility — which ended Wednesday — put her in a better place, but there are still issues with her judgment, and it goes beyond medication.
As we reported, doctors continue to struggle, trying to find the right combination of meds to stabilize Britney. The meds she had been taking lost their efficacy, and creating a new cocktail is fraught with problems. Britney had stopped taking the new meds earlier this year when they were doing more harm than good.
We’re told progress is being made, but there’s another big unresolved factor. The meds will stabilize her, but there are more fundamental mental health issues that go to judgment and perspective, and that requires intensive therapy … something she has been and will continue to receive. Short story … she’s doing better, but she’s not right, at least not yet. It’s something her dad, Jamie, has been dealing with for nearly a dozen years as her conservator, trying to give her the space she needs to live her life, and at the same time steer her away from disaster.
Again, Kevin Federline and Britney’s custodial arrangement is basically an off-the-books, informal thing that K-Fed worked out with Jamie Spears. K-Fed has sole custody of their sons, and he can stop the informal custodial arrangement whenever he wants. I would hope that if Britney truly is struggling still, Kevin would do what is in the best interest of the boys. It’s not Kevin’s job to look out for Britney, it’s his job to take care of their sons. As for Brit, I feel sad for her and I hope her doctors are treating her well. I get that it’s about finding the right cocktail, but this whole thing is just so sad.
Photos courtesy of WENN and Backgrid.
I have a soft spot for Brit
She seems to be troubled but sweet.
i really wish the best for her
Same. I always wish only the best for her. She seems so fragile most of the time.
I hope britney steps away from the spotlight.
+1
I know K Fed gets a lot of hate, but she’s really lucky to have him as her kids father. He does seem relatively reasonable and understanding of her situation. Other men in this situation may have spilled the dirt on everything just for clout.
You’re right. The confidentiality agreement is also helpful.
That’s basically Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller. Both are unstable addicts who aren’t fit to care for their kids. Britney’s kids are doing well because KFed is their dad.
I wish she would just retire and go live a quiet life, away from the craziness that seems to–at least partially–facilitate her frequent break-downs. I wonder if it’s that she feels so much pressure to continue and feels like if she stopped she would let too many people down.
Or if she really doesn’t know what to do with herself if she’s not entertaining. Or maybe a bit of both.
I worry about what will happen if she loses her father because he seems to be one of the only consistent supportive forces in his life, as flawed as he may be. I hope she keeps getting the help she needs. We’re all pulling for her!
I think it’s a bit of both. I think, probably, the structure of performing is good for her. But it’s also really demanding, so I’m sure it gets overwhelming. But I think when she has too much time on her hands, she’s probably not in a great place, either. There has to be some kind of middle ground that they could find for her, I would think.
I worry about Jamie dying as well. He seems like a stable force in her life, and the death of a parent can really do a number on a lot of people – ones that don’t have as much of a mental health struggle as she does. And I feel for her family in general. It’s not easy to put your own needs secondary to care for someone who’s dealing with complex mental health issues. It’s incredibly taxing, and I completely admire the kind of people who can do it. But I also understand why a lot of people just can’t do it. I hope that if/when Jamie does pass, that if her siblings need to take over that they’ll spread the work out as much as possible.
One thing that made me super annoyed was that there were people literally protesting ‘#freebritney’. There are so many people with conspiracies believing that she’s being held captive and they’re sending death threats to her family and actually gathering to protest in public. It’s absolutely insane.
It’s a hard time for Britney and her mother made it a 100 times worst by liking posts that suggested Brit was held against her will. If it was the case, why didn’t her mother pursued legal actions instead of creating a fire that resulted in Britney having to ask people to leave her alone? It just added more pressure into someone who’s not doing well and it’s trying to recover.
Her mother is one of the reason Brit is in the situation she is now – her mother ignored the signs of Brits MH problems and kept pushing and pushing her into the spotlight. Lynne was only ever interested in the fame and money – if anything happens to Jamie I hope Lynne is kept far from the conservatorship.
I feel gross reading about her private mental health struggles, especially to this degree of specificity. It would be different if she herself was sharing these things, but they belong between Britney, her doctors and team–and whatever support she has. Not TMZ and the media at large.
Even for non mental illnesses this makes sense. I just hope Britney is doing better and they’re figuring it out.
Honestly, I think she’s proven with her message that it may be time for the conservatorship to end. I actually watched it and I thought, “I think she’s got this now.” I don’t think she was pushed to do that video. I think she did it because she wanted to. Is she simple, yes. But I think now she understands her mental illness and I think she can take control again over time.
My mother is mentally ill. She was hospitalized multiple times when I was a child because of her illness. That is what happens to people with mental illness. Sometimes they are willing and sometimes they are not but mostly there is conflict, because that is what mental illness is- it is conflict. When I explain my mother’s mental illness to my children it is like this- she is a good person who is not good at being a person. Brittany’s situation feels similar but truly I have no idea. She is a woman deserving of respect, unfortunately respect isn’t more than a concept, and therefore debatable, in the celebrity gossip world that Brittany stories exist in.
I feel you and agree. My dad is also mentally ill. He’s been in the hospital at least a dozen times in my lifetime–not always willingly, but always due to necessity. He missed christmas with my kids for his last stint in the hospital. I explained to my kids that he loves them, but he is sick. That’s also what I’ve had to do to reconcile with my childhood and even today, dealing with him. He loves me, and he tries to be the best dad he can be, but he’s very sick.
I was thinking about this the other day, and I wonder if by never officially giving a name to what’s going on with her or having her discuss it, that’s why people are leaping to the idea that she doesn’t need medication, etc.
Not that we’re entitled to her private medical diagnoses or issues, but I think it would clear more things up if she said, “I suffer from BPD (or whatever), my life isn’t manageable if I’m not on medication, it’s an ongoing thing that I will have to treat for the rest of my life and treatment is essential to my wellbeing.”
She shouldn’t HAVE to say it, but all the smoke and mirrors and speculation seem to cause more harm than being a little more open would be. Maybe I’m naive for thinking that. I also wish that people would feel more comfortable discussing their mental illness, but I know I struggled with speaking about my depression and anxiety for a long time, and those diagnoses are fairly common.
From everything I’ve read over the years I think her issues are much “bigger” for lack of a better word than BPD. I think (and this my opinion) she may have some type of multiple personality disorder and/or schizophrenia (perhaps exacerbated by drug use. She was abusing prescription amphetamines when the 5150 happened), both of which still seem to be extremely taboo when discussing mental health. We’ve made alot of headway with anxiety and depression and even bipolar being discussed and recognized but the others still have alot more stigma associated to them. I don’t think she should or her team should have to tell anybody anything but I do agree that it might shut down these fans who think they know her and know the situation. You don’t get put on a decades long conservatorship if you don’t have severe, extreme problems caring for yourself.
@Sunshine I agree. There are a lot of stories out there about how out of control her drug use was. She really could have done some serious damage to her brain chemistry especially if she was predisposed to mental illness to begin with (see Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett).
I agree with this, I think if it was BD we would probably know, because the stigma around BD has reduced a LOT in the last 20 years. Unfortunately, the stigma around other conditions like schizophrenia hasn’t. I also think it would be rare that a person with BD would be put on a conservatorship.
They went into lots of detail for this article so to not mention her diagnosis isn’t consistent with wanting to respect her privacy. I agree it is off and that industry doesn’t have a great reputation for considering the well being of people and instead care about profits $$$ so if she spoke up saying she wanted to change her career etc lots of people would no longer bene fit from her financially so I have a fear she still has very little say in her life.
So wait, this article claims that Britney got released from a month-long, in-patient, mental health facility on Wednesday, and suddenly she gets her kids for THREE DAYS???
Um, no. I wouldn’t trust someone who’s dealing with things like that in their life to watch my cat!
I think someone else will be in the room (so to speak).
I feel for Britney. Getting the right mix of medicine is the hardest thing to do, especially if you are already struggling. It feels like nothing will ever work and you’ll be in the darkest of places forever. I hope everyone respects her plea for privacy while she works on her mental health.
I read in the comments someone saying they wish, in a way, that Britney (or her spokesperson) would just come out and say that she has _____________ and will need to take medication for it for the rest of her life. And my initial reaction, “That NEVER happens!” I have experience both with having a parent and a spouse (former) with SIGNIFICANT mental health disorders. Not only do the doctors hesitate to provide anyone (other than the insurance company, other members of the treatment team, and I imagine the patient, if desired) with a firm diagnostic label, but neither my parent nor my former husband seemed willing or able to view themselves that way. What I can say is that they both struggled with severe psychosis during a “flare” (or whatever you want to call it).
Also, I remember being told over and over by the medical professionals in charge about how little is known about the brain right now. And how much more understanding is needed to better help people. It was always a very hopeless feeling.
My son’s and I have firm diagnosis’s. It’s absolutely needed to have proper treatment and to self manage
The better I understand what’s going on with myself the better I can manage myself.
Also the patient or the family caretakers should absolutely know the diagnosis (s) so they can research the medications and stay knowledgeable
I believe what Shelley is trying to say is that even the concept of “diagnosis” is fuzzy at best and only means so much because the medical community does not actually know very much at all about these conditions.
These are all “man-made” conditions (BPD, schizo, MPD, etc) and the lines between them are not ANYWHERE as cut and dried as you may want to believe.
That makes it very difficult to help people whose diagnosis defy convention.
Live Britney. Hope she gets a long break waay from the spotlight and media so she can be herself again and feel like a normal person again. There are also other alternatives to also try along with medication. She loves to dance and workout. I just hope she finds the happiness and peace in her life again. And I also her dad recovers. I think she is a great strong woman and has done alot of things with class in her life.
If dancing and working out were the answer to Britney’s problems, we wouldn’t be here.
Always want the best for this sweet fragile bird. I have mh struggles requiring ever increasing care, and I shudder to think what a burden I am/may be in future to my family. No snark, but at least she is rich which does take a huge stress off. Couldn’t cope with the public eye though. I retreat from society completely.
I honestly don’t believe Kevin could actually refuse to let her see the boys. She may not have custody due to her mental problems, but a judge would shut that sh!t down real quick if he just up and decided she couldn’t see them anymore, let’s be honest.
The fans are protesting the conservatorship not her getting mental health treatment. Most fans are onboard with her getting any help she needs. But not with her working on albums, tours and years of Vegas residencies and at the same time somehow being ‘too mentally unwell’ to have rights to make her own decisions in the eyes of the law. The two things don’t make sense together.