BritneySpears shaved her head!!!

WHAT.... girl must be losing it! She shaved her head and got 2 new tattoos on her rear and wrist. What do ya'll think of this???? :huh:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

[kaseymarie]

Total publicity stunt!! Think about it, all of her fans thinks she has turned bad with all of her drinking and partying. She had to do something to make them think she has made a change. I still think shes crazy :happyrolling:

[DrWahoo]

I couldn't believe it she is definitely one sandwich short of a picnic.

[Auspicious]

I actually like it better than the trashy sloppy ponytail she's been sporting for the past two years, but yeah, I think she's in trouble.

She's a crazy, trashy, poor, lost little girl. We're all so quick to judge her, but she is a human being, nothing more nothing less. Can you imagine having her life? I know she's a celebrity and blahblahblah, but at the end of the day, she has to live with all the scrutiny and that is hard to deal with.

You know how bad it sucks to have a rumor spread about you at school, or work and you feel terrible because people might think poorly of you for some reason? Or maybe you did something and someone is mad at you. Not a good feeling.

Well, imagine the entire world watching your every move and totally mocking who you are. Imagine the pressure, the madness, insanity, the mobs, everywhere she goes. I think after a while, with nowhere to go besides some remote island in the middle of nowhere, you just might lose it. And she clearly has lost it.

[medpedspouse]

She's a crazy, trashy, poor, lost little girl. We're all so quick to judge her, but she is a human being, nothing more nothing less. Can you imagine having her life? I know she's a celebrity and blahblahblah, but at the end of the day, she has to live with all the scrutiny and that is hard to deal with.

You know how bad it sucks to have a rumor spread about you at school, or work and you feel terrible because people might think poorly of you for some reason? Or maybe you did something and someone is mad at you. Not a good feeling.

Well, imagine the entire world watching your every move and totally mocking who you are. Imagine the pressure, the madness, insanity, the mobs, everywhere she goes. I think after a while, with nowhere to go besides some remote island in the middle of nowhere, you just might lose it. And she clearly has lost it.

ITA. I do have a question...where is her mother??? Her father??? I think they split but I thought she was close to them both.

[Michele]

I read a blog by one of her best friends...it sounds like she's not really letting anyone 'in' to help her. I still love my girl, but unfortunately I don't think she's hit rock bottom yet to come back up.

[Auspicious]

I thought she had one of those moms who's clueless and not really like a mom? Didn't she get Brit breast implants really young to advance her career or something? Or was that just a rumor? All moms are not created equal.

[Stella]

I don't know, I feel like all of the scrutiny that she and other celebs get, comes with the territory. I mean these people make millions of dollars to sing songs or memorize lines for a movie. If they weren't famous, and people were not talking about them, then they would not be bringing in the millions. If the girl wants some privacy, then she needs to move out of LA. Demi Moore, Julia Roberts and others have done this. And wear some freakin underwear if you don't want people talking about you!

ITA!!!!!!!!! If you don't want the paparazzi, don't go into showbusiness!! aparazzi:

[SuzySunshine]

I saw this article today, thought it was appropriate to this story...

So you want to be famous

By Todd Leopold
CNN
(CNN) -- Jake Halpern has had a taste of fame. He found it fascinating -- and a little scary.

Halpern, the author of "Fame Junkies" (Houghton Mifflin), discovered the mere topic of his book invited strong interest. Entertainment Weekly ran an excerpt; "20/20" did an extensive segment on it. And Halpern came along for the ride.

The process was mind-boggling, he says in an interview from his home in New Mexico.

"I'd written a previous book, 'Leaving Home,' and it was well reviewed and earned polite applause, but that was it," he says. "But this book -- it was a frenzy, it was crazy. One week I did 50 interviews. When I went on the tour for my first book, I sometimes stayed on friends' couches. This time I was put up at the Waldorf."

The book was published January 10, and by earlier this month, the frenzied book tour ended and Halpern found, much to his surprise, that he was in no hurry to get off the fame train.

"We live in rural New Mexico, and my wife's a doctor who does work with the Navajo. I came home from the whirlwind to a house where tumbleweed literally blows across the street, and I felt a sense of -- almost -- withdrawal," he says. "It passed, but the irony was not lost on me."

Which was one reason he was intrigued by the subject in the first place. The pursuit of fame has become an all-encompassing drive for many people, and Halpern wanted to see why. (And what about Anna Nicole Smith?)

His book mainly concerns people on the fringes -- children attending a "talent convention," hoping for a big break; youngsters and their parents in a Hollywood apartment complex, trying to gain a foothold in show business; celebrity assistants, living in the reflected glow of their clients; hardcore fans, hoping for a brush with greatness; and the residents of a Los Angeles-area senior community, remembering their younger days -- and not quite ready to leave the business.

But in another sense, that covers just about everybody. Though Halpern says he didn't meet many fame-pursuers from Manhattan or Los Angeles -- "maybe they're less susceptible, or maybe they think there's got to be another way" -- the people he did meet crossed all demographic lines.

"It's something that doesn't discriminate," he says. "Fame is an equal-opportunity tantalizer."

'We all desire attention'
Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University pop culture professor (and one of Halpern's sources), wasn't surprised by Halpern's conclusions.

"We tend to talk about people obsessing over fame as somehow defective, when the very people who make the analysis have their own byline," he says. "I think this desire [for fame] is very human. We all desire attention."

In "Fame Junkies" Halpern cites studies that suggest fame is a factor in other animal groups as well. In one study rhesus monkeys were willing to give up their food simply to stare at a dominant monkey.

Perhaps, Halpern concludes, there is something hard-wired within us to follow celebrity.

"It makes you feel better about the whole thing -- 'I'm not really to blame for my fascination with Tom Cruise,' " he says. "To a certain extent, that's true."

Illusion and disillusion
Perhaps the most troubling section of Halpern's book is a portion in which he attends a talent convention in Los Angeles. It's far from free -- it costs thousands for the attendance fee and travel arrangements -- and students have likely invested thousands more training at modeling outposts across the country. The pursuit of the fame dream is a lottery ticket that goes for $5,000, $10,000 or more, with no guarantees.

"If I told you [someone in] your family gambled away $10,000, you'd say they have a serious problem. But to become famous, that's kind of an equally unhealthy thing that's going on, and it's compounded by the fact that you know [most of] these kids are going nowhere," Halpern said.

Genetics may show us that a certain fascination with fame is natural and healthy, but why do we as a culture seem to be spending so much time on it?

A greater focus on the fame of celebrities in our culture, rather than their talents or accomplishments, may be one answer. It is no longer necessary to have something of value to offer in order to be famous. Reality shows like "Survivor" confer celebrity status on people simply for becoming known. On these shows, fame becomes the central point, instead of a side effect of accomplishment.

"It doesn't matter what you're on for -- talent, humiliation -- a certain status is conferred on you," says Halpern.

Put these wildly popular shows in the context of an individualistic youth culture with an increasing sense of personal entitlement, and fame almost becomes a birthright. In fact, results of high school and college student personality studies indicate both narcissism and a sense of entitlement have risen in recent years -- a psychology with "serious implications," says Halpern.

"Because fame seems accessible, delusions of fame don't seem delusional," he says. "And when you grow up and join the workplace, you don't want to do drudge work, and you feel disillusioned when that doesn't happen."

Thompson isn't quite so concerned about that -- "you'll have people unhappy when the real world [intrudes], but what else is new" -- but he is bothered by "the disconnect from reality" the fame game has created.

"We were so successful in ... solving the self-esteem problem that, in many ways, we created a monster," he says.

For those who believe the culture of celebrity has gotten out of hand, there do not appear to be easy answers for bringing people back to earth.

In Halpern's case, he found "Fame Junkies" ended up feeding the beast it sought to describe.

"There's such a huge interest in the subject matter, but the message I'd put together was lost," Halpern says. "I was making points on a talk show and I realized they were showing one long video of Paris Hilton.

"As much as I want to criticize and critique fame, maybe I've just added to the roar of the machine."

[DCJenn]

You know, there are 'celebrities' who manage to live relatively normal lives- most of them I'd say.

but then there are these people who for whatever reason have found that they get something out of it too. Britney, Lindsay, Paris and Nicole probably get more of a sense of their identities from the magazines than from their supposed support systems and families.

It's sad.

Jenn

[Stella]

Because it's not me. I can watch Britney Spears go down this pathetic little road to public humiliation and go back home with my family and remember it isn't me who's the psycho. Well... most of the time.



Anyway, I wanted to see what the Brit camp had to say about all this and her website is closed!! "Remodeling"???? Yeah, my ass!!!!

http://www.britneyspears.com

I think she has PPD. How could you have 2 kids so close together and go through a divorce and NOT have it? I have never really liked her but I feel sorry for her now.

[Stella]

If she were my daughter, she'd have a bruise the size of Texas on the back of her head from me whopping her a real good one. Then would be some Lexapro and a loooong hideaway from the world.

[diggitydot]

I'm not a fan, nor do I hate the gal. I just think her situation is sad. It's always a shame to see someone self-destruct, no matter who they are. But when children are involved, it's just that much more heartbreaking, to me.