News and gossip about Britney Spears

A judge has issued a restraining order against Sam Lutfi - ordering him to stay away from Britney Spears, according to TMZ.

The judge found that Sam Lutfi has been harassing Britney. This will effectively bar Lutfi from going to the hospital.

The restraining order is in effect for 22 days, but Britney’s parents could turn it into a permanent order at the end of the 22 days.

Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, how has temporary legal control over his eldest daughter, and control over her medical treatment.

Jamie Spears may restrict any visitors to Britney, and is also in charge of arranging 24-hour caretakers for her, as well as security.

In addition, Jamie retains the power to cut off all of the singer’s credit cards and prosecute any restraining orders on her behalf.

But it’s not over yet.

Sources say Britney’s divorce lawyers and the lawyers representing the conservatorship (Jamie and Lynne Spears) may clash Monday.

Until now, Britney’s divorce team at the law firm of Trope and Trope has been dealing with Sam Lutfi and believes he is well-meaning.

Jamie Spears, the freshly appointed co-conservator for Britney, has made it clear he dislikes the Trope firm and wants them out of her life for good.

Sam Lutfi is livid at the commissioner who issued the various orders today and was in touch with Trope and Trope numerous times yesterday.

Later, Britney Spears made two calls at the UCLA Psych Ward and went crazy on the phone after learning that her dad is now her conservator.

In a heavy British accent, ballistic Britney screamed (in reference to her parents), “I’m so sick of all of this, they can have the goddamn house and stick it up their fucking asses. Actually, no they can’t.”

A furious Britney Spears, who sounded drugged up, is really, really pissed that her dad became a conservator of her estate. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, at times impossible to understand. At one point she screamed:

“Nobody’s taking my house. Who is my family?”

Source

Britney Spears’ huge paparazzi following has inspired a Los Angeles City Councilman to propose an ordinance to create a “personal safety zone” between celebs and the ever-hounding media.

The motion was introduced by councilman Dennis Zine, a former cop, on Feb 1.

“I don’t want a repeat of what happened to Princess Diana with a celebrity in Los Angeles. We had to have 12 officers escort [Spears] to the hospital that if not for paparazzi would have been [available] to prevent crime somewhere else,” E! Online quoted him, as telling the L.A. Times.

Zine said the measure would require several feet of space between photographers and celebrities to ensure a “personal safety zone.”

“This is about common decency. We don’t want to put the media out of business, but there has to be some reason when they do their job,” he said.

Zine’s motion proposing the ordinance said the buffer space must be big enough to allow cars and people to pass safely. It did not specify what penalties, if any, someone would face if someone violated the measure.

Last month, Spears was taken from her home by paramedics amid a frenzy of photographers who crowded and chased the ambulance. This week she was again hospitalised, but a host of police vehicles and a helicopter escorted the ambulance.

The Los Angeles Times reported the motorcade cost the Los Angeles Police Department an estimated 25,000 dollars.

The motion notes that the paparazzi “are becoming increasingly aggressive in their tactics, posing a clear danger not only to the people they are trying to photograph, but to the general public around them.”

“It has gotten outrageous. If we don’t do anything, we could see someone seriously injured or killed,” Zine said.

Zine’s motion asks the city attorney and police officials to propose new restrictions on paparazzi to be discussed at the City Council’s Public Safety Committee hearing in coming weeks, where photographers as well as actors could testify.

Zine said he hoped it would win council approval and take effect in about six months.

Source

Britney doesn’t seem to have taken the news of her father Jamie being appointed conservator of her estate very well. When she heard about it she assumed her nasty British persona and screamed expletives at the medical staff at UCLA Medical Center where she is on a 5150 hold.

“I’m so sick of all of this they [Her family] can have the God Damn house and stick it up their fucking asses. Actually, no they can’t,” she screamed, according to TMZ.

She was often incoherent during her scream fest but at one point she was heard saying, “Nobody’s taking my house. Who is my family?”

Ironically, she also threatened to go to the court to fight the ruling, which of course was by the court!

Meanwhile TMZ also reports that ousted Britney confidant Sam Lutfi and the law firm of Trope and Trope, who are handling her child custody dispute with Kevin Federline, have aligned together and may go to court first thing Monday, February 4, to challenge the ruling today (February 1) by Commissioner Reva Goetz making Jamie the conservator of Britney’s estate.

Britney’s parents are believed to be at loggerheads with both Sam Lutfi and Trope and Trope - the latter because they trust Sam Lutfi.

Source

With Britney Spears whisked out of the public spotlight Thursday and committed to a hospital psychiatric ward, it’s now up to a team of professional caregivers to reverse her seemingly endless downward spiral.

Spears, accompanied by more than a dozen police officers, was taken to the UCLA Medical Center before dawn Thursday in what one officer would only say was an effort to “get help” for the troubled pop star.

It was her second 72-hour commitment in four weeks, though her previous stay lasted less than two days and was followed by more strange episodes that have accompanied her divorce and bruising child custody battle.

The law allows a person to be placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold for up to 72 hours if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or others. Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, was seen leaving the medical center’s psychiatric hospital about 5:30 a.m. Asked if her daughter was all right, she replied, “Yeah.”

Under the law, doctors may keep an individual under round-the-clock observation but may not medicate the person without his or her permission unless there appears to be grave danger, said Dr. Bruce Spring, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Southern California.

“The hold is not a carte blanche for treatment,” said Spring, who is not connected to Spears’ case.

Spears’ public emotional spiral began in November 2006 when she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, the father of her infant sons, 1-year-old Jayden James and 2-year-old Sean Preston.

Neither Spears’ attorney nor Federline’s lawyer immediately returned calls for comment on her hospitalization. The pop star’s spokeswoman declined to comment.

It was not immediately clear who initiated Spears’ commitment process. The latest effort to get her help comes as various people in her life appear to be jockeying for influence, from her immediate family to two men who have recently surfaced.

One, Sam Lutfi, has described himself as Spears’ manager and “very good friend.” Lutfi was seen leaving the hospital around 7:30 p.m. When paparazzi asked him about Spears’ condition, he replied, “She’s great, she’s fine.”

Earlier this week, Barbara Walters said on ABC’s “The View” that Lutfi had contacted the veteran newswoman and told her that Spears saw a psychiatrist and “is starting some kind of treatment.”

The other is Adnan Ghalib, a paparazzi photographer who recently announced that he is Spears’ boyfriend. Soon after that announcement, Ghalib’s wife of four years filed for a legal separation.

Ghalib has been seen escorting Spears on shopping excursions, restaurant outings and to court during her ongoing child-custody battle with Federline. He reportedly followed the motorcade to the hospital with Spears’ mother.

The pop star was seen arriving in an ambulance, accompanied by the type of escort normally reserved for a president. Nearly a dozen officers on motorcycles, as well as more in police cars and in a pair of helicopters hovering overhead, shepherded her to the hospital.

UCLA spokeswoman Roxanne Moster, citing patient confidentiality laws, declined to say whether Spears was at the hospital Thursday.

Generally, a person on psychiatric hold receives a physical and mental evaluation and undergoes tests that can include X-rays and blood samples. Doctors can also recommend a course of treatment during that time.

If a person is still considered a danger after the initial hold, doctors can extend the confinement to up to 14 more days and a court-ordered hearing is held at the hospital during that time to determine if the person should be let go.

An estimated 40 to 100 people are committed against their will in Los Angeles County every day, Spring said. Most, however, arrive with only an escort of two police officers or a psychiatric mobile response team.
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