USA/FILE: The world watches as Britney Spears deals with major personal and professional issues

Britney Spears' life takes center stage as the singer battles custody issues amid preparations for a comeback album. The life and times of Britney Spears has turned into 24/7 real life soap opera. But, unlike the reality shows of television, this one clearly has no script. In her most tumultuous year since shooting to fame in 1999 as that age 17, the former Disney "Mouseketeer" has gotten divorced, shaved off her hair, been to rehab, appeared without underwear and been dumped by her management company. Recently, she lost custody of her two children to her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Professionally, her dazed and indifferent performance at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) in September was widely panned and shocked fans who remembered her as the hot teen who could dance up a storm -- even if she was lip-syncing to the hits that helped sell 70 million records worldwide. Dorian Traube, a Ph.D. in social work and professor at the University of Southern California, called Spears' behavior very troubling. "It's quite possible it could be a breakdown. It's quite possible it could be drugs, there are features of both," explained Dr. Traube. "The erratic behavior, the poor judgment, the inviting attention is a cry for help, it seems like. It could be a number of things, but those would be at the top of the list about what could be driving this type of behavior." The singer's personal life seemed to hit bottom after a Los Angeles judge scrapped a shared custody arrangement, ordering that Federline be given full custody of the ex-couple's children, two-year old Sean Preston and one-year old Jayden James. The judge though did grant the troubled pop star monitored-visitation rights. Spears' lawyer was quoted as saying the judge revoked the singer's custody based in part on Federline's claims that she had failed to comply with requirements regarding drug and alcohol tests. The judge has set another hearing for October 26 to review the situation. "Unless she's willing to engage in the drug testing that they've mandated, parenting classes that they've mandated, she will not get custody of the children back," said Dr. Traube. "But, in the United States, they are very interested in keeping the parents involved in the care of their children, because, we know that helps children develop. So, if she is willing to go through the steps the court has laid out, then she has every opportunity to get custody back of the children." Despite all that, no one should count out Spears. Her new single, "Gimme More," is topping the iTunes music download list and has entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with a bullet at the number 3 position. But, the real test of whether she still has a pop career will come when she releases her new album,

ITN Source | October 10, 2007

Tags:. .kevin. .itunes. .reality. .quoted. .judge