The downward spiral

It's taken me a few days to post about Britney, because the crazy head-shaving incident this weekend seemed more sad than anything else. It seemed like a girl on the brink of something very, very bad - which isn't so fun to blog about.

Britney's had a rough few years, but many hoped that the divorce from Federline - the total leech of a husband - would signal a new beginning for America's favourite former pop tart. But despite the hopeful signs - the appearance on Letterman, the visits to the studio, the return of her old manager - things quickly went off the rails. (And let's not forget that it is Britney who foisted Federline upon us in the first place. We have no-one to blame but her.)

Lately, it had started to look like Britney really would turn out to be just another child star gone bad - too stupid to know good friends from bad, too rich to have to grow up, too insulated by enablers to do anything else. Drugs. Check. Bad boy choices. Check. Going commando in miniskirts. Check. It all seemed fairly innocuous, though a bit sad if you thought too much about the fact that this was, after all, someone's mom.

Then came the in-and-out rehab stay and the head shave. At the time I shook my head in disbelief - just how fucked up is this girl? And now, it turns out she may not be so fucked up as just really, really dumb. The word is Britney shaved her head because Federline threatened to have test done on a strand of hair - to prove what a drug-addled loser she really is - as part of the custody case. Nice. No-one will be suspicious now Britney. Good move.

And once again, this is someone's mom. Sean P is going to have one hell of a tell-all to write when he grows up.