When Britney Spears was pictured barefoot and topless, clutching a blanket to protect her modesty, outside a 5-star Los Angeles hotel in May, fans everywhere asked the same question: Is Britney on the brink once again?
The incident – which saw paramedics called in the night to the Chateau Marmont after Spears, who had reportedly been drinking, had suffered a panic attack and badly injured her ankle – was reminiscent of the star’s 2007 breakdown.
Then, she memorably shaved her head as she battled a drug addiction which eventually saw the imposition of her now infamous court-ordered conservatorship.
And while she won her case to be free of those financial and personal constraints – largely overseen by her father – in 2021, Britney has been notably candid about an ongoing struggle with substance abuse in her memoir, published last year.
In the book, Britney – now 42 – described the ADHD medication Adderall as her ‘drug of choice’, how her mother introduced her to alcohol and cigarettes aged 13, and the trauma of losing her virginity the following year.
The Chateau Marmont incident this May came shortly after the finalization of her third divorce, from 30-year-old model Sam Asghari, who she’d described just months before in her memoir as ‘a gift from God’.
Britney had quickly rebounded to a new lover, a housekeeper and convicted felon – Paul Richard Soliz – who was with her at the Chateau Marmont, where fellow guests described how the singer was screaming ‘out of control’ before cops were called.
But that was then. And six months later, insiders are tentatively whispering good news. The word in Hollywood: Britney’s back.
When Britney Spears was pictured barefoot and topless, clutching a blanket to protect her modesty, outside a 5-star Los Angeles hotel in May, fans everywhere asked the same question: Is Britney on the brink once again?
In 2007, she memorably shaved her head as she battled a drug addiction which eventually saw the imposition of her now infamous court-ordered conservatorship.
The Chateau Marmont incident this May came shortly after the finalization of her third divorce, from 30-year-old model Sam Asghari. Britney had quickly rebounded to a new lover, a housekeeper and convicted felon, Paul Richard Soliz (pictured), who was with her at the Chateau Marmont.
Most importantly, she is sober when it comes to illegal drugs and is firmly in control of her finances, impeccably placed sources say.
Remarkably, she is said to have sworn off ‘toxic’ men, having cut contact with Soliz and vowed to remain single. But perhaps most important of all, she is aworking on her relationship with her two sons, who have been estranged and raised largely by their father Kevin Federline but are now both of age. This, say friends, has been transformative.
‘She will be healing from her trauma for a very long time,’ a source said. ‘But she is done with men for now and focusing on herself.’
She is reportedly working regularly with a therapist and is taking prescribed psychiatric medication. She has also hired a chef and a medical professional to work full time in her $14 million Thousand Oaks mansion and monitor her health.
‘She is sober and does not do drugs. She has a glass of wine now and then, but she does not have a substance abuse problem and has people around her to make sure that she stays on the straight and narrow,’ a source said.
Most beneficial to her health, insiders say, has been Britney’s rekindling of her relationship with her two sons, Jayden, 18, and Sean Preston, 19.
During her 13-year conservatorship, the boys rarely saw their mother, who famously locked herself in her bathroom in 2008 with Jayden, then aged one, and refused to come out until cops intervened.
The boys have recently been living in Hawaii with their father, who – according to court documents – received $240,000 from Britney in child support payments each year until 2017. Then, that amount reportedly increased to $480,000 a year.
In September, however, Jayden turned 18, triggering the cessation of those payment by Spears.
Nonetheless, Britney’s apparently erratic behaviour following the end of her conservatorship – regularly filming herself dancing for bizarre social media posts and sharing semi-naked snaps – reportedly left her sons embarrassed.
Jayden even gave an interview in 2022 and said: ‘It’s almost like [Spears] has to post something on Instagram to get some attention. This has gone on for years and years and years and there’s a high chance that this will never stop, but I’m hoping for me that she will stop.’
Six months later, insiders are tentatively whispering good news. The word in Hollywood: Britney’s back.
Most beneficial to her health, insiders say, has been Britney’s rekindling of her relationship with her two sons, Jayden, 18, and Sean Preston (left), 19.
Remarkably, she is said to have sworn off ‘toxic’ men, having cut contact with Soliz and vowed to remain single. But perhaps most important of all, she is aworking on her relationship with her two sons, who have been estranged and raised largely by their father Kevin Federline (pictured) but are now both of age.
Britney’s relationship with her sons reportedly became so strained that the boys even stopped replying to her text messages in recent years.
But now, sources close to Britney say they have rebuilt their bond.
‘She has the love of her sons back and that has been transformative. They speak often and text all the time. This is all she wanted,’ an insider said.
Spears is also said to have regained control of her reported $60 million estate.
According to sources, the financial windfall from her best-selling memoir, ‘The Woman in Me’, has been transformative. Spears signed an estimated $15 million deal in 2022, and her book was published the following fall. It has since sold over three million copies worldwide.
‘When she wrote [the memoir] she felt defeated, and she needed to make some quick cash. She never imagined that this would completely change her entire life,’ a source said.
Now, she has set her sights on loftier ambitions, with insiders saying: she wants to become a billionaire.
‘Britney has seen people like Selena Gomez become a billionaire off of her makeup line in a very short period of time. She knew that, if she is going to create that kind of wealth, she needed to develop something that is distinctly her,’ a source said.
Then came news in August of a reported eight-figure deal with Universal Pictures to turn her book into a movie.
‘She didn’t ink the deal to the rights for her life story for cheap,’ a source added. ‘This is what helped to save her.’
Britney has also been working on a new jewellery line, ‘Tiny B’, which promises to sell ‘delicate extremely different one-of-a-kind pieces’ that she has designed herself.
‘She has her hand in each and every item that she is creating. She knows that this is going to make her a massive fortune,’ an insider said.
Perhaps most important for her future well-being and financial security, though, is Spears’s vow to be never return to ‘toxic’ men.
Her recent love life has indeed been rocky, as Spears herself admits.
She married model Sam Asghari in 2022, but he filed for divorce less than two years later citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ amid allegations that she had cheated.
Sources close to Spears expressed concern from the beginning of her relationship with Asghari, claiming he was a ‘wannabe actor’ and that she was in a vulnerable position.
Britney has also been working on a new jewellery line, ‘Tiny B’, which promises to sell ‘delicate extremely different one-of-a-kind pieces’ (like the one pictured) that she has designed herself.
She married model Sam Asghari in 2022, but he filed for divorce less than two years later citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ amid allegations that she had cheated.
The day after they announced their split in 2023, Spears posted on Instagram: ‘I’m not here to explain why because it’s honestly nobody’s business… But, I couldn’t take the pain anymore honestly.’
Then Spears swiftly turned to Paul Soliz, a convicted felon who had been hired to work in her home in a housekeeper-type role in 2022.
They dated on and off until Spears broke up with him in July this year, reportedly because she thought he too was using her. She confirmed the split writing ‘single as f***’ on her Instagram.
‘She cut the felon out of her life when she was working on re-establishing her relationship with her sons, but it was a volatile relationship that everyone wanted her to be done with anyway,’ a source told the Mail.
Now, after so much prolonged drama, those around her are said to be relieved that she is taking time to be alone.
‘She has performed her entire life,’ a source said. ‘She is now dancing on her own terms to her own beat.’