Can Britney Make A Comeback?

Us Weekly Magazine Expert: Yes, Despite Yet Another Embarrassment

(CBS)  The latest headache for Britney Spears is a video of her a few years ago belching, eating chicken wings and complaining that she'd missed out on life by being a pop star.

The video is being circulated virally via the popular Web site YouTube, and is getting a plethora of hits.

The pop diva, or should we say, former pop diva, is said to be working on a new album, but the question surrounding her is simple: Can she make a comeback from this video and numerous other public embarrassments? Among them: the widely seen photos of her driving with her baby in her lap, potentially putting the child in harm's way.

On The Early Show Monday, Bradley Jacobs, senior editor of Us Weekly magazine, predicted Spears will be able to resurrect her career.

"She lost control of her image a long time ago," Jacobs told co-anchor Tracy Smith. "When she first (rose to stardom), in the late '90s, early 2000s, she put out four albums in five years. In the media's presence, she was always very controlled and very protected.

"But she stopped working a couple of years ago, in the summer of 2004. Then the attention went to her personal life. And since then, it's just been one bad publicity moment after another. Her career has become really unhinged. The YouTube video is just the latest example of that."

In the video, Spears is heard saying, "I feel like I've been missing out on life … like things, and things going on. Like, I feel like I'm behind or something. I know that sounds so weird, but I do."

"There are a lot of embarrassing moments in this YouTube segment," Jacobs observes, "but also some moments that pull at your heartstrings, (such as) when she says she's missing out.

"This was filmed in the spring of 2004, right before she pulled out of her tour due to an injury, and stopped working. She stopped going to the studio and focused instead on her relationship with Kevin Federline, also known as 'K-Fed.' She married him, had a baby. Now, she's pregnant with her second baby.

[lowell3456]

Let's see, an online reporter interviewing a print reporter who's giving his opinion about someone else. Is this really reporting? Is this really "news"?

[geeg4]

Really, leave the woman alone. What's the big draw? I can't think that she's done anything so dreadful that you must constantly bash her, with all that really is horrific to report about. And, by the way, who is it who has never burped? So she made a video, so what . . .

[trusmom06]

you know whats funny..SHE PUT THE VIDEO OUT HERSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!! its a deleted scene on the chaotic dvd....so its not new!

[karfar67042]

She can TRY to make a comeback,but it won't work. She started going downhill when she went from the innocent little girl routine she was putting on to the steamy,and too *** style she was into when she went downhill.As my mother would've said, she made her bed, now she's got to lay in it.I don't believe it's all Kevin's fault...she's into that kind of thing and now she's trying to get all her former fans to feel sorry for her and welcome her back. She's a hasbeen.

[stuffedtige1]

Alot of people knock Britney because they say she is an unfit mother and lost her stardom....I think she will do fine.

How can she plan a come back? She has no ability to sing. As with most young "singers" today, if you turned off the electronic amplification, all you would hear is screaming like a dying animal!

[newscritic]

This is the stupidest piece of NEWS I have ever heard. Oh my gosh how embarassing, Britney is video taped eating chick wings and saying she feels she has missed out on something. You people are full of ***. How about some real news,,, like oh I don't know, maybe the reporting that did this *** got fired. PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[samnbryan_25]

OMG!!!!!! Cant you people leave her alone???My goosh..she is a human being and everyone burps!!!Come on get real!!!Do some real reporting!!!Leave her alone already!!!I bet you wouldnt like it if someone recording everything you did (wrong or not) and made a big deal of it and accused you of being a bad parent!!!Shes a good mom to Sean P.....Just put yourselve in her shoes!!!!!!!!!!!

[prlwebster]

No I think Britney Spears career has come to an end now she needs to focus on being a mother and wife. I use to be a fan back when she first came out on the music scene in 1999 but then a year later her music went stale. so that's my story and I'm sticking to it 100%. Sincerely,prlwebster!

[joann94-2009]

I've never been a Britney fan, but why is it more important for her to be back at the "top of her game" than to be a mother? Raising two children is a much more difficult and important task than making pop records! With all that she has accomplished at her young age, she has a right to retire right now, without regrets. I think Bradley Jacob's remarks were so shallow! I would rather be pulling for her that she raises two fine human beings than to be back to doing 1000 situps a day!!

[erik1973-2009]

I truly believe that she can come back on her own - She needs to do this herself and not let her husband take control of it like he has in the past couple of yrs, she has waisted her own time on him, I hope she will realize from yrs on that she has made a huge mistake - HUGE MISTAKE

[wishnock]

trusmom06 is absolutely correct--Spears herself released this footage nearly a year ago as part of the bonus video on her "Chaotic" DVD. Why is this not mentioned at all on any of the umpteen online articles that have been written about it? I know you can't believe EVERYTHING you rad on the internet, but I would think that an organization such as CBS News would at least correctly state the source of the footage in question. Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave.

[jeavblrgn]

WHO CARES!!!!!!!!

[susanrntx]

Britney Spears needs to be allowed to grow up. Plain and simple. She has grown up in public with no room for the trial and errors that all of us have on our road to adulthood. The difference between us and Britney is that all of her mistakes make front page headlines. We have the luxury of maybe a few close friends and relatives seeing our growing pains. One does not become a perfect parent automatically. Give her a few years and I think we will all be pleasantly surprised by the woman that Britney becomes.