Britney Was "Trembling"

Photographer Says Her Boyfriend Told Him She Felt She Had "No One To Turn To Except God"

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15, 2008

(CBS)  The media frenzy over Britney Spears when she arrived at a Los Angeles court Monday was so intense, Spears was "trembling," according to the head of a paparazzi agency who says he spoke with the pop star's new boyfriend.

Spears never entered the courtroom and instead headed for church -- and later was spotted at a mall.

Sheeraz Hasan, founder and CEO of Hollywood.TV, told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Tuesday that he'd spoken with Spears' new beau, photographer Adnan Ghalib, as the media crush was unfolding Monday.

Spears had come to court -- three hours late -- for a hearing over custody of her two young sons. The judge wound up ruling that Spears' ex-husband, Kevin Federline, should retain temporary full custody.

Hasan says Ghalib told him Spears was "really nervous" and "really panicking" when she was being mobbed by the media at the courthouse, and opted to skip the hearing and go to church, feeling she had, at that instant, "no one to turn to except God."

"She was just so overwhelmed," Hasan says he was told. "She was panicked. She was so nervous. She was really, really stressed out in a major way. She knew from the moment that she left home, there were (news) helicopters following her. I mean, normally, on a day-to-day basis, OK, it's kind of like her friends are with her on a daily basis, kind of following her, but this was just really panicking.

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Photos: Standoff At Britney's

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"And she knew herself that, 'You know what? This is the one chance of me of getting my kids back.' And, you know, to be honest, I mean, really, if she had the support system from her family, from her mom, from her dad, from her sister, I think she would have done whatever it takes to get into the courthouse. But she's on her own. I mean ... she's a young girl. She's very successful, very powerful. But it was too much for her.

"When she got to the courthouse, you know, even Adnan was telling me that it was just way beyond her, and she was nervous. She was panicking. And all she was saying is, 'I need to pray. I'm praying. I'm praying. I'm praying.' "

Hasan, whose company assigns photographers to cover Spears 24/7, defended his fellow paparazzi during the Early Show's continuing series, "Paparazzi: Behind the Pictures."

He told Chen, "A lot of people, you know, are interested in Britney Spears, and a lot of Hollywood celebrities. Even if you look at some of the Internet polls from Yahoo! and Google, the No. 1 one search term in the world for 2007 was Britney Spears. So obviously, there is a demand. People want to know. They want to see what's happening with Britney Spears."

Noting the irony of Spears' new boyfriend being a paparazzi member himself, Hasan asserted, "Britney is very comfortable with the paparazzi, and I know yesterday (Monday) was absolutely chaotic, but, you know, the bottom line is that, you know, Britney Spears is very well aware. She's very close to the paparazzi."

He added that it wasn't just paparazzi at the courthouse, it was "a whole world media at this point."

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