Britney Back In Hospital
Britney Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early Thursday and escorted to a hospital by a large police escort.
A Los Angeles police officer, who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn't authorized to speak on the matter, said the 26-year-old pop star was being taken to "get help," but did not give the ambulance's destination.
Spears, who was to be placed on a "mental evaluation hold," was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where her mother, Lynne, was seen leaving its psychiatric hospital at about 5:30 a.m.
When asked by a throng of paparazzi and reporters whether Britney was doing all right, Lynne Spears replied, "Yeah," before leaving in a Range Rover.
Hours earlier, shortly after 1 a.m., a motorcade nearly the length of a football field pulled away from Spears' residence. Along with the ambulance, it included police on nearly a dozen motorcycles, in two cruisers, and two helicopters following overhead.
According to Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman there were reports that her father, Jamie Spears, and her manager, Sam Lutfi were at the hospital as well.
Celebrity Web site TMZ.com reports the family and Lutfi are arguing over who is in charge of her care.
"Even in sickness, there is chaos surrounding her," Kauffman remarked.
Spears' father was visibly upset when he arrived at the hospital.
"Spears' police escort "was like a medical motorcade," Bill Graham, director of operations of celebrity news agency X-17, told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, "and we saw eight motorcycles and five police cars flanking the ambulance. And behind that was a white van. And behind the white van were distraught friends and relatives of Britney Spears going to UCLA Medical Center.
Photos: Britney Spears: The Early Years
Two helicopters hovered overhead, it was reported.
TMZ says the plan to commit Spears was in the works for days.
Spears' psychiatrist believed her condition was worsening, Kauffman says. She reportedly had not slept since Saturday.
Photos: Standoff At Britney's
"One of the photographers who follows her told me they know she's been up," Kauffman reports. "They've seen her, driving around town and buying Red Bull by the case."
When Spears was told she was going to the hospital again, she is said to have asked, "Is something wrong?" and didn't resist, Kauffman adds.
But Sheeraz Hasan, founder and CEO of Hollywood.tv told Rodriguez, "This afternoon, (Spears) was driving around Beverly Hills at the most dangerous speeds ever. And so many of the paparazzi were calling us up and saying that today could be a very, very sad day. She was literally on her own, driving around, cutting up traffic, driving on the opposite side of the lane. And it was a complete buildup to today. So today, she was just driving at the most craziest-ever Britney Spears has ever driven."
E! Online reports the genesis of this latest trouble may have been an ultimatum from Spears' photographer friend Adnan Ghalib, who is said to have told Spears to choose between him and her frequent companion, her manager, Lutfi.
Photos: Britney Goes To Court
On Jan. 3, police were called to her home when Spears refused to return her two young sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has custody.
Officers had paramedics haul Spears to a hospital for undisclosed reasons. She was released after a day-and-a-half in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Police also went to the home Monday night after someone reported a swarm of paparazzi trespassing in the singer's gated community. When officers arrived, they didn't see anyone trespassing, police said, but citations were issued for several illegally parked cars.
Spears has been in a highly public downward spiral since filing for divorce from Federline in November 2006.
Her bizarre antics include shaving her head bald, attacking a car with an umbrella and bringing along a paparazzo pal on trips to a courthouse in her child custody case.
Two days ago, Barbara Walters said she had been contacted by Spears' manager and "very good friend" Lutfi, who said the pop singer has seen a psychiatrist.
Lutfi told her the 26-year-old pop singer "is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable," Walters said Monday on ABC's "The View."
"He said that she has been to a psychiatrist and that she, I assume, is starting some kind of treatment," said Walters, a co-host on the ABC daytime talk show. "She has been having mood swings. She's been having trouble sleeping, and also she is in touch with her mother - 'cause we had heard she wasn't - and her mother has been very supportive of whatever it is that Britney is going to do," Walters said.
Lutfi has been staying with Spears constantly, "and he got in touch with us," Walters continued. "I can't vouch for this, he seemed to be very knowledgeable and he certainly was very nice."
According to TV's "The Insider," it appears that there is friction between Lutfi and Spears' paparazzo pal Ghalib. Cameras caught Ghalib arriving at Spears' Hollywood Hills home Monday night, only to be turned away at the gate by Lutfi. Ghalib said he received text messages from Lutfi saying that the only way for him to help spears was to "disappear."
Later, Spears drove to a nearby supermarket, followed by Ghalib. The two ended up back at her home with her mom, her dad, Lutfi and Ghalib.
The one bit of good news in Spears' continuing story is that, according to court papers obtained by "The Insider" Monday, Spears was given the right to have telephone contact with her two children at last week's custody hearing. Her visitation rights, however, remain suspended.
Spears' attorney, Sorrell Trope, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday. Spears' spokeswoman at Jive Records, Gina Orr, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Spears reportedly has had a rocky relationship with her mother, Lynne Spears, whose book about raising her family in the spotlight was put on indefinite hold last month after younger daughter, Jamie Lynn, 16, announced that she is pregnant.