Britney Spears Doesn't Make It To Court
Britney Spears walked into a downtown courthouse Wednesday and was expected to plead for renewed rights to visit her two little boys, but she left the building before reaching the courtroom.
Less than half an hour after she went into the building, she left it, Superior Court spokesman Alan Parachini said. He said Spears was driven away from the building.
The hearing, however, continued behind closed doors, but in the end Commissioner Scott Gordon made no changes in the order suspending the pop star's visitation rights.
Spears, 26, and her ex-husband Kevin Federline, 29, are battling over custody of their two sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.
Photos: Standoff At Britney's
An emergency court hearing was requested to discuss the pop star's visitation rights. The commissioner suspended her visitation rights earlier this month and gave custody to Federline. Gordon kept that order in effect during another emergency hearing last week. Spears also arrived at court for that hearing but then quickly turned around and left, chased by photographers.
The hearings followed a bizarre standoff at Spears' home when she refused to return the boys after a visit and was briefly hospitalized.
On Wednesday, Gordon called the Spears case at about 9:15 a.m., allowing her attorney, Anne Kiley, to go out and try to find her client. She appeared about 20 minutes later and Gordon called the matter again.
"Is your client present?" he asked Kiley.
"No, she's not," the lawyer replied.
"Is she going to be present?" the commissioner asked.
"I don't know," Kiley said.
The commissioner then said there were motions filed by both sides but he didn't indicate what they were.
Federline and his attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, were in the courtroom. Federline was sworn in as a witness and Kaplan asked that the courtroom be cleared of spectators and the press.
Spears evaded swarms of paparazzi by arriving and leaving through a basement parking garage under the courthouse. She wore bright lipstick, sunglasses, gold platform shoes and a very short black cocktail dress with a ruffled hem.
Federline, clad in a tan suit and open-necked shirt and sporting a Mohawk haircut, arrived a half hour before Spears.
In other news, the wife of Spears' paparazzo pal has filed for legal separation from him.
Azlynn Elizabeth Berry cites irreconcilable differences with Adnan Ghalib for the split after four years of marriage, according to documents filed Friday in Superior Court.
Berry, representing herself in court papers, seeks spousal support, and for Ghalib to pay her legal fees, the filing said. Her phone number wasn't listed.
In recent weeks, Ghalib has been seen accompanying Spears on shopping excursions, restaurant outings and trips to the courthouse in her custody case with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
According to OK! magazine, Spears and Ghalib were spotted leaving Taverna Tony's restaurant in the Cross Creek section of Malibu Tuesday, holding hands and "smooching all the while."
Ghalib is said to work for the photo agency FinalPixx. An after-hours call to the agency wasn't answered Tuesday.
Ghalib told the syndicated television magazine show "The Insider" on Tuesday that he had photographed Spears for several years before they grew closer in late December. He said their relationship blossomed after Spears was released from a hospital following a standoff in her home when she refused to return her two sons to Federline's bodyguard.
"We managed to spend a long time together, away from the media," Ghalib said.
In another interview with the TV show "Entertainment Tonight," Ghalib denied accusations that he was profiting from his relationship with the 26-year-old pop star.
Photos: Britney Goes To Court
"A lot of people perceive to know or understand her, she's the most photographed woman in the world," Ghalib said. "But if you take time to scratch the surface, then you can understand how amazing she is."
As for Spears' relationship with her children, Ghalib said, "That's something very personal for her. Very personal. That's something she doesn't even share with me. ... Does she not spend nights upset about not having the kids? All the time. Does she look at pictures and go through photos of her and the kids? All the time. ... She's no different than any other mom. She's no different at all."
People magazine executive editor and Early Show entertainment contributor Jess Cagle said Wednesday that the continuing drama surrounding Spears and other Hollywood types, along with word of the death of actor Heath Ledger has left "a lot of people really fascinated by the prevalence of drugs in Hollywood. I mean, it's really disturbing, and if anything good could come out of this besides, you know, we all watch it on TV and we're fascinated by this, you hope that parents are having conversations with kids in homes, you know. If anything good can come out of it, I guess that's it's that."