Manager: Britney Has "Mental Issues"
Barbara Walters says she has been contacted by Britney Spears' manager and "very good friend," Sam Lutfi, who says 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.
Photos: Britney Spears: the Early Years
Photos: Standoff At Britney's
Lutfi has been staying with Spears constantly, "and he got in touch with us," Walters said. "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 Lufti and Spears' paparazzo pal Adnan Ghalib. Cameras caught Ghalib arriving at Spears' Hollywood Hills home Monday night, only to be turned away at the gate by Lufti. Ghalib said he received text messages from Lufti 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, Lufti and Ghalib.
Police were called to Spears' neighborhood around 7 p.m. Monday after someone reported a swarm of paparazzi trespassing in the singer's gated community.
Photos: Britney Goes To Court
Los Angeles police Officer Mike Lopez said officers received a call Monday about a group of photographers "stepping onto the grounds" of the private neighborhood while following the 26-year-old pop star.
When officers arrived, they didn't see anyone trespassing, Lopez said. He said citations were issued for several illegally parked cars.
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 has spiraled downward since filing for divorce from Kevin Federline in November 2006. Her bizarre public antics include shaving her head bald, attacking a car with an umbrella and bringing along a paparazzo pal on trips to a Los Angeles courthouse in her custody case with Federline.
The singer was taken to a Los Angeles hospital by paramedics earlier this month after police were called to her home because of a dispute involving her sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1. She has lost custody and visitation rights with the boys.
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.