The Buzz About Britney
The tabloids are calling her "Britney Shear." The pop star's buzz cut has fueled so much talk over the weekend but many supporters really fear this latest stunt is a serious cry for help.
E! Entertainment reporter and Early Show special contributorGiuliana DePandi followed the trail and caught up with stunned witnesses.
Over the weekend, Spears popped into a local hair salon in the Los Angeles valley, surprising owner Esther Tognozzi just as she was closing.
"She went in, sat on my chair and said, 'I want to shave my hair off. I said, 'No, you don't. Please. Let's not have a hormonal moment.'"Photos: Britney Spears
Tognozzi says while she stepped away to make a phone call, Spears grabbed the shears and began shaving.
Tognozzi said Spears was "monotone and emotionless except for when she said, 'Oh my God! My mom is going to be so upset.' And she had tears in her eyes."
After bolting out the back of the salon, Spears traveled a few miles east to a tattoo parlor, where she asked for pink lips on her wrists and a cross on her hip.
Since her November split from husband Kevin Federline, Spears' life has been one public embarrassment after another: endless partying, sometimes without underwear; very questionable outfits, and now this. The latest criticism reportedly came from the singer's former assistant and was posted on a gossip blog.
On The Early Show Monday, they were putting their heads together, trying to come up with theories that make sense, with the help of Katrina Szish, an editor at Us magazine, and psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall, Ph.D.
In separate interviews, they tried to help piece together the public puzzle that Spears has become.
Szish replied, "It is. A lot of people are saying she's asserting herself, being a rebel, showing she doesn't want to be under the media scrutiny.
"Forget it. I don't think so. I think she's having a hard time. We are seeing somebody who doesn't know who she is or where she is going."
In another interview, psychoanalyst Marshall told Storm, "I think we could safely say this is a form of acting out behavior. 'Acting out' is what people do when they don't know how to process, or express what's happening to them. There's usually a component of hostility."
"One thought that came to my mind is self-mutilation," offered psychoanalyst Marshall. "Also, she's branding herself. She may feel … everyone has branded her image. Now, she's branding herself."
Also, Marshall suggested, shaving her head "could have been a fresh start, new beginning. It could have been a distorted way of getting rid of the superficial and getting down to something meaningful.
"But," continued the psychoanalyst, "most of all, she wanted to take back control of her life. Her management team and stylist probably control her hair as a way of controlling her image and career. And in removing the hair, she controls the vehicle for controlling her.
"I think she said her hair extensions were too tight. She may feel the control is too tight."
Storm pointed to the impulsive decisions Spears is making, and mentioned there have been reports that she has been fighting with her mother, that her mother urged her to get her act together and become a fit mother. "This," theorized Storm, "is an act of rebellion."
Szish agreed, "Sure. There are reports that Britney had been fighting with her mom. We know Britney's mom is with her in Los Angeles, by her side."
Psychoanalyst Marshall said the shaving of the head could have been an act of rebellion against her mother or other family members who might have staged an intervention to get her to go into rehab. If "she went into rehab against her will, she could be having a heightened sense of being controlled."
Editor Szish said there were reports that Spears checked into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Center in the Caribbean and then checked out. "People said she got freaked out, couldn't handle it and left," Szish added.
"That's unclear," said Szish. "Rehab seems to be a cure-all these days whether you have a substance abuse problem or any other problem… It just seems any time away from the spotlight is good time."
"Britney has been spotted without her kids. Nobody knows where they are," said Szish. "One can assume they are with her mom, who has taken care of them before. But they were not with her on the night of her hair-cutting spree."
Szish suggested that Spears step out of the limelight for a little while, "not so the public learns to like her, again, but more because she needs to learn to like herself again. She needs to figure out where she is going, what she is doing."
Marshall the psychoanalyst said she believes Spears can turn this around "if she understands what's happening to her. Most people in their 20s, they leave home for a while, go to college and get their first jobs and they separate. And she has not had that opportunity…
"This is not a true disaster," concluded Marshall. "She can always put the hair back on and understand her experience."
Marshal said that, if she were Spears' therapist, "I would help her to understand (that) being helped is not the same as being controlled. I would help her to learn to stand up for herself in more appropriate ways and that giving in does not mean being maneuvered by the people around her."