Give Her a Break.

As much as I rip on Hollywoodland and our collective obsession with stars (and the fact that we consider anything involving a star "news"), I've been watching the Britney Spears fiasco with a great deal of interest. And sympathy, believe it or not. Clearly, this is a young woman who is having no end of difficulties. She's made some really bad decisions the last couple years of her young life. Those bad decisions, I suspect, were compounded by substance abuse.

I know that it's become fashionable in the fantasy world that is LA to check oneself in to rehab whenever a public relations makeover is needed (see Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan*, etc.), but I can't help but think rehab is the right move in this case. Spears' behavior has become increasingly irrational and self-destructive in the last few months. I don't care what people think of her, she's not stupid or she wouldn't have achieved her present level of success. She knows how to behave in the public eye. The recent gaffs suggest something is getting in the way of that knowledge. Nothing screws up the decision making portion of the brain like a few mind altering substances. According the most recent of reports, Spears has entered rehab for the third time in four days. As someone who entered recovery at 25--Spears is 24--I hope she sticks it out this time. I really do.

So, let's give her a break. Give her the opportunity to get herself straightened out, or at least dried out, and see what she does. I can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like trying to get clean and sober with every reporter on the planet trying to get the "scoop." It's hard enough getting sober without that kind of scrutiny.

Britney, if you happen to stumble across my blog, here's my first piece of sober wisdom: If you don't drink or drug, you don't get drunk or high.

*In the spirit of fairness, I did read that Lohan is taking rehab seriously and has almost completed a thirty day program. Bravo! Don't forget to continue meetings when you get out. Nothing keeps you sober like watching the miserable who are still practicing. Note that I have my eye on the mess that is your life. Seriously, it's that simple. And that difficult.