So, Britney Spears

I happened to turn on the Today show this morning in time to see Matt Lauer interview Britney Spears, and for a moment I cackled with glee at my good fortune.  And then the interview started, and I was horrified.

She looked terrible--bad makeup, bad clothes, bad hair (were those extensions or was it all just a rat's nest?).  And she sounded--not to put too fine a point on it--like an idiot.  Where are the people who should be protecting her?  Who should have told her she couldn't do the interview like that?  It was that bad (and apparently I didn't even see the full interview).

I'm not a Britney fan by any stretch, but since she had her son around the time I had The Boy, I was favorably disposed to cut her some slack when she started getting so much bad press.  I remember hearing something about a visit she paid to the hospital when her son fell out of his high chair.  The gist of it was that the injury was "suspicious."  I remember because around the same time I paid a visit to the hospital with my son for an injury that might have appeared suspicious.  The Boy was fine, and everyone at the hospital (rightly) concluded that I was a nervous first-time mom who was overreacting to a mild injury.  But still. 

Because my son was fine, it seems funny now.  Well, not exactly funny, but it makes a good story.  Still, I was embarrassed.   So embarrassed that I didn't blog about it then, and I'm barely blogging about it now, but if I'm embarrassed in front of you, I can imagine what it's like to have every parental misstep cataloged by the unsympathetic press.

This isn't a moralistic anti-gossip screed because God knows I love me some good gossip, but this situation just isn't funny any more.  Is anyone going to do anything to help her?

Comments

[Nors]

I have to give her credit for not caring how cruel the doctors were to her during the ER visit as long as her baby was ok.

Otherwise, a train wreck. I actually feel sorry for her because it obvious she has no real support system. Notice even her husband refused to participate in the interview.

[Heather Ann]

I was looking at the pictures of her in the restaurant on the bench at a table after she supposedly went sideways on her ankle and almost dropped Sean a number of weeks ago and I wanted to cry for her. All I see when I look at her is a woman in desperate need of some good girlfriends and some help. She takes that boy with her everywhere, obviously loves him, and I can't imagine that she is abusing him deliberately, but something is wrong. I want to call her up and talk to her, or take her for coffee, or something, and I really have no clue what her music is or anything like that 'cause I am just too old. I didn't see the interview this morning as we have only rabbit ears, but I will try to see if I can see it now.

[Tara]

I feel so bad for her and I can not stand it anymore! I can not imagine every little mishap my first year as a new mom being broadcast throughout the world.

When my daughter was about 11 months old I slammed her finger in the HINGE side of our closet door and I could not figure out why the door would not close and I look down and there she is. I felt like a failure and the worst mother ever...imagine if there were pictures of it on People Mag and debate on my fitness as a mom? I would have gone off the deep end.

In my opinion she should not feel like she has to defend her parenting skills to the world. Who cares what they think? Go raise your kids some where quiet.

[baggage]

Ok, I was steady on the Britney hate train. But after watching last night...I still think she is dumb and her hair is awful. And her husband..he's hideous.

But I felt bad for her. The worst thing a woman can be told is that she's a bad mother. And she's trying I think. Tripping with the baby? My social worker dropped a foster baby off her lap during a visit. I mean, it happens. Sure, she made some dumb mistakes. But where is her mom? Where are some people helping her? I just felt bad for her.

The other thing that made me feel bad was when she said that she didn't know that Shar Jackson was pregnant with KFed's baby until they had been dating for two months. Yuck.

[Julie]

She is a total train wreck. But I try to imagine myself in her shoes - being a mom at 23-34 and not exposed to any good role models for being a mom. At that age, I surely would have killed my child in some form of accident or made at least twice as many mistakes as she has made. I didn't know how to be a mom when I became one at 35, but I read a lot, exposed myself to mother groups soon after she was born (online and in real life) and had plenty of friends and family who had kids that I had been exposed to. I am certainly not saying young moms make poorer choices than older moms - just that with age usually comes more experience. But I will be the first to admit, I've made my fair share of mistakes in the first year of my daughter's life - thank god they weren't on the cover of People!

She is isolated and alone - more alone than any of us can probably imagine....not only that, but she has the world watching her every move. She is not the smartest cookie, or the most dignified (what's with the chewing gum while giving an interview) but she is human and she is a mom who clearly loves her child. And for that she has my support.

[dawn]

Gosh, I thought I was the only one who felt this way after the interview. I have never been a big fan of hers (though my husband was, back when she "used to be hot" - his words); but I do feel bad for her. I am the same way, I am trailing her parenting by 3 months - she has a 9 month old, me a 6 month old - but if my parenting was as publicly scrutinized as hers is, I would put a gun to my head. I never thought in a million years I would be saying this, but poor Britney. It sure is sad. Just more proof that having all the money in the world doesn't fix everything.

[chris]

Yes, it's getting kind of sad and it was difficult to even watch. If she would agree to send me one million dollars, I would give her some free fashion advice, not to mention man-losing advice.

But seriously, someone needs to help that girl out. Because the hair. And the scary boobs hanging out of the dress?

And what about Matt Lauer? Do you think he might be wondering who he p*ssed off to get that interview.

[beaver girl]

I just kept wondering aloud where her stylist was??? I mean, she seriously looked terrible! everything - hair, makeup, clothes - BAD! i mean, i look bad but i'm not known for looking good.

And yeah - i would hate for cameras to have caught me bumping my son's head on the doorframe that night. ouch.

[flisted]

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[Tara]

Save Sean Preston? It is his mother who needs to be saved.

[Dallas]

She's such a disaster. It's possible to be a redneck with all the money in the world, and she is. Who has she hired to run her image? Doesn't she have a stylist? Isn't there someone who can help her?

Now she has her Manny (Male Nanny?). Maybe he'll help!

[Moxie]

I wonder if her mother just gave up on her when she started up with Kevin.

It makes me sad, too.

[Abby]

Of course she looks like hell, for all the reasons listed here. I can't even imagine.

I've decided that women (me being one of them) and mothers, especially, me soon to be one, I hope, are terribly terribly judgmental. WHY IS THAT?

I'm so glad you've cut her some slack. I think she deserves it.

[swissmiss]

When I see pictures of my pre-Boy self and pictures of my post-Boy self I realize I look "like crap" a lot these days. Compared to then. A lot of new moms do. And a lot of new moms (and dads) drop their kids, lock them in cars, lose them in shopping malls, burn their mouths, and let them fall off beds. (Didn't Julie do a post on that a while ago and get about 500 stories in the comments of the worst things we've ever done as parents?) We just get to do it in private.

Unfortunately, to be a mega star in the US means to sell your whole life, persona, style, etc to the public - then, when you realize you want a little privacy, you can't get it back. Being over here, I missed the whole interview and post-interview blow by blow, but I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for anybody who has to be a new parent, with apparantly very little support, in such a public glare. Even though she made her own bed by selling herself for Fame, now that she's a parent she ought to be allowed to try to change the rules of publicity, if only for the sake of Sean.

From what I've read, it sounds like she needs better People in her professional entourage and better people in her life.

For the record, we let Small Boy fall off our bed, head first, onto the hard wood floor. Yeah. On that day above all others I was so grateful for the good relationship we have with our ped., because I knew he knew us well enough to know it was an accident, and I had no fear of suspicion being cast our way when he checked out our son. Honestly, who as a parent hasn't done the unbloggable at least once?

I wouldn't be famous in today's world for all of Britney's millions and then some.

[Rayne of Terror]

I also felt so bad for Britney. I've never paid any attention to her before, but seriously all the stuff she has to deal with at 24 would drive anyone over the edge. While I was watching I kept thinking move away, move to Iowa or North Dakota, or somewhere that the magazines can't have 20 photographers on them every second. Certainly they could afford to get away for a couple years. Doesn't Reese Witherspoon raise her kids in Tennesee or Kentucky?

[Susan]

She did look bad, really bad. I doubt anyone is going to help her, I suspect they (mom, friends, hubby, etc.?) are too busy living off of her publicity/fame/money, if that all went away they wouldn't have a thing.

[bj]

I too feel bad that no one is helping her. It's the one thing that just strike me about being the "poor little rich kid." You just can't know if anyone actually cares about you, 'cause there are so many other reasons to hang out with you. If get to be a grown up rich person, then, you can at least hope that some of people who loved you when you back in the day will still be trustworthy. But, for Britney? she has no one.

And, it hurts, as a mom, to think that her mom doesn't appear to be that person for her (though, we can't blame that on just her mom).

bj

[millie]

She seriously needs a moms group or some coaching from someone. She does look awful. Doesn't she have a stylist? She seems so alone. It's really very sad.

[electriclady]

I was mesmerized by the big black glob on her eyelid, which I thought was mascara goop but later learned was her false eyelashes coming off. Really, she's worth $100 million but couldn't spare $500 for a stylist and a makeup artist to come out to the house for the day? You'd think at least someone on the Dateline crew would be like, "Um, honey, your eyelashes are peeling off." They had to have had someone there to powder Matt Lauer's nose, at least.

I can't imagine living the life she lives, with cameras in your face every second of the day. She can't even go down to the park or Gymboree or something to meet other moms. She must be terribly lonely.

[grumpygirl]

oh my. should i embarrassed to admit that i caught her interview on dateline with lauer? an hour? the woman was chewing gum the whole time, loudly. says she leaves the house with curlers. talked about how when she was little her daddy always put her on his lap when they were driving and she'd pretend to drive.

white trash with money. and yes, i'm a snob.

[beaver girl]

I heard yesterday that because of the way she looked and had no publicist there - the nbc crew thought they had showed up on the wrong day.

[Wylie]

Sounds to me like she's probably getting all her parenting advice from her mother. Which is great, but outdated.

Truth is, after watching that interview, I feel bad for her, too. It's hard enough to feel alright as a parent without the world watching you.