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Losing kids may be just what Britney wanted

Blatant disregard of judge's order seems like more than immature behavior

NBC News video
Britney is back in court
Oct. 3: Spears lost custody of her two sons, but will today's meeting with the judge change anything? NBC’s Michael Okwu reports.

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Britney's custody video
Spears released from hospital
Feb. 7: The pop star left after less than a week, and soon the paparazzi were right behind her, trying to capture her every move. NBC’s Michael Okwu reports.

COMMENTARY
By Miki Turner
Entertainment writer
MSNBC contributor
updated 12:56 a.m. ET Oct. 2, 2007

Miki Turner
Entertainment writer
On Monday afternoon, Britney Spears either got what she wanted or what she deserved when her two sons — Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, were taken from her. According to TMZ.com, Spears apparently disobeyed all of the court-ordered custodial stipulations issued by L.A. Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon.

This means that Spears’ ex-husband, Kevin Federline, now has sole physical custody of the kids “until further order of the court.”

Forget global warming. Something is definitely askew in the world when K-Fed is considered a suitable parent.

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This news wasn’t really shocking, but it was distressing. I want to believe that Spears had to know that her failure to show up at the parenting classes and drug counseling sessions Gordon ordered her to attend and her apparent refusal to sign a judge’s order would result in the loss of her two kids.

But, I could be wrong. Maybe she had no one to remind her that she had to do it since her lawyer, manager, parents and a handful of friends and employees had either turned on her or abandoned her completely.

Some folks just don’t like riding on trains in which the next stop is a brick wall.

Of course, Spears could be suffering from the same kind of delusional malady that afflicts others of her ilk. Perhaps she was arrogant enough to believe that she was above the law. The worshipped often think they can beat the system because they usually do. I suppose she thought that people would be willing to overlook her less-than-stellar parenting skills and forget about her dubious public image because she’s Britney Spears.

Hopefully, now she realizes that money and fame can sometimes buy you out of a jam, but it really can’t buy you love and respect — the things that help you sleep well at night.

Slide show
Image: Britney Spears
The Spears years
Britney’s life, from Mickey Mouse to motherhood, divorce drama and more.

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There’s really no way of knowing how or why Spears developed such a warped sense of entitlement. The Louisiana native comes from rather humble beginnings and wasn’t really an overnight success. You could blame her adoring public, but at some point even the most vain celebrities realize that affection from strangers, or strange affection, won’t ever sustain you.

No one to tell her to stop
You could fault her parents, who apparently let her have her way because she moved them into a new tax bracket. You could take exception with her handlers, who obviously mishandled an immature child. Or you can simply take issue with her friends, who should have had the courage of their convictions and told Spears to slow her roll when they saw her spiraling out of control.

But at the end of the day, anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that infants should be at home in bed at 10 p.m. and not eating dinner at a Sunset Boulevard hot spot with their scantily clad mother. Sean and Jayden were her snotty-nosed, diaper-wearing accessories. It was almost as if Spears used her kids to show us that there was indeed something awry in her world.

Maybe this was the cry for help that no one around her heard.

Now Sean and Jayden will be accessorizing their father — a man with no real job or discernable talents. And as distressing as that might be, right now it’s the best thing for those kids. At least K-Fed has enough sense to leave the kids with the nanny before he hits the club.

Slide show
Brazilian supermodel Bundchen and boyfriend Brady arrive at Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala
  The week in celebrity sightings
Tom and Gisele look suave, Britney looks back, Usher gets blue and more.

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As for Spears, let’s pray that she uses this time away from her kids to reassess her priorities in life and grow up. At 25, she is obviously too young and immature to be anyone’s mother. I think she knows that and that’s why I believe that she totally orchestrated this whole episode.

I think losing her kids is exactly what she wanted. Sean and Jayden were getting in the way of her fun. What she might not realize now is that she lost the two people in the world who probably loved her unconditionally.

And that’s going to hurt when she wakes up.

She should also try and repair the relationships with those she kicked to the curb, starting with her mother, Lynne. Mama Spears might not be the best mother in the world — considering the disturbing evolution of her eldest daughter — but I think that most mothers instinctively know how to fix that which has gone awry. I just hope it’s not too late.

More than anything, however, Spears needs to commit herself to a real rehab facility so she can start putting her life back together again. It won’t work if someone else signs the papers because its obvious that Spears rejects authority — even from those who love her.

If she doesn’t get the help she needs right now, she might find herself partying with Janis Joplin in the very near future.

Miki Turner is an entertainment columnist for MSNBC.com. She welcomes your comments at .

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive
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