“Lead” (verb) to guide, pilot, steer. show the way etc.
Led? Light Emitting Diode
Or am I being whooshed?
I believe firmly in the responsibility of adults for their own actions and circumstances, but in the case of Britney, who’s been put through the wringer and used and used again since she was about eight years old, I’m inclined to soften that a bit. How else could she have turned out? She was being packaged and sold as a slut in her early- to mid teens; is it a shock she became one in her late teens?
It’s very sad. 
That’s exactly what her own mother has been trying to do. Get her in rehab and get her to hang out in Louisiana for a while with her kids away from the limelight.
But Britney has been resistant, argumentative, and basically told her mother to get lost and stay out of her life.
(however, i do hear that they have recently reconciled)
:eek: You’re pulling my leg! Rosie will never stop being my robo-maid. Say it ain’t so!
As far as Britney is concerned, she seems to think it’s her talent that got her to the top. Some record execs spotted some 15 year old jailbait and pushed her through the hype machine. She decided to have kids to keep her relationship with K-Fed on the ups (BAD IDEA) in the prime of her career, and when she came back looking like she just had two kids, no one wanted to touch it. Shock, shock.
Girl needs to be committed for at least a couple of months. She is losing it.
Well, I don’t have personal knowledge of her life but I do recall reports of her mother trying to get her into rehab and get her to stay there, there was also supposed to be an intervention with her mom and sister. Maybe her mom’s concern is too little, too late but I find it hard to believe she wants to see her daughter’s life go down the toilet and it’s not just dollar signs at work. Brit has people, she just chooses not to listen to them.
Sure I pity her but I think her problems are about 85% of Britney’s doing. A lot of people have messed up lives and a lot of people get their shit together and bounce back. Brit hasn’t shown any interest in getting her shit together. She has resisted attempts to help her. She appears to think she’s just entitled to drive illegally, take bad care of her children and be given beaucoup bucks just to be on stage without making any effort.
It’s like a trainwreck and it’s sad to watch for all involved but I don’t think she’s a victim at all.
But that’s how bad it’s gotten. When even your sycophants decide that the cost/benefit ratio is a waste of their time, you’re done.
It’s hard for me to feel sympathy for someone crying because all they wanted was to get gas for their car in peace, when they have the resources to make it so she doesn’t have to. Call a cab, hire a limo, etc.
There are stars that can and do live pretty normal lives. Every day she gets to make the choice, every day she makes the choice to be in the public eye, for good or bad.
I suppose she could make that choice and never go to the grocery store, never go to get coffee, never drive anywhere. She could hole herself up in her mansion and never again leave. But you know what? The paparazzi even pay her neighbors (or rent helicopters) so they can get shots of her IN HER OWN BACKYARD. Look, she can’t even be free from prying eyes and judgments when she’s playing with her kids in her backyard. That would drive anyone batty. And for those saying she should just go lock down in Louisiana, the same thing happens when she’s there. Whether it’s her fault or not, for now, Britney is passed the point of no return.
Plus, she’s a 25 year old girl. Other celebrities can go to Starbucks. Other celebrities can go shopping. How is she ever supposed to let this whole thing go and be normal if she can’t go to the damned grocery store without being swarmed? Hell, any time she goes to the store, there are tons of paparazzi taking pictures of every bag- the girl can’t even buy tampons in peace.
I don’t doubt that she certainly brought on the paparazzi onslaught to herself at one point or another. But considering the fact that she’s a relatively uneducated girl from a place that is far, far off from the paparazzi filled streets of LA, I don’t think she could have ever guessed it would be like this. This is what her life is now (video from the other day of her trying to hang out with her little sister-- there is one point where the paps and her sister start yelling at this woman, so there is vulgarity). I think the saddest part of that video is that she looks so … . empty. It’s like she’s so used to the paparazzi that she’s accepted it as a horrible part of her life. Not to mention, trying to hang out with your 16 year old sister and having some crazy bitch scream out, “GET OUT OF THE FUCKING NEIGHBORHOOD. WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE!”
I just feel bad for her. I honestly think a: she doesn’t know any other way and b: she can escape it at this point. Sure, other celebrities can manage not to be followed everywhere, but other celebrities don’t have literally 20 paparazzi waiting outside their home, waiting for her to come out so they can radio the other 50 guys with where they think she’s going. Hell, once she took her babies for a drive along the coast, was followed by a mob of paparazzi, pulled over to change one’s diaper, and the paparazzi were smashing their faces against her tinted windows, trying to get a shot of her changing a diaper.
Yeah, I’m a firm believer that would drive anyone crazy. Plus, couple that with the possibility and she’s got PPD and you’ve got a girl who needs help.
I think she needs to show the world that “there’s nothing to see here, move along, move along.” Christina Aguilera or Kelly Clarkson (just to use examples of other pop stars roughly Brit’s age) can probably get a cup of coffee without being mobbed by photographers because they’ve shown that they’re unlikely to provide any photo ops worthy of the Enquirer. Probably won’t be stoned, probably won’t flash their bare crotch for all the world to see, probably won’t walk into a gas station bathroom barefoot…you know, nothing to see here. Move along.
If Britney could avoid doing anything gape-worthy for six months…scratch that, make it three months, I bet 90% of the paparrazzi would just disappear. She’s a walking meal ticket for those dirtbags right now. It would stop if she suddenly became boring to them.
How is going to Starbucks or Vons not tedious and boring? There really is nothing to see there, yet she gets mobbed regardless.
Christina can’t go shopping without a similar thing happening to her. In reality though, Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera have never been as big as Britney. Britney was always “on top” in the Britney vs Christina thing.
And Christina wouldn’t flash her crotch? Wha? You surely are forgetting the whole Dirrty phase? For God’s sake, she would regularly go out in a shirt that says Deep Throat that shows her nipples. (sfw, just a slight nipple outline).
In and of itself, of course it’s boring. They tag along in the hopes that she’ll do something spectacular, and at present she doesn’t disappoint.
Yes, but here Christina got snapped a couple of times on a routine shopping trip and it ended up on a gossip blog. That’s a far cry from being trailed by twenty photographers and being on Entertainment Tonight three or four times a week. The first may be part and parcel of being a star; the second is a feeding frenzy that only happens when there’s blood in the water.
But this is exactly my point. During that phase, Christina’s skanky self was all over the news. To a great extent, she has trained the papparazzi to leave her alone, because they know they probably won’t get a spectacle that’s worth their time. Britney could do the same.
She lives in Beverly Hills for god sakes. That’s where the paparazzi live and make a living.
Paparazzi don’t want to travel to nowhere Louisiana on their own buck, pay for a hotel, and not even get a guarantee of getting a shot. She may get an occasional snoopy photographer poking around town but she ain’t gonna be getting mobbed.
Plenty of high profile celebrities live normal lives by living outside of LA, NY, Miami.
If you want to be seen that’s where you live.
So, you’ve never seen the videos of her trying to go to McDonald’s or something back in Louisiana I take it? She gets mobbed even there. There are oodles of pictures of her doing mundane things in Louisiana like going to Sonic, going to the mall, or picking up her little sister from school. In many of the photos and videos, you can see the mob of paparazzi there following her.
The fact is that it IS advantageous for the paps to get photos of her out of her normal, LA life. They can sell those for more, so of course they are willing to travel.
So, where does she go? Wherever she goes, the paps will follow her. Wherever she goes, the neighbors will hate her because of the paps.
Like I said, she’s long passed the point of no return. I have no idea what she’s going to do, but I hardly see it as entirely her fault. Sure, it was her decision to live this life, but is a 15 or 16 year old kid really capable of making a competent decision that will effect the rest of their life?
Well I just watched that video of all those paps crowding around like jackals.
I tell you what, If I was on the receiving end of that sort of treatment I’d be going batshit crazy.
Fucking hell, that is totally out of order, Jesus wept, I feel even sorrier for the girl now
Isn’t it amazing? I mean, there she is with her little sister (who is, in fairness, a Disney or Nickolodeon celebrity herself) just trying to go get lunch and some coffee and they can hardly even get out of the car.
What made me feel the worst when I saw that video was when Britney said, “Jamie? JAMIE! Where’s Jamie Lynn?” because she couldn’t even see her little sister over the mobs of people.
Like I said, she just looks dead inside in that video. She didn’t even react when that woman screamed at her, because she’s so used to it (her sister, on the other hand, told the woman that if she doesn’t like Britney in the neighborhood, she should “just fucking move then!” I imagine it hurts to see people acting that way towards your big sister).
I honestly wouldn’t know Spears if I bumped into her on the street (except for the paparazzi), but there are people that (IMHO) are bigger stars who don’t draw that kind of attention to themselves. I would guess that Matt Damon can gas up his vehicle with getting more than an autograph request. Oprah Winfrey seems to draw more than her fair share of tabloid stories, but she doesn’t seem to have 20 paps hovering around her all the time.
I believe she was a marketed product, and now she (and her entourage/family/hangers on) can’t push back the tidal wave. But at 25 she’s not a child, and if she hasn’t figured out how to behave decently inpublic so as not to make a spectacle of herself, when will she? There has to be a time when you realize that you’re the one in control of you actions, and act accordingly. Age hasn’t taught her that, nor has the increased responsibility of being a parent. I guess I do feel sorry for her. Sorry that she seems incapable of learning from her mistakes and taking responsiblity for herself and her actions.
StG
What about Jodie Foster?
She was a child star, much hounded by the paps, appeared on red carpets, has a child, still has a very successful career.
Any one seen her mug in the tabloids? What about her kid? No one even knows the who the father is, much less what the child looks like.
My point is, it can be done. I firmly believe she is addicted to the attention, and purposely courts the paps. All the while decrying the lack of privacy and normalcy.
Lots, of big stars live normal lives, even some who were child stars.
Still, I won’t blame her, she’ll get nothing but compassion from me. I can’t imagine anything more life and ego distorting than fame. Or fleeting for that matter.
We all like to think we could manage better but I have my doubts.
You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but…
How about Drew Barrymore?
Someone who became famous at a much earlier age than Britney Spears, and was in and out of rehab before she was even a teenager. By all accounts Drew should be dead or starring on The Surreal Life with other washed up child stars from the 70s and 80s who pissed away their careers on drugs and booze. Somehow she managed to come out of her messed up childhood with a respectable career and a decent personality intact.
Britney is an adult with two children. Stolen childhood or no, there’s no excuse for not getting her sh*t together at this point in her life.
No whoosh. Although “read” (present tense) and “read” (past tense) are spelled the same way while having different pronunciations, this is not true of the verb “lead”. The past tense of “lead” is “led”.