I'd like to add one more thing to my last posting...

What also disgusted me was the reaction of the press, going on about 'Britney's great come-back'. Okay, compared to the bald, psychopathic Britney that we saw a while ago...she seems to have come a long way. But she really didn't do anything that made this a great come-back. She didn't perform, she just showed up, looking pretty and said a few words on stage.

I just think that the press wanted to have an excuse to place her back on a pedestal, so that they can all knock her back off it again soon. There is no fun in continuing to kick someone when they are down, but now Britney is 'back up again'. So the witch hunt can start all over again soon. I can already hear the cheering crowds!

Do you think poor Britney is aware of this? Or does she honestly think that the whole world loves her again? Does she think the wolves have gone now? If her own demons haven't, the wolves will be out waiting until all her sadness, pain and confusion start to show again.

What a load of toss the MTV video Awards were...

I mean, come on...Britney winning 3 awards for 'Piece of me'? Since when was that such an amazing video or track? What's going on here? Was she only willing to come if she received x-amount of awards? Did the public honestly vote for her?

Also, what's up with her thanking God and her amazing family? And mentioning her children, who 'inspire me every day'. Come on! Your mom is obviously quite a mean lady, spilling the beans on you the way she did. You see your children, what is it, once every two weeks? So how do they inspire you 'every day'? And didn't you once wear this 'promise ring' as some kind of commitment in the eyes of God to stay a virgin until marriage? Well, according to your own mother, you lied to the world and , I guess also, to God (that's why I don't think young kids should make promises like that as they are bound to fail)

I think Britney should focus on sorting her personal life out before sorting out her career. It all just seemed so warped to me.

And why was Russell Brand forced to apologize to the Jonas Brothers after joking about the 'promise rings' that they now wear too? Please! After the news that Britney's virginity was a facade, surely we can now laugh at other young popstars who say they will stay a virgin until marriage? It's all just part of their squeaky clean image, but it's a load of crap. If they haven't lost their virginity yet, they soon will with all these groupies going after them. And then? They can't suddenly go...oh, sorry everybody...but one of us had sex last night...can we hand these rings in now?

Oh, this American hypocrisy! It's just too bloody much for me!

Lynn Spears' book: Britney drinking at 13, lost virginity at 14 & on drugs at 15

All this according to the tell-all book by mum Lynne Spears.

Lynne has made some sensational revelations in her book due to release on September 16.

In her book ‘Through the Storm’, Lynne revealed that the 26-year-old singer began drinking at the age of 13, lost her virginity at 14, and then started taking drugs at 15.

The Toxic singer allegedly had her first drink after joining Disney’s squeaky-clean Mickey Mouse Club. Lynne also claims that the 14-year-old Britney then had sex with an 18-year-old high schooler in her home town of Kentwood, Louisiana soon after she quit the TV show.

She said that she regrets handing over control of Britney’s career to managers and allowing her daughter to be promoted as a sex object in raunchy videos at such a young age.

As Britney pursued her career, Lynne let her 16-year-old daughter sleep with Justin Timberlake, despite claiming she was a virgin. “Lynne thought Britney was in love and Justin was good for her,” the Sun quoted a source, as saying.

Britney was once caught with cocaine and cannabis on a private jet, when she was 16.

Oh, and the final word on the 2008 MTV Awards...Britney will apparently be opening the ceremony, but will not perform after last year's fiasco.

Happy 50th birthday Michael Jackson!

After all the 'hooha' of Madonna turning 50 recently, it's surprisingly quiet about Michael Jackson's 50th. So, happy birthday, self-proclaimed King of Pop/Peter Pan.

I wonder, by the way, how Michael would have looked if he hadn't be restructuring his face for all these years. Would he have had wrinkles by now? It's possible that those would have made him look more human. He just looks like an alien now, doesn't he?

Anyway, apparently he will make an appearance at the 2008 MTV Music Awards in LA on the 7th of September, where he will hand out an award with his sister Janet.

Oh, and after the earlier rumours of Britney performing at the Award ceremony, the latest is that she won't. The word is that she is 'too busy recording new material' to attend the MTV Awards. Either that, or 'her people' are too worried that she flunks another MTV comeback performance.

Terrible celebrity hotel guests

From the Music-news website:

Michael Jackson named as one of the worst hotel guest ever.

Jackson was included on the list compiled by website concierge.com due to his irresponsible behaviour in dangling his nine-month-old son Prince Michael II over the balcony of a hotel in Berlin, Germany, in 2002. The website also criticises Jackson for forcing the World Music Awards to book nearly the whole of London's Hempel Hotel before his performance in 2006. He also asked staff to erect an 18ft wall on the first floor to protect his privacy. In 2007, Jackson reportedly requested bowls of Haribo gummy sweets, a large mirror, and a giant xylophone for his stay at another London hotel.

Other celebrities to be named on the list include Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Nicole Kidman and Amy Winehouse.

Britney has been shamed for reportedly trashing rooms at hotels in Los Angeles' Beverly Hills area and attracting swarms of paparazzi.

Mariah appears for her alleged diva demands such as requesting gold faucets, new toilet seats, mineral water for her bath and dogs and two DVD players showing her own music videos. She also insisted on a red a carpet greeting at London's Baglioni Hotel before she would leave her limo.

'Rehab' singer Amy is accused of wrecking rooms by leaving alcohol stains, dirty underwear, bottles and cigarette butts in her rooms, and staining bathtubs with black hair dye. Before her performance at the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards, Amy tossed a plate of pasta Bolognaise at the wall of her hotel room in Munich, Germany, before cutting up the carpet in front of bemused onlookers.



I have been part of quite a few wild celebrity 'hotel moments' myself over the years & will blog about that in the coming days....

Elton John's mansion as rehab center?

Who need Betty Ford when there is Sr. Elton John's mansion to go to? Elton has often reached out to troubled stars after having battled his own addiction demons in the past. He once tried to rescue Robbie Williams and persuaded him to go into rehab. He also invited Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse to his mansion and, most recently, Lily Allen.

Wild child Lily, with her new pink hairdo, has been flying off the rails a tat lately. The latest proof, of course, the fact that she had to be carried out of the Glamour magazine Women of the year awards earlier this week. She was incredibly drunk & can't remember much of the night, apart from collapsing and being stranded without her bag or house keys.

Now, celebrities reaching out to eachother is nothing new. Britney has been given a helping hand by Mel Gibson and his wife recently (they even went on holiday to Costa Rica together). Amy Winehouse has been hanging out at Brian Adams' Caribbean pad & rock diva Tina Turner also reached out to Amy Winehouse in the wake of her recent troubles.

I myself received lectures in the past by Boy George and Steven Tyler, back in the days when I was a bit of a wild child too, but I obviously never sunk deep enough to be invited for a retreat at a superstar's mansion ; )

So, celebrity boys and girls, if you want to go and chill at one of Sr. Elton John's mansions, make sure you go out and misbehave in public. Get trashed and recoup in style.

Oh, and I read some weird report that Steven Tyler is now in rehab himself to recoup from an operation on his foot or toe or something. He said he wanted to go somewhere where he could rest completely and not be bothered by anyone. Still....rehab for toe problems? That's just plain weird.

Given up hope on Britney

Oh, by the way...just wanted to say that since my posting on Britney a little while back, I have changed my opinion on that whole custody battle. I now realize that I don't like either Kevin or herself (guess they deserved each other after all)

Britney doesn't even seem to be trying to turn things around. I would have done anything to get my children back. As a mother I am shocked and outraged. This woman is definitely not fit to be a mother. Until she learns to love her children more than she loves herself I have no hope for her. Poor kids!

Poor Britney

Oh, I do feel for Britney Spears. She's just getting one blow after another. Yes, many of these 'blows' are of her own making, but even so, it's sad. And of course the biggest blow must have been the fact that her children were taken away from her and that Kevin Federline has been given custody.

I actually think that one of the reasons that she's been flying of the rail so much has been the crippling fear of losing her children to K-Fed. Of course, with all this erratic behaviour she has actually ended up creating that what she feared most.

For instance, why did she shave all her hair off? I still believe that the most plausible explanation for that drastic action was her fear of her hair getting tested in the custody battle. That it is possible to conclude whether or not a woman used cocaine during pregnancy by testing her hair.

If that was the reason why she shaved off her hair then we'd have to conclude that yes, she probably did use whilst pregnant. Still, I know of women who used cocaine during early pregnancy as they were unaware of being pregnant. These women all lived in fear throughout their pregnancies, petrified that they may have hurt their baby in some way. As far as I am aware these children were all fine and the women have become good mothers (I'm not condoning this, I am just trying to explain that people do make mistakes)

I do also know of a celebrity who consciously continued to use throughout her pregnancies and the image of her walking around in a nightclub with a huge belly, begging people to please sell her some cocaine is edged on my brain forever (I won't mention any names, she's been through enough already and actually has been clean for years now). I do hope that this is not what Britney was up to.

But what I am trying to say is that maybe Britney took some drugs in the early stages of her pregnancy. And in that case, it wouldn't actually say anything about her capabilities as a mother. Yet K-Fed may have used that knowledge against her and freaked her out about it to the level that she shaved all her hair off.

Anyway, the girl does have some major issues and does not seem to be able to be a steady parent right now. But since when is K-Fed such a great dad?

The consensus seems to be that Britney was initially bringing up the boys mainly by herself whilst her hubby was out partying and spending her money (And who knows? K-Fed may have even have been the person who introduced Britney to drugs in the first place?)

K-Fed left his pregnant wife to get off with Britney (a better catch) and has the air about him of being a complete and utter user. That's my feeling anyway. He gives me the creeps. Britney seems to have been the fool to fallen for his tricks. It all reminds me of Mel B's story with that user of an ex of hers, that Jimmy Culzar. He milked her for all she was worth (But didn't we all see that coming when she announced that they were not going to have a pre-nup?)

Then of course there was the story of another female superstar falling from grace: Whitney Houston. Boy did that Bobby Brown mess her up. From style and grace and success to being a total cokehead. So successful women, be aware of scroungers and drug-users! Don't let them be your downfall.

So anyway, Britney Spears is down low right now. And was K-Fed what made her fall? My guess is that he was. Still, she has no one but herself to blame for going out without any knickers on, for hanging out with Paris Hilton, for crashing into another car without even having a license, etc.

But what do I think should have happened in this custody battle? I think that the kids should either have gone to their grandparents until Britney can sort her act out, or that she should be monitored more closely, with help from a good nanny, plus her mom living with her for a while. On top of that, visits from a social worker and education on how to become a better mom. Whilst we're at it, you could even throw in some regular drug testing. But I don't believe that the boys should have gone to K-Fed.

Britney never seems to have failed in loving her boys, she just is too lost right now to truly be there for them. The girl needs help. And where is her mom in all this? She doesn't seem to be in the picture too much. I find that rather strange.

Anyway, I do hope this story will have a happy ending somehow. And I just hope that Britney doesn't end up hurting herself in her desperation.

So let's stop giving the girl a hard time and give her the benefit of the doubt. And anyway, if Michael Jackson is deemed to be a fit parent, there must be hope for poor Britney.

Good luck girl!

Celebs in rehab

Celebrity & addiction, they seem to go hand in hand, don’t they? I know that many celebs have a bad influence on each other (Think Paris & Britney, Kurt & Courtney, Kate Moss & Pete Doherty, Whitney & Bobbie, etc.) but occasionally, people in ‘the industry’ reach out to others when they think they need it.

I was a bit of a wild child too back in the MTV days & strangely enough, I got lectured to by two of the biggest addicts in music history; Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Boy George.

Steve Tyler (who’s a lovely man, by the way) once gave me a long lecture on addictions before handing me a bottle of whiskey. We were at a party somewhere in Scandinavia to celebrate MTV’s birthday (can’t remember which one) & at this party they were only serving wine, beer and soft drinks. I didn’t drink beer or wine & wanted to drink alcohol, preferably vodka. So I was ‘on a mission’ and when Steve saw that I wasn’t going to give up until I found some hard liquor, he went to look for some on the Aerosmith tour bus. He returned with a bottle of whiskey, but looked rather worried & wouldn’t hand me the bottle until I’d given him the chance to tell me about his life, his struggle with addictions, etc. Obviously, I told him he had nothing to worry about. I was not addicted to anything and was only having some fun. I have to admit though; I did drink way too much that night and got into a bit of a pickle, so Steve’s advice didn’t really do that much for me.

And years later, I was lectured again. This time it was in a hotel room where we were continuing the night’s party. Hotel rooms have always been the real ‘VIP’ rooms to get in to, not the ones at the club. Most parties only really got going once people got back to the hotels (this is why hotel managers often weren’t too keen on ‘industry people’ staying with them, they caused to many complaints by other guests)

Boy George sat me down that night, away from the others, and gave me a long lecture on the dangers of addictions. I can’t remember exactly what he said, as I was a bit trashed at the time. But I do remember thinking: ‘Cool, I’ve now been lectured by two of the worst addicts in music history. All I need now is for Keith Richards to lecture me & I’ve done the whole list’

(Boy George, by the way, is an absolute doll and is also incredibly funny. I love him. We've had many fun adventures with over the years)

In the end, it wasn’t any lectures that stopped me from doing what I was doing, it wasn’t rehab & it wasn’t nicotine patches or being ‘born again’. I simply grew up, my lifestyle changed and I decided that the hang-overs just weren’t worth it anymore. Guess I never really was addicted to anything then, but because I seemed so wild, people assumed that I was.

So does rehab really work? Often it doesn’t. Just like nicotine patches and diets often don’t do the job. I believe that you have to make some drastic lifestyle changes & change your own self-image to make the other changes last. Once your self-image has evolved, you’ll notice that certain behaviors no longer fit this new image. As long as I saw myself as a rebellious teenager, I could go out, get trashed, make a fool of myself occasionally and be grumpy whilst I nursed my hang-overs.

These days, I see myself as a responsible & loving mother and wife, and as a professional, healthy and out-going resort owner. So obviously, I live a healthy lifestyle. It’s been many, many years since I’ve been intoxicated in any shape or form & I do not miss it in the slightest.

But what I do not understand though is how women like Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Whitney Houston, Courtney Love & Kate Moss (amongst others) could see themselves as loving and responsible mothers whilst going out and getting hammered all the time. I just don’t see how that works. How on earth do they deal with their kids the next day? Or do they not see their kids until after lunchtime? And when their toddlers throw temper tantrums, do the mums simply join in? I think that’s what I would do if I had to deal with a tantrum whilst being hung-over. They are hard enough to deal with sober.

Part of the problem, I believe, is that our culture makes many women in the spotlight feel insecure about ‘just being a mum’. It’s like they somehow need to prove to the world (and themselves) that they are still young & ‘with it’. What these young mothers could do with is their own support system. They should start hanging out together and with some other ‘super star mums’ that can actually be a role model for them, those in the limelight that are not scared to be a mother and a woman.

Anyone out there who wants to start this support group for these poor mums? They can get together once a week, with their toddlers (and nannies?) in tow, share their experiences, swap Gucci bags, teach their toddlers how to pouch at the cameras, etc. (sorry, I’m making fun of the whole thing again)

No seriously, these women need help. Maybe Dr. Deepak Chopra should jump in here. He has some wise things to say about addictions and might be able to help these women change their lifestyle in more ways than one.

For the sake of their children, I wish them well & I hope that not more of these women will go the way of Anna Nicole Smith or Paula Yates. And I hope that they can start by forgiving themselves for the mess they got into. They can start anew today.

So good luck ladies! May love be with you.