Britney Spears Released From Hospital
Britney Spears has been released from the hospital this week. She came in with a police escort but was reported leaving without any help or anyone bothering her. Police and annoying paparazzis that seemed to have been following her since her first meltdown were no where to be found as she exited the UCLA Medical Center.
However, it apparently didn’t take long for the cameras to find her. By late afternoon, a live television feed from a helicopter showed what looked like Spears and at least one other person in a black, late-model Mercedes-Benz coupe as they drove around Los Angeles, trying to evade the paparazzi giving chase. The troubled singer was hospitalized Jan. 31 and held for a 72-hour evaluation that was originally set to expire Sunday. Her stay was then extended for two weeks, a person close to the pop star told The Associated Press, which may explain why she was able to avoid attention on her way out.
Until Feb. 14, Spears remains under the conservatorship of her father, an arrangement created after a judge determines a person can no longer care for themselves or their personal affairs. James Spears was named her conservator Monday, and he and attorney Andrew Wallet were made co-conservators of the estate. As her conservator, Spears’ father has been granted access to all of her medical records and authority to determine where Spears lives and who she sees.
On Tuesday, a court issued a restraining order against Sam Lutfi, who’s been at Spears’ side in recent months after the singer’s mother declared that he held her daughter hostage in her own home, drugged her, took over her finances and controlled the paparazzi. Lutfi was ordered to stay away from Spears, her homes and her parents’ and siblings’ homes.
The singer has been in a spiral of increasingly bizarre behavior since November 2006, when she filed for divorce from Federline.