Britney in Blender: Worth a Read

The March issue of Blender magazine will be featuring Britney on the cover and although I have no idea when the photo was taken, she looks a hell of a lot better than she has in quite some time. I suspect we have Photoshop to thank for that as well as the digital addition of a symbolic and rather unsavory Mickey Mouse hat filled with cigarette butts and a crushed can of Red Bull to the side.

I wonder if she was aware of this cover before it went to press. I tend to think not since Blender noted that Britney didn't respond to their requests for an interview.

In any case, I read it and frankly, it's the first thing I've read about Britney in a long while that was, title notwithstanding, actual journalism as opposed to the standard sensationalistic, newsflashy fare that is usually served up in Brit's name.

It is essentially a three page article that covers her rise to stardom and her more recent four year freefall from beloved pop icon status to well...what she is today.

People that you never hear about in more tabloid-ish rags are interviewed or quoted and it paints a picture of a very troubled young woman who has always been surrounded by people who have not necessarily had her best interests at heart.

The mysterious Sam Lutfi, her supposed manager and frequent companion, is also discussed in detail and the picture painted of him is far from flattering. It reminds me entirely too much of Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern.

Some quotes from the piece, entitled Britney Spears: The Road to Ruin

She passes many days on what Ben Evansted, the paparazzo who took the most famous images of her genitals, calls “long drives to nowhere,” punctuated by stops at gas stations, tanning salons, drug stores, pet stores and fast-food restaurants.

...in scores of interviews with her former friends and associates, a more complex account of her agonies takes shape.

The breakup [with Justin], according to those closest to Spears, began her personal collapse. “Ever since then,” says one friend, “she’s been mad at the world.”

Steve Lunt, the A&R executive who steered her for most of her career, is baffled by the implosion... “She was always driven and focused. The most quietly, deceptively ambitious person you could meet."

Kevin told friends of wild mood swings and fights, calling her “bi-polar”—eruptions sometimes triggered by the hours she spent jealously scouring the list of female “friends” on his MySpace page.

If you've ever had any interest in Britney or the unexpected turn her life and career have taken in the past few years, read the Blender article.

And if you have another spare ten minutes, read this interview from four years ago, post-Justin and pre-Kevin. If you pay close attention, you can kind of see the beginning of some cracks in her facade. You can almost feel that she's teetering a bit.

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In other Britney news, according to Barbara Walters, Sam Lutfi contacted her and told her Brit is now receiving treatment for a mental disorder, having visited a Santa Monica psychiatrist on Friday, and is accepting support from her estranged mother. Let's hope it's true.

And I guess what could be considered a bright spot... Britney's album "Blackout" was deemed the International Album of the Year at the French NRJ Music Awards, beating out Rihanna, Mika, James Blunt and Amy Winehouse. Hmmph.

Comments

[Maria]

Very, very sad.

[The Muse]

Actually, if you look at larger versions of the cover, you'll see their disclaimer which says basically this photo is a composite of other images - I heard one source that they had done a casting call to take a photo of this body and then photoshopped Brit's head on it.

(The disclaimer is the little blurb just to the left of her thigh.)

[Pocklock]

I wouldn't have known that was her on the cover if you hadn't told me. It totally doesn't look like her.

I'm with Maria. So sad.

[DianaCLT]

Muse - you beat me to it. Access Hollywood or Extra (can't keep them all straight) said last night that it's not her body. And her head? Yeah...many years ago....(my comment, not Access/Extra;)).

[Sils]

I'm just kind of curious -- what does it say about Blender that they had to frankenstein a bunch of pictures together for a cover model? Were they that desperate to have Britney on their cover? It seems so... blantently sad to me.

Also, could they have possibly picked a picture of her (her head anyway) where she looked a little more crazy in the eyes? I think not.

[Izzy]

I think it says that not unlike her "Lolita on phone" Rolling Stone cover from days of yore, sex sells and a sexy cover, digitally altered or otherwise gets eyeballs. Sex + trainwreck? Sells REALLY well.

I said the article was good, relatively speaking, of course, but I most definitely wouldn't classify Blender as beyond reproach when it comes to sleazy covers and attention-grabbing headlines.

[Trish]

Yikes - I thought that was Jessica Simspon.

[Michael]

I don't understand why people keep hating. What makes you think that isn't Britney on the cover??? To me it looks like her. Y'all think that you can't play the part of something. We are seeing her look like crap when she's everyday with the paps taking pictures of her. Now she's in a professional photoshoot and everyone assumes that's not her on this cover. That is a blank faced Britney from 2007 not from long ago you can tell that her face is aged.