On Nov. 5, the closing night of his residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood showroom, grizzled rocker Meat Loaf made a derisive sneer and snarled, “The next resident is Britney Spears. Let’s make enough noise so that it will echo back at her when she performs and she will wonder who we are.”
The crowd of middle-aged Boomers played along, but it’s unlikely the pop star will hear even a ghostly whimper. After all, Britney lives in a bubble that is more insulating than the normal cushion of wealth and fame. She is protected from the outside world by a conservatorship that has put her father, Jamie Spears; a group of attorneys; and, at one point, her (now ex-) fiancé in control of her personal and professional affairs and finances. Her Internet and phone use have even been restricted. This arrangement has been in place, and extended repeatedly, since 2008.
The series of incidents leading up to the court order are enshrined as pop-culture curios. The first sign of outlandish behavior surfaced nearly 10 years ago with a 2004 quickie Vegas wedding (soon annulled) to a childhood friend. This was followed by the 2005 reality show with then-hubby Kevin Federline, “Britney & Kevin: Chaotic,” which inspired Entertainment Weekly to question whether the singer was a “halfwit.”
Then came photos of Britney driving with then-infant son Sean Preston on her lap and later almost dropping him. In 2007, the circus came to a climax with a less-than-24-hour stint in drug rehab, the infamous head-shave and paparazzi umbrella attack, a loss of custody of her sons, more time in treatment, an embarrassing VMA performance and a
romance with a paparazzo. In 2008, the coup de grâce saw Britney lock herself in one of her mansion’s bathrooms with her son Jayden James, resulting in a police standoff and an involuntary psychiatric hold.
Five years have passed, but Planet Hollywood isn’t taking any chances. According to RadarOnline, the casino has made the continuation of the conservatorship a condition of the contract. When looking at gambles, trust the house to always win.
For a once-troubled pop princess, the stability of a Vegas gig may be the best opportunity. The hotel has remodeled its PH Live theater for “Britney: Piece of Me,” the two-year residency that kicks off Dec. 27 and is netting the singer $30 million. The venue seats 4,600 fans — more than the 4,298 capacity of Caesars Palace Colosseum, which hosts Celine Dion. PH Live boasts the world’s largest indoor projection theater, and Britney’s show will attempt to cash in on the mega-popularity of Vegas nightclubs by offering a blended concert-club experience, complete with VIP bottle service and a dance floor.
But will it work?
There have been conflicting reports about the ticket sales, with casino representatives saying they are going well. Britney’s manager Larry Rudolph told E! News that it’s “the best-selling show in the history of Vegas.” But at the time of publication, none of the 16 available shows had sold out. Just five were labeled “not many left.”
Tickets aren’t the only variable for the pop star, who turns 32 on Monday and releases her eighth studio album, “Britney Jean,” the next day with a parade on the Strip. Las Vegas Sun columnist Robin Leach (formerly of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”) reports will include “contortionists, pole dancers and other burlesque beauties.” Many wonder if the performer, who has reportedly been diagnosed as bipolar, can handle the stress of a two-year commitment.
“This kind of situation is potentially very dangerous,” says Manhattan-based psychologist Dr. Diana Kirschner, who has not treated Britney. “Any time there’s the stress of carrying an enormous project that’s worth millions of dollars and involves probably hundreds of people who have jobs on the line, there is this absolute and complete kind of pressure that you have to deal with. If you don’t deal with that stress, quite often it can be extremely destructive.”
Unfortunately, one former employee of Britney tells The Post, the singer is not the best at dealing with stress. “Little things that shouldn’t bother normal people threw her over the edge, and she would start crying uncontrollably.” Describing a long day of working with Spears on a music video, the source felt bad for the pop star: “She cried a few times, and [her handlers] would console her and baby her and put her back [on set]. Then she finally broke down by the end of the day. She was so much like a sad kid who had to do something they didn’t want to do. It was sad.”
So how much power does Britney have over her own life? “I don’t think she has any control of her career or the direction it takes,” says the former employee. “She’s a product, and everyone else around her manages the product. She’s told what to do, when to do it. Everyone’s in a cohesive understanding — from people at the label to people they hire to do her hair and makeup. They know how to talk to her, know how to baby her and to make sure that she’s happy so that she will . People from the label and management are literally always right there. There’s always someone within 5 feet of her.”
While that may seem intense, it’s also in Britney’s best interest. Kirschner explains that when dealing with stress, it’s helpful to minimize change. And a conservatorship can be very grounding.
This is likely especially true now that her ex-fiancé and former talent agent, Jason Trawick, has resigned from being co-conservator, removing the complication of relationship issues. It’s said that Britney and her dad, Jamie — who earns $16,000 a month as her lead conservator — have a good relationship, and he’s often seen at her sons’ soccer games (which also rank as the few times Britney, who is worth a reported $220 million, is seen out in public these days).
And Britney seems to have found a new way to ground herself: boyfriend David Lucado, a fellow Southerner and an associate at a Los Angeles law firm. (The singer admitted to “Entertainment Tonight” that her father conducted a background check on Lucado. “My dad’s a little crazy like that,” she said.)
Despite the monumental scope of the residency, the actual workload is relatively light. Britney will be performing 50 shows a year, which is 20 fewer annual performances than Caesars Palace headliner Celine
Dion and nearly half as many performances as Britney’s career high of 97 on 2009’s Circus world tour. Instead of sleeping on a tour bus, she can commute to Los Angeles — it’s only a one-hour flight — in order to spend time with her sons, Sean Preston, 8, and Jayden James, 7. “When you tour, it’s so hard on the body,” Britney told Vegas Player magazine. “Being in one place is cool. It’s a more stable environment.”
And, it should be pointed out, Vegas isn’t the desperate move of some fading star. Leach tells The Post that “Brit joins a league of [musicians] who have given truck, as we say in England, to the mistaken belief that Vegas is the last stop. Celine [Dion] came here in 2003, and she’s renewed through 2019. You’ve got the longevity of Shania Twain, Elton John, Rod Stewart. You can’t say that Vegas is the last stop, Vegas has become the pinnacle.”
Britney’s camp seems very aware of what’s at stake. Camp Britney is on lockdown. “She’s so much more private now than she was years ago,” says Jordan Miller, who runs a leading Britney Spears Web site, BreatheHeavy.com. “At this stage in the game, she’s not going to be answering questions about her personal life. She’s saying the same things in interview after interview.” (The singer’s p.r. firm declined interview requests for this article.)
This conflict between sharing and secrecy is further complicated by her claims that “Britney Jean” is her most personal album yet. Spears has said in interviews that the song “Perfume” is about her ex-fiancé, while “Alien” is about feeling alienated. Yet even those likely pre-approved quotes ring hollow.
In fact, it’s reminiscent of her time as a 2012 judge on “The X Factor.” Fans were excited to see the “real” Britney as she interacted with colleagues and aspiring stars. Instead they got a pop figure who seemed canned and lifeless. Ratings disappointed. She left after one season to focus on her music, but rumors indicate she would have been fired. Series creator Simon Cowell described her on “Ellen” as “uncomfortable” and “someone who couldn’t talk.” Additionally, “The X Factor” pre-show host Adrienne Bailon said on “The Real,” “[Britney] can’t hold a conversation! Like, they have someone that feeds her what she’s supposed to say.”
Britney’s emotions aren’t the only thing that might be slightly artificial.
“There’s a chance that she’s going to lip-sync,” Britney impersonator Derrick Barry tells The Post. “[She’s probably] singing with a backing track. She’s dancing nonstop — dance full out or sing full out, it’s not really possible [to do both].”
Britney’s former employee explains that past shows have included a backing track recorded “live” beforehand, so that sound is not as perfect as on a studio album.
Chalk it up as yet another safety net in her incredibly protected life. And given her behavior over the past couple of years — from her robotic turn on “The X Factor” to her behind-the-scenes sadness — it’s hard to imagine she’ll be out from under her dad’s thumb anytime soon.