Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Britney Spears Scares Local Kids

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.

Imagine you're a little kid minding your own business (wait, what kid minds their own business?) and playing on the school yard when a rambling, confused, and chain-smoking woman shows up in a skimpy outfit looking for her kids. No, scratch that--looking for her lawyer's kids.

Oh, and that woman just happens to be Britney Spears.

That was the scene earlier this month at an elementary school in Beverly Hills, as described this week by Us Magazine. The troubled pop-diva now most famous for bizarre behavior and dashing in and out of local courtrooms had lost custody of her two sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, just days before the incident. Us Mag explains the somewhat unexplainable:

Sponsored message
The singer parked her car outside the school just before 3 p.m. and spent 10 minutes smoking cigarettes and talking to herself while she waited for classes to let out. “She was just rambling and confused,” says the witness, who approached Spears to ask if she was OK. “She said, ‘I’m here to pick up my kids.’ But then she changed her story and said, ‘They aren’t my kids; I have a new attorney, and I came to pick them up for her.’”

Adds the witness, “All I could think was, Who in their right mind would let her pick up their kids?” [...] But before getting into her car and driving off (without any children), she chatted up the female witness: “She said, ‘You’re so nice. You should give me your number. I don’t have very many friends.’"

Spears definitely didn't make any new friends on the playground that day, since most of the kids reportedly were pretty freaked out, and she had to be escorted out the school's back door.What seems to be the most unusual factor is why Spears' kids might be found at an elementary school in Beverly Hills in the first place. Spears' residence is in Studio City, and if the school she went to on the day in question was public, theoretically she'd be out of her district. Not to mention the fact that kids aged one and two don't typically attend elementary school--not even the likely gifted progeny of a local celeb.

Chalk up another one to just plain crazy, then. Brit, maybe if you took that Tinky-Winky doll with you next time... Nah, nevermind. That's even scarier.

At LAist, we focus on what matters to our community: clear, fair, and transparent reporting that helps you make decisions with confidence and keeps powerful institutions accountable.

Your support for independent local news is critical. With federal funding for public media gone, LAist faces a $1.7 million yearly shortfall. Speaking frankly, how much reader support we receive now will determine the strength of this reliable source of local information now and for years to come.

This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.

That’s why we’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Thank you for understanding how essential it is to have an informed community and standing up for free press.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Chip in now to fund your local journalism

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right