Britney Spears biography

Her younger sister, actress Jamie Lynn, announced that she was pregnant at the age of 16. Jamie Lynn, who was a star on cable's kid-friendly Nickelodeon channel at the time, became a controversial symbol of teen pregnancy.

Despite these setbacks, the album Blackout reached the second slot on the Billboard charts after its November release. This comeback of sorts seemed to be short-lived,

as Spears appeared to have yet another breakdown in January 2008. She was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation when she refused to return her sons to their father after a court-appointed visit. Federline eventually received full custody of the two boys.

By month's end, Spears returned to the hospital for another evaluation. Rumors circulated that she had bipolar disorder, but that diagnosis has not been confirmed. Her mother, Lynne, later wrote in her memoir Through the Storm that she believed her daughter experienced postpartum depression.

While in the hospital, Spears became the subject of a power struggle between her parents, Jamie and Lynne, and her then-manager Sam Lufti. The couple believed that Lufti was a bad influence on their daughter and was trying to control her life. Her father went to court and obtained control over Britney's personal, professional, and medical matters.

Comeback

Only two months after her personal crisis, Spears returned to the spotlight with a well-received guest appearance on the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother. She released her next recording Circus in December, which instantly hit the top of the album charts, buoyed in part by the success of her single "Womanizer," which was released two months earlier. The song had reached the No. 1 spot, proving that Spears was still a powerful force in the world of pop music. Rolling Stone critic Caryn Ganz heralded the recording as "clubby, adventurous pop." And her fans agreed, sending the singles "Piece of Me" and "Circus" into the pop Top 20 and Top 10, respectively.

One year after her poor showing at the MTV Video Music Awards, Spears made a triumphant return, bringing home three awards for "Piece of Me." She has been touring extensively to support the album, and her ex-husband even joined her for a time with their sons so that she could spend some time with her boys.

Spears seemed to have settled down after a turbulent time, telling Glamour magazine that "I don't like going out ... I love my home and staying in bed and watching Dancing with the Stars or reading a Danielle Steel novel. I'm kind of boring."

Recent Projects

Spears proved that she can still make powerful pop music in 2011 with Femme Fatale, which featured such hits as "I Wanna Go" and "Till The World Ends." The recording climbed to the top of the charts, becoming her sixth number-one album. In addition to all of this commercial success, Spears seemed happier in her personal life. She and boyfriend Jason Trawick got engaged in December of 2011.

In 2012, Spears took on a new challenge. She has joined the judges' panel for the popular singing-competition show The X Factor in its second season and embraced the role of being a critc of the work of others. Her fellow judge Simon Cowell described her as "very unpredictable," according to People magazine. "You never know what is going to happen. She has taken this very seriously and she's surprisingly quite mean." Spears, during an interview on The Ellen Show, stated that she uses "constructive criticism" with the contestants. She explained that she prefers to be honest and candid in her critiques, saying that "I think it's the thing to do." Actress-singer Demi Lovato and music mogul L.A. Reid are the other two X Factor judges.

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