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Britney's Road In & Out of Rehab

Originally posted Thursday February 22, 2007 12:00 PM EST

Spears checked into Promises treatment center in Malibu Feb. 20. "Her family was with her [in L.A.], trying to help her," says a friend. Photo by: Splash News

Indeed, it was only hours after landing that Spears showed up at Esther's Haircutting Studio, not even having bothered to change out of the clothes she wore on the airplane. But shaving her head was only the beginning of the night's drama. At 8:30 p.m., with a sweatshirt covering her newly shorn head and a crowd of about 150 people – both paparazzi and locals trying to see the action – closing in on her, Spears ducked into Body & Soul Tattoo Shop. "It was brutal," says Emily Wynn Hughes, a former employee who was in the store at the time. "Her face looked tired and she seemed nervous and on edge. She seemed distraught."

While browsing around the shop, Spears, who has at least five tattoos, happened upon a portfolio of the tattoo artist's work, and decided to add to her collection: a hot pink kiss on her wrist and a cross on her hip – only to remember how much it hurts. Says Hughes: "She wasn't shy to say, 'Oh my God! This is so painful! Stop, stop, stop!'" But instead of quitting, Spears asked her bodyguard to get the Janis Joplin CD Pearl from her purse. "It seemed to settle her," says Hughes. "She went from being excited to being in pain to [being] calm. The music is very real and raw and maybe that says something about what's she going through right now – cut down to the core like Joplin did. Once she got the tattoos done, she was in a better place."

Two days later, she seemed truly in a better place – sitting in a blonde wig with her father, Jamie, 54, at Stevie's Creole Bar & Cafe in Encino, enjoying an early Sunday supper of fried chicken, gumbo and collard greens. "Britney and her dad seemed to be having a heavy discussion," says co-owner Leslie Perry, "but otherwise they seemed in good spirits." Two days after that, Spears was in rehab, and then, after another day, out again. As for the next step, "Britney has a terrific support system and a lot of people who love her," says friend Connie Brabham. "We're all hoping this will work out for everyone."

• By Karen S. Schneider. Bryan Alexander, Michael Fleeman, Lisa Ingrassia, Amy Elisa Keith, Marisa Laudadio, Ken Lee, Mary Margaret and Lycia Naff in Los Angeles, Alicia Dennis, Mark Lambert and Ruth H. Laney in Kentwood, K.C. Baker, Liza Hamm and Kara Warner in New York City, Steve Helling, Lesley Messer and Debi Stringer in Miami and Tiffany McGee in Antigua