Lynne (left) was no amused by Lufti's embrace in front of paparazzi on Jan. 28. Photo by: Fame |
While she stays at UCLA, Spears will not get star treatment. Instead of the paparazzi following her, she will likely be monitored not just by doctors but, since UCLA is a teaching hospital, students for whom she is not a celebrity; she's homework. "The place is locked up tight," says a former UCLA student who visited a friend at the clinic in 2006. "You had to be escorted by one of the big guys with a set of keys. It was claustrophobic." And rigid. In her unit, Spears is expected to make her bed and change her linens, eat at mealtimes: breakfast around 7:30 a.m., about the time she used to come in from a night of partying, lunch at noon and dinner shortly after 5 p.m. Though she can dine in her room, she is encouraged to mingle with other patients in the dining room, which, like the private bed and bathrooms, is "very drab," says addiction specialist Marty Brenner. Adds a psychologist who practices at UCLA: "If I were looking for a hospital that was like a hotel – more luxurious – I'd go to Cedars-Sinai. But if I were really sick I'd go to UCLA. Doctors, nurses, everyone will work round the clock to help patients."
Spears' stay could even help her reconnect with her children. "Hospitalization is tragic," says Mary Lund, a Santa Monica-based clinical psychologist who has been evaluating and mediating custody cases for 19 years. "But many people who are hospitalized are able to get help and function better – including in their parenting." And while nearly everything in Britney's life is up in the air – from her custody case to her father's power over her estate (another hearing is set for Feb. 14) to the length of her stay at UCLA – her own goal in life remains unchanged. Even in the fogged mental state her mother described when she was at home shortly before being taken to the hospital, Spears voiced the same sentiment over and over: "When do I get to see my babies"?
By Karen S. Schneider and Jill Smolowe. Howard Breuer, Alexis Chiu, Alicia Dennis, Maureen Harrington, Ken Lee, Mary Margaret, Frank Swertlow in L.A., Hitha Prabhakar, Tiffany McGee, Ellen Shapiro in New York and Ruth Laney in Kentwood
