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LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Troubled pop star Britney Spears finally arrived at a Los Angeles court on Monday for a crucial hearing in her bitter custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Spears had been expected to attend from the start of a 9:30 am (1730 GMT) closed hearing where her lawyers were expected to argue for the restoration of the singer's visitation rights concerning her two baby sons.
However, the 26-year-old failed to show as the hearing got underway and only arrived several hours later at around 1:00 pm (2100 GMT), followed by a convoy of paparazzi vehicles, television pictures showed.
A crowd of more than 50 photographers and a dozen television news crews were huddled outside the court on Monday waiting for Spears' arrival.
Spears was at the center of a hospital drama on January 3 when she was wheeled out of her Beverly Hills mansion by paramedics after refusing to hand over her sons to Federline's bodyguard under a visitation agreement.
Video footage of the incident showed Spears alternately smiling and looking distraught as she was lifted into an ambulance.
Spears was taken to the Cedars Sinai Medical Center for mental evaluation before she discharged herself two days later.
The exact reasons for Spears being taken to hospital have not been revealed although speculation has raged that the fallen pop princess is suffering from a long-standing psychological illness.
Multiple sources have told People magazine that Spears has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Psychologist Mark Goulston told the magazine Spears was showing "classic bipolar behavior" including "poor judgment and impulsivity."
While in hospital, the judge in Spears's custody case ordered her children to be placed in the sole care of Federline, suspending the singer's visitation rights until "further order of the court."
Spears, one of the most successful pop stars of her generation, has been locked in the custody feud with Federline since the couple separated in 2006.
A judge limited the pop star's access to her children in October after she failed to submit to random drug testing as demanded at an earlier hearing where the court ruled Spears was a "habitual and continuous drug user."
The court-room drama rumbled throughout a difficult year for Spears that saw her in the news for all the wrong reasons.
She was repeatedly photographed in nightspots wearing no underwear and was also captured bizarrely shaving her head in a hair salon and attacking a photographer's car with an umbrella.
Spears's family was back in the headlines again last month when it emerged that the singer's 16-year-old sister, the star of a popular US television children's show, was pregnant.
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Spears had been expected to attend from the start of a 9:30 am (1730 GMT) closed hearing where her lawyers were expected to argue for the restoration of the singer's visitation rights concerning her two baby sons.
However, the 26-year-old failed to show as the hearing got underway and only arrived several hours later at around 1:00 pm (2100 GMT), followed by a convoy of paparazzi vehicles, television pictures showed.
A crowd of more than 50 photographers and a dozen television news crews were huddled outside the court on Monday waiting for Spears' arrival.
Spears was at the center of a hospital drama on January 3 when she was wheeled out of her Beverly Hills mansion by paramedics after refusing to hand over her sons to Federline's bodyguard under a visitation agreement.
Video footage of the incident showed Spears alternately smiling and looking distraught as she was lifted into an ambulance.
Spears was taken to the Cedars Sinai Medical Center for mental evaluation before she discharged herself two days later.
The exact reasons for Spears being taken to hospital have not been revealed although speculation has raged that the fallen pop princess is suffering from a long-standing psychological illness.
Multiple sources have told People magazine that Spears has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Psychologist Mark Goulston told the magazine Spears was showing "classic bipolar behavior" including "poor judgment and impulsivity."
While in hospital, the judge in Spears's custody case ordered her children to be placed in the sole care of Federline, suspending the singer's visitation rights until "further order of the court."
Spears, one of the most successful pop stars of her generation, has been locked in the custody feud with Federline since the couple separated in 2006.
A judge limited the pop star's access to her children in October after she failed to submit to random drug testing as demanded at an earlier hearing where the court ruled Spears was a "habitual and continuous drug user."
The court-room drama rumbled throughout a difficult year for Spears that saw her in the news for all the wrong reasons.
She was repeatedly photographed in nightspots wearing no underwear and was also captured bizarrely shaving her head in a hair salon and attacking a photographer's car with an umbrella.
Spears's family was back in the headlines again last month when it emerged that the singer's 16-year-old sister, the star of a popular US television children's show, was pregnant.
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved. More »