In an effort to keep Britney Spears away from bad influences and focused on her comeback tour in support of her new CD “Circus,” her backup dancers will be required to submit to drug testing. We all know that Brit has a weakness for two things: backup dancers and drugs. I’m guessing that her dad, Jamie, is behind this rule – since he’s pretty much behind anything that keeps Britney in check.
Who knew that the first thing you would hear after being hired to dance for Britney Spears would be, “Fill this, please.”
A source tells E! News that, in an effort to keep the on-track pop star free from negative influences, her camp is requiring that all of her backup dancers submit to drug tests.
“They all had to be drug tested and, if they didn’t pass, they were fired,” the insider says.
“I think they only do it for her because she is under strict watch. I think they just want good influences around her,” the source adds, noting that drug testing is not common practice.
Considering Britney spends a hefty chunk of time with her fellow performers—and is going to be heading out on tour next year with a number of them—it’s understandable that those who look after the Circus star want to screen her stagemates ahead of time.
“It’s going to be a pretty big tour,” says Robert Baker, the studio director at Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood, where Spears frequently rehearses. “They’re going to have a three-ring circus with live animals, so it’s probably stricter liability.”
“I don’t think it’s a common practice, but each artist is different,” Baker tells E! News, referring to the drug-testing issue. “Everyone is just trying to safeguard against any foreseeable problems.”
A rep for Spears didn’t respond to requests for comment.
You know, it’s not a bad idea, but something tells me that if Brit wants drugs bad enough, she can find them someplace other than her backup dancers. I wonder if Jamie Spears will be accompanying his daughter on this tour? I can’t think of anything I’d rather not do than spend night after night watching my daughter half-naked, lip syncing to crappy music. But the only way this tour will be a success is if Brit has constant supervision. If you remember, her last tour, the Onyx Hotel, was when everything started to go wrong for Brit- she had a certain backup dancer delivered to her in Europe after meeting him in a club, and the rest…well, you know.
Britney is shown in the header above at the Nokia Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Below are stills from her appearance on Britain’s hit show, “The X Factor.” Photo credits: Bauergriffin.
Maybe her dad isn’t so bad…mental illness and drugs go hand in hand, y’all! I thought he was being opportunistic at first.
i think if they are to be tested, i hope the brit is too…..
it’s only fair to make everyone pee into little cups, not just the backup REAL performers.
According to whom, alison?
Sometimes yes, but definetly not everytime, do mental illness and drugs go hand-in-hand.
Poor Britters. She really is imprisoned in someone elses idea of a proper life – it must be horrible.
She has gone out of the frying pan and into the fire —-if she wants to go to hell in a handbasket it’s her body her career and her money.
She has NO rights over even her own body – she has to ask permission to do anything…..it’s wrong
Sometimes yes, but definetly not everytime, do mental illness and drugs go hand-in-hand.
I do agree with this, but I also think that since BSpears has the money and the opportunity to get them, it’s more likely to be a possibility in her particular situation.
Anyway, I first read the title of this article as saying the backup dancers demanded BSpears to take a drug test before agreeing to tour with her! Oops. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Daddy Velveeta-and-Grits decided that testing BSpears regularly was a good idea.
I never said drugs and mental illness were exclusive, California Angel. They do help one another along, according to my psychiatrist. 🙂
And you have definitely spelled definetly incorrectly.
And it is according to whomever has any knowledge of mental illness and/or drug abuse, no? This is a common problem, drugs, alcohol, mental health issues. We have free healthcare in Canada, the doctors tell us these types of things for our health and well-being.
She is a celebrity. If she wants drugs, she can get drugs. Of course there is nothing wrong with drug testing them, but come on…be realistic. How easy would it be to make a phone call to have the ‘stuff’ dropped off in a restroom at some upscale clothing store? Okay, a gas station bathroom. Gotta keep it real, ya’ll.
“She has NO rights over even her own body – she has to ask permission to do anything…..it’s wrong”
She went completely psycho. Not just drug induced, I have a slight feeling there is more to her insanity than we know about, and that is probably why the judge gave her father the rights to her. (basically) She isn’t all there me thinks, there is something definitely wrong with her, and it ain’t just substance abuse.
“Maybe her dad isn’t so bad…mental illness and drugs go hand in hand, y’all! I thought he was being opportunistic at first.”
With all due respect Alison, Daddy Spears seems more opportunistic than ever to me. Have you seen her perform?! It’s for the love of money – no parent in their right mind would force their baby to shake her giblets on stage for a little extra press.
I doubt Brit is as “sick” as the tabloids make her out to be, but the reality is she did have a breakdown recently, and thrusting her back into the spotlight will not help her psyche. She needs to be at home, working on herself – not loaded out of her mind on superfluous pills, dancing like a puppet on stage.
If Daddy really cares about Britney, he’d do what’s best for her – not what’s best for his wallet.
“if she wants to go to hell in a handbasket it’s her body her career and her money.”
well… no. it’s her call UNTIL she’s proven a danger to herself or others. which she has. there is – and should be – a limit to the choices a mind diseased is permitted to make, or it endangers everyone related to her in any way.
given that she had all the money and the schmancy lawyers, and still ended up under conservatorship earlier this year, that tells you that something is so very wrong that even they couldn’t spin it. i agree that the conservatorship is a bit harsh. and she really really really should not be touring yet. but she’s a danger to herself when left to her own devices. it’s a tough balance.
….so, because she is “psycho” her keeper (in effect that is what he is) has the right to turn her into a performing monkey, regardless of the fact that she feels as if it’s soul destroying and “groundhog day” every day. She is on the record as saying she feels pushed and forced to perform, but that’s OK because at one time, before the meds and psychiatry, she was a danger to herself. She says she feels she is being punished for being mentally ill AND SHE IS!!!….it is wrong
@RCDC: I’d say that “a mind diseased” is a little harsh given the stigma that’s out there surrounding issues of mental health and how those afflicted are perceived, and treated, by others. In the clinical sense you’re accurate but for a lot of people the word implies ‘contagion’ (*Unclean! Unclean!* LOL)which is most definitely not the case. The connotation is just so hugely negative: to me (and I’m sure a few other people too) a diseased mind is Ted Bundy, not Britney Spears. My perception is not accurate in the rational, literal sense but rather a visceral interpretation the word if you follow my meaning.
I honestly cannot understand this “Britney’s a prisoner” concept. Is someone threatening her with bodily harm if she doesn’t perform? If she really wanted to stay out of the spotlight and lay low with her kids for a while, she could do it. But it’s clear (to me at least) that she craves attention, and probably doesn’t know how to function without people taking her picture and telling her she’s beautiful, fabulous, etc. She’s not helpless for God’s sake, and whatever privileges she’s lost have been a direct result of her own stupid behavior. Flashing her crotch (repeatedly), stumbling loaded out of clubs, ignoring her kids. It’s pathetic.
bang on codezilla…
that’s just it Codzilla, she can’t make her own choices; she cannot even choose her own meals and she has just had a world tour arranged around her by “britney spears inc”.
rudolph is just as controlling as all the other blokes that use her for their own ends. After a severe psychological meltdown you don’t trust your own mind but as you recover, like any healthy person, you want your independence back. It is a mechanism for re- building self esteem. Britney is not trusted to make wise decisions and so, kept on a short leash – she cannot decide to ‘lie low’ in the country with the boys – she needs permission – or the police will bring her back forcibly – she only has ‘permission’ to perform, hence the world tour.
Imprisonment can take many forms including forced labour
I just feel so strongly about this
xiao: I definitely see your point, but I don’t understand WHY Britney can’t choose to lay low for a while. Maybe not in the country, but how about in her LA home? Is the judge going to punish her for not going on tour? Of course not. The girl has a choice and she’s opting to reinstate her stardom rather than work on rebuilding her personal life. As I said many times before, unless she has a gun to her head, Britney can say no to the whole comeback debacle. But I honestly believe she wants the popstar glory as much as anyone.
It seems clear to me that Britney feels powerless Codzilla. Think of it this way – a whole infrastructure has been set up around her ostensibly for her own good – she has been completely infantalised, sleeping and waking when she’s told, eating what she’s told.Wearing and rehearsing when and what others have decided is good for her. She has been completely re-socialised into ‘Good Britney’ The army re-socialises people in exactly the same way. A mentally strong person would have a job finding the resources to rebel.If she says NO!, contracts are broken, fans disapointed,jobs and money are lost and the fallout goes on and on. Britney is in a psychologically weakened state and to make the psychological pressure not to rock the boat worse, it’s all for her own good.
phew!!
poor Brit
But you’re right – she loves the applause – did she EVER have a choice, considering it’s all she knows
The kid has been performing for most of her life. I think what some people have a hard time understanding is that she was not raised like you and me, in a mostly normal home. She was turned into a performing monkey (thanks whoever said that earlier, its so apt!) at an early age so this is what she knows.
Look at how weird Michael Jackson got after a childhood of performing. Look at all those other child stars who have imploded, with drugs or whatever. Children growing up in the public eye who survive it unscathed are very few and far between. They were never taught how to be normal people, they were taught how to be celebrities. They don’t grow up around people who don’t want to use them. I dare say most of them have screwed up senses of self that revolve around how strangers view them.
Btw, mental illness and drugs do go hand in hand. Not every time does someone mentally ill choose to self medicate but it happens alot. Alcohol is as much a drug as meth yanno.
One question: why the hell is the assumption that Jamie Spears is FORCING Britney into doing anything?
I watched the MTV documentary, and it seemed like the performing was exactly what she wanted.
@xiaoecho: Well said on all points.
I presume this drug-testing policy also applies to Britney and her family and everyone that is traveling around with them?
I think that her father keeping an eye on her is the best thing to happen to Ms Spears.
On these pics she looks clean and pure for a change and not as trashy as she did a couple of months ago. There were pics of her at Clubs and she has these torn fishnet stockings and dresses so low cut they might as well not be there *ugh* much better now though 🙂
I don’t blame daddy for the drug testing either. He got Stubborn Spears this far, i’m sure he’d be pissed if he had to start back at square one with her.
Don’t get me wrong. I love this girl, i am one of her biggest fans, but she has proven that she is incapable of making adult decisions by herself and daddy is getting her back to where she was 10 years ago when she was HOT
xiao: You make a lot of really good points. But I still believe that she’s driven, at least in part, by her own self-importance. I think it’s her atrocious behavior as a mother that makes it hard for me to accept that she’s a decent person underneath all the madness. Rather than comfort her own child when he’s in distress, she passes him to the nanny and then waves them both off. Maybe because I have two sons almost the same age as her boys, I’m being overly sensitive. Who knows.
Oh well, I won’t go on and on. I suppose we can just agree to disagree on this one. 😀