TV Addiction Guru Says Pop Star Is Following "Anna Nicole" Blueprint
Dr. Drew Pinsky speaks to Ellen DeGeneres about Britney Spears on "Ellen" Jan. 15, 2008. (KCAL) (CBS) Celebrity addiction expert Dr. Drew Pinsky is weighing in on Britney Spears' problems, saying that the pop star could die if she doesn't get the help she needs.
Although the doctor has never treated Spears personally, he told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show Tuesday, "We are watching somebody who is following the Anna Nicole Smith blueprint to the letter. She's keeping people around her that allow her to keep using and that supports her denial.
"She leaves the country, like Anna Nicole, she keeps using; she doesn't follow directions of people."
Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by paramedics Jan. 10, after police were called to her home because of a custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline over their two young sons. She checked herself out of the hospital two days later.
According to Pinsky, California law does not force drug and alcohol users to remain in treatment long enough to get the help they need.
"You can also only be held against your will for a very short period of time and if you refuse to follow up and take treatment, you're within your right to do that - even if it's killing you. This is a serious medical problem," he said. "This young lady - she is dying in front of our eyes. She needs physician care regularly for a sustained period of time."
Pinsky, who's head of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Pasadena's Las Encinas Hospital and star of the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab," says he would use a treatment plan similar to one that may be helping another troubled star.
"If I were to treat her, I'd put her in 4-6 weeks of an intensive program in a psychiatric hospital and a year of a residential program very much like what Lindsay Lohan did," he said.
Dr. Drew Pinsky speaks to Ellen DeGeneres about Britney Spears on "Ellen" Jan. 15, 2008. (Michael Rozman/Warner Bros ) On Monday, a Superior Court commissioner decided to uphold an earlier order suspending Spears' visitation rights to her two sons. Spears was at the courthouse for the hearing, but left before even entering the building. Another hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19.
Spears was "trembling," according to the head of a paparazzi agency who says he spoke with the pop star's new boyfriend.
Sheeraz Hasan, founder and CEO of Hollywood.TV, told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Tuesday that he'd spoken with Spears' new beau, photographer Adnan Ghalib, as the media crush was unfolding Monday.
Hasan says Ghalib told him Spears was "really nervous" and "really panicking" when she was being mobbed by the media at the courthouse, and opted to skip the hearing and go to church, feeling she had, at that instant, "no one to turn to, except God."
By Judy Faber
CBS Interactive Inc.
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