Return to Transcripts main page

Nancy Grace

Legal Battle That`s Costing Britney Spears Custody of Her Two Little Boys

Aired December 31, 2007 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAT LALAMA, CNN HN HOST: Tonight, she was on top of the music world with number one selling albums, sold out concerts around the world, her own fragrance and millions of adoring fans, then it all came crashing down for music superstar Britney A year of memorable and very public and wild behavior, including stints in and out of rehab, late-night parties and driving while under the influence and most notably losing primary custody of her two young boys in a nasty legal battle with her ex.
A Los Angeles judge ruling Spears has a history of drug and alcohol use and failed to comply with court ordered drug testing and parents classes. Now allegations of child abuse and neglect with a full probe by Los Angeles child welfare investigators plus reports Spears ducked out of a recent deposition hearing because of a mystery illness.

In the middle of all this legal showdown, two little boys.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last year`s most controversial celebrity, Britney Spears spent all of this year doing everything possible to defend her title.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She shaved her head, she does a hit and run, she`s in and out of court battling for custody of the kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when Kevin Federline took her to court, her disturbing antics became public record.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drug use, erratic behavior and just ridiculous parenting skills. At the end of the day it`s all about her fitness as a parent in this ongoing custody battle. So to me it speaks volumes about her level of commitment to her two young sons and it also speaks volumes about her level of defiance. She still feels like she`s a celebrity that doesn`t have to play by the rules and she`s in for a nasty shock.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LALAMA: Good evening, I`m Pat Lalama in for Nancy Grace tonight. Tonight the legal battle that`s costing Britney Spears custody of her two little boys. For the very latest, let`s go out to senior editor of "In Touch Weekly" Tom O`Neil.

Tom, it may seem cruel, it is the holidays but she is the gift that keeps on giving. OK, smack me for that.

TOM O`NEIL, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": That`s brilliant.

LALAMA: I know. It`s so cliche. Give us the latest. We know that the most recent thing was not showing up for the deposition. She just - And you know what, they wrangled about when that date was going to be as I understand it and then after they get all the wrangling done and set the date, she doesn`t show. What was the latest excuse on that one?

O`NEIL: The official excuse was that she was sick and that she was anxious because there are all those paparazzi out there. As if she`s ever had to deal with that issue before. But what makes this latest news so hilarious is that hours later she was seen at 2:30 in the morning, driving her car. First she stopped at one gas station and filled up the tank and she had her assistant with her and she accidentally left her assistant at the gas station. She missed out again.

LALAMA: Oh my gosh.

O`NEIL: Clearly, this is what`s going on, Pat.

LALAMA: Well, let`s go to Kelly Zink who is the host of celebtv.com, a wonderful, wonderful, Web site. Let me ask you, Kelly, do you feel that in a way she invites the trouble, that she knows when she`s doing it she`s creating all this attention and maybe she feels attention is slipping away so she`s got to be nutty?

KELLI ZINK, CELEBTV.COM: I do, Pat. And as you heard, her pal and manager Sam Lufty (ph) sent text to almost all the media that said Britney is not only suffering physically but also mentally from this anxiety. So she is scared to leave the house.

And yet, how do her people know the paparazzi? How do they know how to get in touch with them? There are reports that Britney is paying and shares profit with the paparazzi when they see her. So yeah, she does beg the attention.

LALAMA: Richard Herman, defense attorney, the courts seem to be very patient with this woman. I guess I would run this out of court. I would say that`s it. I understand it`s not that simple just to lay the gauntlet down. But hasn`t she gotten away with a lot?

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Pat, this shows how skewed the system is with domestic relations cases, it`s so skewed in favor of the mothers and she`s unbelievably lost custody of her children to none other than K-Fed. He is the custodial parent. Give me a break.

LALAMA: It`s interesting you mention that, Anne Bremner, defense attorney, because I believe he`s on the cover of a major magazine this month as one of Hollywood`s most influential celebrities.

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.

LALAMA: And why is that? Because he`s got the money and the kids, how else could it be?

BREMNER: Well, most importantly the kids. And the fact is though I disagree with Richard, my good friend, but the fact is, in any other case, if it wasn`t Britney Spears, you wouldn`t have the mother losing custody of her kids in these kinds of circumstances. Kevin Federline has done a very good job in this case of putting himself forward as the perfect dad. Cover magazine male (ph) and everything else.

And every single day he just points to Britney is unfitney, Britney splitney, et cetera. And it`s just not fair. She`s been absolutely slayed in the courts day after day after day by the judge and K-Fed.

LALAMA: It`s hard for me to muster up a lot of sympathy for her, Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst.

But in her defense it is not a good life when you can`t walk out your door, there`s 50 paparazzi following your every move, people are making fun of you and do you not agree that she achieved too much fame and too much money too soon without the proper mentoring?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: I`m not so sure about that. I mean we have to think about the fact that maybe it`s not anxiety, maybe it`s a substance abuse problem. And I think what we see with K-Fed and Britney is we see something I call in my clinical practice a pact with the devil, where two people get together and they agree to look over the other person`s problems in exchange for something.

So K-Fed says I`m going to overlook your substance abuse problems, Britney says I`m going to overlook the fact that you don`t want to get a job because you put up with me and this is something that has just continued to explode over time is that they never held each other accountable.

LALAMA: But Tom O`Neil, she seems to really give a certain finger, the one that`s in the middle to the courts. Do you think anybody else could get away -- I mean this is worse than Paris looking at a judge saying, I sign things all the time, people hand me things all the time. This has to do with children, and she`s saying, not me, I don`t have to abide by the rules.

O`NEIL: I disagree with my dear friend Bethany. I think that you were right, Pat in that she became famous at the age of 19. She didn`t just become famous, she became a superstar within 90 days of a song coming out. And since then she has remained a superstar to the point where she`s still making $700,000 a month now.

LALAMA: Well, speaking of that Kelli Zink, my understanding is that she really has a spending thing, kind of like Michael Jackson, where she can`t keep it in her pocket, which could be part of this whole substance abuse stuff that she needs to spend the money. But apparently she hasn`t invested any of it for future educations for her children, any kinds of good investments financially to secure her child`s future. Are you hearing that as well?

ZINK: Here`s one thing we have to keep in mind. We have no proof that Britney does have a substance abuse problem.

LALAMA: The judge said it. The judge said it, though.

ZINK: But she`s also undergoing twice weekly drug testing and she still has partial custody so you have to believe she`s at least passing these. And she`s not testing dirty, she has been complying and taking them. So she does spend her money at Starbucks, we see that, she always has Frappuccinos, she`s at gas stations, she`s out at the clubs. But substance abuse, we can`t exactly prove that because she is continuing to pass her tests.

LALAMA: Well, also, Richard Herman, she wasn`t showing up for a lot.

Now my experience, long and storied experience of covering high-profile cases in Los Angeles, that generally means, sorry, I`m loaded and I can`t make it. She is like, oh, I didn`t hear the doorbell, the alarm clock didn`t go off. I`m not buying it. I just don`t have sympathy for it.

If the court tells me to show up, I show up particularly where there are children.

HERMAN: It`s ridiculous, Pat. It`s so transparent. She`s not going to tests because she`s going to fail these tests. She thinks these kids are like props like the little Chihuahua, we saw a picture of her holding that dog.

These kids are not props and this judge is going to lay the gauntlet down on her. And it`s what`s in the best interest of the children and clearly, Britney is not in the best interests of these kids, she`s a run away trainwreck bimbo and she should have those kids taken away from her now.

LALAMA: And Bremner, is this business that she is getting away with mostly because she`s a celebrity? Because I will also say with my experience in the L.A. Courts, California courts tend to be pro mom, no matter what the mom does, they are just very reluctant to take the kids away from the mom as if the dads can`t do an equal job, that there`s something that the mother has instinctively that those kids have got to be there.

Do you agree with that?

BREMNER: I think the Washington courts have that too up here in Seattle but the fact of the matter is here, you throw all the rules out with Britney Spears and she has been I think so maligned here, whether she`s been called a bimbo or she`s called a drug addict. She`s a child herself in a lot of ways.

LALAMA: Yes, she is.

BREMNER: You heard a child, you heard the Stevie Wonder song, babies making babies. Give her a chance, let her get to rehab, let her show the judge that she cans do something. Every single day she gets criticized. All the time she`s all over the tabloids, on the cover of most of them. She`s on the Web sites and everything else. She can`t catch a break. Where she could catch a break, it`s to take some time out, get out of California, come back and show the judge she loves those kids and she can raise those kids.

LALAMA: Well, I`d like to see that happen, believe me, for the sake of those kids. But Bethany Marshall, in fairness to Britney, she did the video awards and that was a big disaster. And so much of it was unfair to her. The fact that the next day all I heard about was that she weighed too much made me sick to my stomach.

So the monsters who cover this stuff and some of them are monsters, are equally bad in some ways. Give her a break, she has had two kids and all anyone can talk about was her stomach. As a woman, I find that repelling.

MARSHALL: But I think there`s a lot they`re responding to. She has poor insight into how she comes across to other people. And as Tom O`Neil said one day she`s supposed to show up to court and she`s walking around town with a Frappucchino in her hand, laughing at the cameras. I think the rule truth is she`s refusing to get sober and that`s why she`s avoiding the drug testing. And I think that`s what everybody`s critical of her about.

And I disagree with Anne Bremner in that, OK, she might be young, but this woman has a lot of resources. She could have psychiatric care, psychological care. She is not availing herself of those services.

LALAMA: Right.

MARSHALL: She went into rehab. She checked herself out. She`s pulling a big, fat Michael Jackson. Remember, Michael Jackson was high on life, having a good time. Until he had to go to court, then he had a spider bite. Then he had the flu and then he shows up in his pajamas and his slippies and looking all drugged out.

So she has become less and less functional until she has to step up to the plate and take responsibility for herself.

LALAMA: And in spite of all that with Michael Jackson, he was acquitted.

MARSHALL: That is true. That`s true.

LALAMA: Tom O`Neil, what is the conventional wisdom. That she`s a troubled young woman with a drug and alcohol problem? And the only reason why I`m able to say that is that the judge ruled this alcohol and drug issue. Scott Gordon didn`t pull any punches about that. What is -- that she`s playing with the media? People have told me that she`ll call up the big hotels and let them know she`s coming, OK, because she wants the attention. So which is it? Is she a trouble, misguided young woman? Or is she clever.

O`NEIL: She`s not clever.

LALAMA: OK. What is it?

O`NEIL: She`s a mess. I think it`s the substance abuse issues, and I think that think she understands that the world doesn`t center around her. And now the real tragedy here, Pat, is that we the world, are losing leverage against her because she`s already lost custody of these kids. She only has visitation rights three days a week now.

So if they take that away from her, it seems as if she almost doesn`t care about that. So what can we do to get her into rehab? And I think the answer to that is what we`re all doing, we`re saying Britney on shows like this, you`re a laughing stock.

LALAMA: The thing is, though, Kelli Zink, anyone who has had a cover stories about substance abuse or if sadly you have someone in your family or you know if you`re not ready, it doesn`t matter what people say. I don`t personally because I cover this stuff all the time in L.A, I don`t get the impression that she has a clue what she`s doing.

ZINK: And I completely agree with that. Britney`s lawyers have a pretty good idea as well. K-Fed`s lawyer wanted the deposition to be taped and Britney`s lawyer said, no, no, no, no, that`s not going to happen. And the next deposition that happens over the holidays, the same thing, they`re not going to allow cameras in because her legal team knows that we do not want Britney Spears being filmed. They`re probably advising her to stay home at night, stay in your house, stay around your children like K-Fed does. You rarely if ever see K-Fed on film.

LALAMA: You know what? Richard Herman, I know this from dealing with lawyers all the time, if you cannot control your client, I have to report on the stories that you guys do. You can`t control your client, it`s no good, she is on what, her third or fourth lawyer now?

HERMAN: Hey listen, look at this Peterson. He clearly can`t control the client. This client cannot control Britney. She is out of control, she has acted like a spoiled brat and the attorney should have the integrity to walk away from her as a client. She is doing these kids no good. She is a complete disservice, and Anne, can you imagine if she had these kids on a visitation and one of them fell out of a highchair and cracked their skull, this judge would be thrown of the bench so quick. I mean, she clearly should not be allowed to have these kids in her presence unsupervised or at any time, I think.

LALAMA: Ten seconds, Anne. Go ahead.

Ten seconds.

BREMNER: I understand that and I agree with that, but the fact that this can be reversed pretty quickly and any lawyer right now should quit if they feel like she`s doing things that she shouldn`t be saying. Just quit.

LALAMA: All right.

Well, I am happy to say we have a lighter note here for a moment at least. Check out the latest messages from Nancy about Baby Lucy and Baby John. That`s all at cnn.com/nancygrace. And remember, Nancy is back in just a few days, returning to Headline News January 7, 8:00 p.m. Eastern in this very chair, so mark your calendars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was in rehab earlier this year. She got out in February and of course she had the big head shaving incident and clearly had a major meltdown in her life. And let`s not forget, who took care of those children primarily for those 30 days when she was locked up in a rehab up in Malibu? Kevin Federline. The kids lived with him, Kevin Federline took care of those children while their mother was getting problems for whoever those addiction problems were that were undisclosed. And she`s out drinking, she is drinking alcohol, sources see her all around town doing this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: I am Pat Lalama in for Nancy Grace. Talking about our favorite celebrity of the year, Ms. Britney Spears. Tom, you know, my understanding is that she was actually trying to stone wall children`s services. You don`t mess with children`s services, OK? I mean, really. And she didn`t want them to look into her records? Could you explain?

O`NEIL: Yes, and the excuse was classic.

LALAMA: Can`t wait. Come on. Come on.

O`NEIL: She said, they can`t look into the documents because they might see the travel schedule of my boy and that might leak out and then the paparazzi could get pictures of my boys.

As if we don`t have 5,000 pictures of those kids.

LALAMA: Bethany Marshall, these excuses, I got to tell you, the ones I want to go after are the publicists because they`re the ones coming one this. From a psychological standpoint, these excuses, that`s got to be in some chapter of some Freud book somewhere.

MARSHALL: Not only is she making excuses but her support staff, the people around her are as well and she gets rid of people who don`t.

LALAMA: Exactly.

MARSHALL: When she cut of her hair extensions off this year, I felt like she cut off her handlers and everybody who is in charge of making her look better and propping her up. But the thing about addictions, drugs and alcohol, they hijack the portion of the brain that`s telling you`re learning new and interesting things about the world. So your life can be falling apart around you, you can be losing your children but still feel that you`re on an adventure.

LALAMA: OK. Well, that, by the way is video from Hollywood TV that you`re looking at, the old driving situation which we`ll talk about in a minute. But Kelli Zink, I heard that her mother`s writing a book. This is a pet peeve of mine. These mothers, Lindsay Lohan`s mom, everybody`s mom, Paris Hilton`s mom, they`re now into the fame game. I see that as part of the problem, that the parents have to write a book and have a reality show.

ZINK: Here`s the thing with Lynn Spears who did try to have an intervention along with her younger sister Jamie Lynn. Lynn Spears is writing this book and it has nothing to do with Britney. It`s a more spiritual book. So I don`t know if she`s milking off her daughter`s fame or not.

LALAMA: Yes.

ZINK: Maybe. But she definitely did try to come back into Britney`s life and Britney by the way doesn`t have a publicist. And you`re right, she has cut everyone else out of here life. So now she has her manager and friends texting people to give them statements. Where she really does need a manager, a publicist, a great legal team.

LALAMA: Bethany, why would somebody cut out everybody? I mean, this woman is clearly -- If anybody needs help, it`s her.

MARSHALL: It is the pattern of substance abuse, when you confront a substance abuser, they will cut you off because they`re not yet ready to cut the substances off. So again, with the hair, she said the braids are to tight, I think she was saying the control is too tight and she can`t handle it because she needs that freedom.

And again, I haven`t examined her, I don`t know her but based upon what I have seen and heard, she has to jettison people who are holding her responsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I`m Specialist Billy Agee (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I`m Sergeant Justin Agee (ph) stationed in Baghdad Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would like to say happy holidays to all of our family in Thomasville, Georgia and happy first birthday to our son J.J.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has nannies taking care of the kids at night. OK. There are people there. She`s not leaving the kids at home by themselves. So she goes out and she parties. Maybe she sleeps until noon and then she`s with the kids all day. If she`s a working mom and she`s working like a 10-hour day, she`s out the door at 8:00.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whether she was driving with her infant on her lap, or dropping him out of his highchair. There were a lot of things that happened that really made her look like a questionable - well, how good of a mom was she, really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: I`m Pat Lalama in for Nancy Grace. I want to ask Dolores a question, don`t hog all the time because I want to do a lightning round after that. Richard Herman, defense attorney, what`s the worst -- let`s say she misses a couple more depositions, what is the worst that could happen to her?

HERMAN: The judge could hold her in contempt of court, and he could put her in prison. That`s the worst.

LALAMA: Do you think that could really happen, though?

HERMAN: If she keeps blowing off court orders this judge might be compelled to do it.

LALAMA: Well, Scott Gordon is a serious guy. Anne Bremner, what do you say?

BREMNER: He can also impose monetary sanctions, he can strike portions of some of her pleadings, things like that. Because remember, it`s a civil case. Contempt is pretty extreme. And so there`s all kinds of options but she didn`t show up for one deposition, she had an excuse.

LALAMA: Tom O`Neil. Here are two questions for you, can she be saved and is her career over? Can she personally be saved and is her career over?

O`NEIL: I believe she can be saved. I think that she came close earlier this year in a span of seven days, she went into rehab, came out, shaved her head, went back into rehab came out, beat up paparazzi carrying an umbrella, went back into rehab and stayed for a month. When she came out she blamed everyone around her for a substance abuse problem she said she didn`t have. I think at some inevitable point if we all keep the heat on and I think it`s a good thing that we all talk about this publicly. It might help her and shame her into doing what she needs to do.

LALAMA: What do you think, Kelli? Can she be saved?

ZINK: Yes, she can be saved. She has to save herself. Is her career over? Far from over. Look at all this media attention. Her album debuted high on the charts.

LALAMA: But that could be because of all the controversy. Like the look you lose, they want to see if she`s going to fail, right

ZINK: It could be but you know what? It`s working for her and as long as it does, she`s going to be in all of our lives.

LALAMA: Bethany Marshall, is there hope for this girl? Woman, I should say?

MARSHALL: I think at some point she could have insight into the nature of her problems because we all have to have insight, right. But there`s all kinds of forms of treatment for psychiatric illnesses, for substance abuse problems but I tell you what can never be fixed and that is that her sons are one and two and this time can never be regained. You can`t rewind time and they have missed out on valuable experiences with their mother and the trauma will last them for the rest of their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I`m Master Sergeant Timothy Brock (ph) based in al Asad, Iraq, I would like to wish a very happy holidays to my wife Yolanda and my kids Dominique, Tim Jr., William and Shaunice (ph) in Fayetteville, North Carolina, I love you and I miss you all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m PFC Truman Fixton (ph) here with Charlie Company 12 SCR (ph) here in Baghdad. I want to say hello to my mom in Mobile, Kentucky. How are you doing, mom?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LALAMA: Music megastar Britney Spears loses custody of two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jaden James. After a string of apparent wild behavior, a judge citing her habitual and frequent use of drugs and alcohol. Spears ignoring court ordered drug testing. That according to leaks from her own camp. The music star slept through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BROOKS, HEADLINE NEWS GUEST ANCHOR: Kevin Federline and Britney Spears back in court, the battle royale in L.A. For the latest, let`s go out to Mike Walker, senior editor of the "National Enquirer" from Los Angeles.

Mike, what`s the latest?

MIKE WALKER, "NATIONAL ENQUIRER": Well, the latest is that the judge did not make a ruling. Kevin`s attorney said on the courthouse steps that they are going to announce what his ruling will be probably on Tuesday.

For the moment, everything is sort of status quo. Britney will be seeing the kids over the weekend. So you remember custody or visitation was once pulled away from her, and then she got it back, and now she does have it back again, but only until the judge says whatever he`s going to say on Tuesday.

BROOKS: Now, what`s the stipulations of the visitation now? I know before somebody had to be there. There was all kinds of stipulations. Are there any on it this time?

WALKER: Well, yes. And, in fact, as you know, Britney wanted her mother to be one of the monitors, and nobody would agree with that. And, of course, the court appointed a parental expert. Well, I guess we all heard that Britney was very sarcastic, according to this parental expert, wouldn`t pay attention to her, wouldn`t listen to her, wouldn`t do the things she wanted her to do.

BROOKS: Imagine that, mother of the year.

WALKER: Yes, exactly. And it goes almost beyond belief, Mike. I mean, if you remember, this whole thing started back on the 24th, just to give you a quick timeline, last month, 24th, "Yes, judge, I`m going to do everything." On the 27th, our paper reported, from eyewitness reports, that Britney was down at Newport Beach at this party for a cosmetics company, not only drunk, but high on cocaine, took pain pills, slurring, et cetera.

By the 27th, of course -- by the 1st, the judge -- Kevin`s attorneys went to the judge and played a tape that she had made. She called Kevin and said, "I`m high, I`m going to stay high." Now, can you imagine?

BROOKS: Yeah, I can imagine. From everything we`ve heard, I can imagine that.

WALKER: Yes. It`s mind-boggling. And so the rights were taken away from her then. But a few days later, she got them back again. And then, of course, she missed the call for the drug test. You know, she was supposed to stand by on her cell phone. It was a designated cell phone, and they made the call, and, hello, nobody picks up the phone.

Britney, of course, says, oh, well, the signal was bad, although here in L.A., I can almost believe her. But, again, she got it back. She got her visitation rights back. This judge, by the way, if you look on publications, you`ll see, she says, "I hate this judge." This judge has been pretty good to her, I think.

BROOKS: I think that judge has been really good to her. We saw some video earlier from TMZ. This is video from Hollywood.TV. Now, I want to go out to Kelli Zink, host of CelebTV.com.

KELLI ZINK, CELEBTV.COM: Good evening.

BROOKS: How are you doing? Thanks for joining us.

ZINK: What a night.

BROOKS: Now, court just ended, didn`t it?

ZINK: Yes. And during the entire court process, which was about four hours long, Britney was visibly upset almost the entire time. She took three bathroom breaks. Now, over four hours, that doesn`t seem unusual. But nobody else was running to the bathroom, changing their hair, fixing their sunglasses, really bizarre behavior.

BROOKS: Now, I heard that she also came out and dropped the f-bomb.

ZINK: She did. There are reports from people that were in the hallway -- and our cameras were there, too -- that she was using vulgar language to some reporters. And when you`re undergoing this kind of scrutiny, that`s not good behavior when you`re trying to be a good parent. So Britney has just kind of gone off the deep end, once again.

BROOKS: Mother of the year, I`ve been calling her that for the last couple of weeks. And she`s a train wreck, but people love watching train wrecks.

I want to go out to Dr. Lillian Glass. Why are people infatuated with this freak show?

DR. LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Because they can`t really believe that this is really happening. I mean, you`re seeing somebody that`s so self-absorbed, you`re seeing somebody that you grew up with that you thought was such a nice, little girl, and then she grew up to this young woman and had children. And then now you see how disturbed she is, how selfish she is, how it`s all about her, how she can`t survive unless there are shutters and people taking photographs of her and lights in front of her. She can`t function. She needs to have that public adulation or, who knows what`s going to happen to her?

BROOKS: This is video from CelebTV.com. You know, you look at Kevin Federline -- and I want to go out to Pat Brown. Is he any better of a parent than she is? You know, before he was there, and everybody was saying, oh, he`s there, he`s a gold digger; he just is there for the money. But you know what? His behavior has been on the straight and narrow, where hers has been all over the place.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Mike, I think one of the funniest things when you`re trying to decide child custody is that tends to be that like attracts like. So sometimes you have two people. You say, who should we give the kid to, the burglar father, or the crack addict mother? Oh, no, neither one of them. Let`s give it to the aunt who has five kids and has check fraud charges. Oh, maybe not.

Sometimes the like attracts like. So the problem here is, yes, I think Kevin at this point is a lot better of a choice, because he is certainly not doing all the absolutely lunatic things that Britney is doing. And she`s really exhibiting such narcissism that she doesn`t respect any rule. She`ll break them all.

BROOKS: Now, and I`ll tell you, did we ever think that we`d see Kevin Federline as the responsible parent? I sure didn`t.

Let`s go out to the lines, Katie from Canada. Thanks for joining us. You have a question?

CALLER: Yes, I was wondering why the media was so consumed on following Britney and not Kevin.

BROOKS: Kelli Zink, host of CelebTV.com, what do you think?

ZINK: Britney makes it much more accessible for the media to follow her, because she is going into these public places, where K-Fed today wasn`t photographed at all. He road in his lawyer`s car and snuck in under tunnel, and nobody saw him. Britney, however, pulled right up front and was a huge media spectacle.

BROOKS: Well, I don`t think she`s ever met a camera that she didn`t like. And she, oh, the paparazzi is all over me, but she goes out of her way, I think, for the attention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

LALAMA: Music star Britney Spears just can`t stay out of the spotlight and it`s not in her latest hit song or music video. Spears facing one legal issue after another, from a hit and run parking lot crash to losing custody of her two little sons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NANCY GRACE, CNN ANCHOR: Out to Kelli Zink, host with CelebTV.com, Kelli Zink, explain what`s going on.

ZINK: Hello, Nancy. Well, the problem with this story is, allegedly Kevin`s people dropped the children off to see Britney, and her and Elly (ph) were waiting. You know, she had been out checking into hotels. That`s what she`s been doing since she`s lost custody of the children, is checking into these hotels and then leaving around 3:30 in the morning, which is bizarre on its own.

So now her and Elly are waiting in Malibu, safely back, and they didn`t hear the door bell ring. And then the phone rang, and they said, "We left because you guys weren`t there." The problem is, Nancy, there`s no one to call. Right now, Britney Spears, other than her lawyers, has no representation. Her manager fired her. Her mother and her are estranged, and basically she has cut off everybody in her life that we can call and say, "Hey, what`s going on here?"

So these are reports. People are reporting this, but I can`t say that it`s true or not. What I can say is that I spoke with her lawyer today and he knew nothing about that.

GRACE: Now, was it the doorbell, Kelli, or was it the intercom? Were they at some gate far, far away from her home or were they right there at the door trying to get in?

ZINK: No, I mean, the reports are saying that they were at the gate, which was -- the intercom wasn`t working. Now, if I`m a parent, I`m going to be waiting there with baited breath and all my security system and cameras for my children to come. So the fact that Britney didn`t hear the intercom or it wasn`t working, that`s why it`s hard to say if that`s really what happened.

GRACE: And to Kareen Wynter, CNN correspondent there on the scene, Kareen, all right, there`s the story of her not taking the very first visit with her children that`s she just lost custody of, but what about the court-ordered drug tests?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this one just blew my mind, Nancy, actually. The "L.A. Times" is reporting that --

GRACE: Oh, you`re not going to make excuses for her tonight?

(CROSSTALK)

WYNTER: You know, even if I try, I can`t for this one. It`s actually surprising. The "L.A. Times" is reporting that Britney Spears has missed three of those mandatory drug and alcohol tests that she must undergo every week, and that this really influenced the judge`s decision on whether or not she should have physical custody.

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait a minute. Elizabeth, am I seeing the new -- is that the new video of her dancing around that stripper pole? I could do that. Wait a minute, where`s all the dance steps? I can do that, for Pete`s sake. I probably wouldn`t look as good in the outfit. But wait a minute. Hold on. I got to see this. I haven`t seen this. She`s just walking and walking around and around the pole. Wait.

Kareen Wynter, look, I know this girl has got a lot of talent, but I`m not seeing any dance steps. I`m seeing nothing. And this single, this is the single that`s gone to the top of the charts?

WYNTER: This is actually the much-hyped video that people are waiting for that is reportedly coming out, premiering on Monday. So people are getting a peek of it right now and, boy, does it tell a lot.

GRACE: OK, all right, I was just having a little bit of a hard time. You say Britney Spears, I expect to see all these explosive dance moves. Out to the lines, Vicki in New Jersey. Hi, Vicki.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Eric in Hollywood.

CALLER: Hi Nancy, how are you? My question is how does Britney Spears get out of taking her mandatory parenting classes?

GRACE: You know, I guess the same way she got out of those drug tests. Explain that to me, Kareen Wynter, wasn`t her excuse she was asleep during her court-ordered drug tests?

WYNTER: That`s right, not asleep at the wheel, but apparently asleep in her own home, Nancy, that`s according to the "L.A. Times." She failed to show up for three mandatory drug and alcohol screening tests. She just slept right through the appointments. And as for the third one, they made it easier. They were actually going to go out to Brit`s home to have it done there. She just couldn`t comply with that.

GRACE: You mean they offered curb service? They actually offered for them to come to her mansion to get a drug test?

WYNTER: I doesn`t get any easier.

GRACE: That is video you`re seeing now from Hollywood.TV. I want to go to Ken Sealey, interventionist with A & E`s "Intervention." Ken, would an intervention help at this point? Remember last week it was rumored that she would go into rehab to try to get into the judge`s good graces, to show she was really trying. That`s been nixed.

KEN SEALEY, INTERVENTIONIST: What`s happening now, Nancy, is that the judge is doing her intervention and raising the heat, raising the flames to where she feels the pain. And right now she`s just not feeling it. She`s ignoring his orders. And so being that she`s ordering it -- if you go to any doctor or any treatment center and look it up in the medical books of addiction, these are all the behaviors she`s demonstrating. She`s a very sick young woman and if we don`t watch out and get her the right appropriate help, then maybe the judge should 5150 her, and lock her up and make her to a detox and find out what`s going on with her, and do a psych eval. Maybe that`s what will help save her life, because I don`t think she has a chance if we don`t do something.

GRACE: I`m frankly more worried about what`s going to happen to the kids, between her and Federline. Out to Alexa in Washington.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy, you look wonderful as always.

GRACE: Thank you, that`s because you`re seeing me from the ears up. But I appreciate that dear. What`s your question?

CALLER: I was wondering if the fact that Kevin Federline, when he was in court and Britney Spears was not, could that impact her custody in the future, perhaps?

GRACE: You know, Alexa, I never tried a case if I could help it. Sometimes I couldn`t help it, where the victim is still alive was not in court or the victim`s family, friends, someone there representing the cause of the crime victim. And I got to tell you something, I know there`s no legal book that says you have to be in court, but I think that was a major, major tactical error. Plus, it makes me wonder, really for the first time -- a lot of people have been rooting for Spears to make a come back -- where her priorities really were.

To Randy Karmel, Daniel Horowitz, Joey Jackson. Out to you Daniel Horowitz, why wasn`t she in court?

DANIEL HOROWITZ, ATTORNEY: Nancy, she`s obviously, to put it frankly, messed up. But it`s not because of drugs. And I`m tired of people saying she should stop using drugs, take parenting classes. She has been emotionally a wreck for years. We know it. Let`s have some compassion for her. Kevin Federline, in my opinion, wants money. He gets the kids --

GRACE: I`m not fighting you on that, because if he gets more custody, he gets more money, to top off his 20,000 dollars a month. But why can`t both of those things be true? Why can`t Federline want more money and Spears have a substance abuse problem?

HOROWITZ: But the core of her problem is emotional.

GRACE: Why? How do you know that?

HOROWITZ: Because I have watched her, Nancy.

GRACE: You`ve watched her on TV?

(CROSS TALK)

HOROWITZ: That`s my opinion. You know what, if they would deal with her problems and get counselling, rather than do this little drug treatment at some chi chi place, she would be a lot better off. And Federline should be watched because he would put the kids in the hands of a nanny. He`s not going to take care of those kids.

GRACE: Joey Jackson?

JOEY JACKSON, ATTORNEY: May I make a bold prediction? My bold prediction is that Britney Spears is going to be fine. She`s a young woman. She`s talented. She`s beautiful. She`s going to get through this. The bottom line is that she`s living her life in public. You know, you have two precious children here. They`re two and one. I think if anyone the judge`s decision represented a major wakeup call for her.

GRACE: Is that why she didn`t answer the door for the first visit?

JACKSON: Listen, she`s going to get it together. It may not be today or tomorrow, but she`s going to get it together.

GRACE: I`ve got to tell you, that`s not that bold. She`s got a team of assistants to get her together. To Randy Carmel, first of all, I thought it was insane that she didn`t go to court. Then I thought even more insane that she slept through a drug test. But not letting the kids in, not answering the door for your first court appointed supervised visit?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She obviously is doing nothing to get these children back. She`s disobeying a court order. And there are a million excuses, she`s on drugs, she has problems. She doesn`t want these children. She has done nothing since the children were taken away from her to do anything positive for these children. She is defiant and not doing a thing for them.

I agree, she should have been in court, she should have done everything that was required of her.

GRACE: Here`s a tough decision. Take a look at this. Got to decide, are you going to drop the drink or are you going to drop the kid. OK, hold on just a moment. Toughy. Hold on that drink. There we go. Mike Brooks, are the children really in danger?

BROOKS: I tell you what, Nancy, the courts sure think so. She was supposed to have court supervised visitation with a monitor there. But, if something happens, if they see any kind of behavior, the monitor is to just say forget it and stop the visitation. But I have to agree with Ken. A civil commitment might be in order, because the judge, right in the paper work, Nancy -- it says, based on the evidence presented, the court finds that there is habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol by the Petitioner.

Who`s the petitioner? Britney Spears.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LALAMA: More on the custody battle between music star Britney Spears and her ex Kevin Federline. In the middle, two little boys.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: OK, you`re seeing the music video of Britney Spears, the single to this "Gimme More" has gone to the top of the charts. And I just want you to know that the lyrics in this thing say, "I can`t control myself." Duh! And it refers to -- she`s singing about herself, the legendary Ms. Britney Spears, a legend in the courthouse, maybe, over a child custody hearing. And I can`t help but notice, people, I could do that, going round and round and round a stripper pole. OK, not that I`m going to. I don`t want to scare you.

But I want to go straight out to Kelli Zink. Kelli, while everyone is focusing on this video, her new video, remember what the judge said in this little order right here? It says: You`re losing custody until further notice. The judge is waiting to see how she`s going to respond. And now we know, didn`t even open up the front door when the boys came to visit on their first court-ordered visit.

ZINK: You know, that was unbelievable, Nancy, I will say, but I`ll also say this. I spoke with her lawyer this afternoon. You know, it`s the first time he`s spoken since court on Wednesday. And he told me that he thinks that if Britney Spears complies with everything she`s supposed to do, there is no way that things won`t go back to the way they were, meaning joint custody.

He truly believes that if Britney takes these drug tests, if she sees her parenting coach, and if she just complies with what the judge is asking, then she`ll have no problem getting the children back. So this will be the true test. October 26th she`s been ordered to show up. If she does, and if she`s been good, then she should have no problem getting what she says she wants, which is joint custody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LALAMA: Tonight let`s stop to remember Army Sergeant Joseph Milledge, only 23, from Point Blank, Texas, killed in Iraq on his second tour of duty. He loved helping Iraqi children, playing football with them and handing out toys and clothing. He also loved studying religion, philosophy, poetry and karate. He leaves behind mom Carla, dad Jack, seven siblings, grieving widow Amanda, and one-year-old son Joseph Jr. Joseph Milledge, an American hero.

Thank you to all our guests, and to you at home for being with us. Remember to visit Nancy`s baby blog. Pictures and messages from Nancy. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. sharp Eastern. Until then, have a great evening.

(NEWS BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END