A photo shoot with OK! magazine in July, which Spears arranged herself, ended with the magazine releasing this statement: “What we experienced was a young girl who is desperately in need of help. TMZ called it a “pop mom meltdown.” In April, she fired her manager and bodyguard, and later her management firm and lawyer resigned. “I’m tired of everyone touching me.” Two more attempts at rehab, and the infamous umbrella attack on the ever-waiting paparazzi, followed. “I don’t want everybody touching me,” she reportedly said at the time. One day later she shaved her head in front of paparazzi cameras in a Tarzana, California, hair salon. In February, Spears checked into rehab and checked out the next day. The New York Post called it the “Bimbo Summit,” citing a poll that claimed 77 percent of adults thought the “panties-optional” trio had too much influence on young girls. Spears had filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in November of 2006, and two weeks later was spotted-and relentlessly photographed-out in Los Angeles alongside Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, who, allegedly, mockingly referred to Spears as “Animal.” Paparazzi photographs in which Spears accidentally flashed her vagina were published on TMZ. Left, by Kevin Kane/WireImage Right, by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic. Left, Spears performing during the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards Right, Spears and Madonna during 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. The media pile-on had become common for Spears in 2007-nonstop headlines all asking, essentially, “What’s wrong with her?” And it could never happen today. Spears appeared lackluster and even confused when miming her latest hit, “Gimme More,” and the criticism was swift and brutal.
If it went well, the thinking went, it would be a career game-changer. MTV was intensely hyping the performance. She chose the 2007 awards for her first broadcast performance in three years, a period that included a hasty Vegas wedding, a reality show, several stints in rehab, and near-constant tabloid scandal.
The V.M.A.s were a good place for Britney Spears that decade she’d made headlines by dancing with a snake in 2001 and kissing Madonna in 2003.
The woman turned her head, flashed eyes made blue with colored contacts, and uttered what was intended as a mission statement for a big, bold comeback: “It’s Britney, bitch.” Everyone knew they were extensions because they were attached to a head that, seven months prior, had been shaved in front of paparazzi cameras. The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, held 10 years ago this past Saturday, opened with a close-up of a woman’s blonde extensions.