Newsdesk weblog: life imitates art

Britney Spears was put under a 24-hour suicide watch today after the latest chapter in her public meltown saw her stretchered out of her house in Beverly Hills, apparently under the influence of drugs or drink.

The singer and her 1-year-old son, Jayden James, were rushed to hospital after a four-hour stand-off in which she refused to hand over her children to former husband Kevin Federline, despite a court order.

Surrounded by six police cars, a fire engine and hordes of paparazzi, Spears was wheeled out of her Los Angeles home and into a waiting ambulance at around 11pm.

Police, who had been called to the property three hours earlier, confirmed that the singer - whose disintegrating personal life has been splashed across the world's media - was under the influence of an "unknown substance".

LA police spokesman Jason Lee said that Spears "was refusing to hand the children over to their father as part of a court order".

"While officers were on the scene, they observed Ms. Spears under the influence of an unknown substance," he said.

Pictures broadcast around the world showed her smiling as she was wheeled away on a trolley.

Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre on a "medical hold", while her one-year-old son, Jayden James, was taken to hospital in a separate ambulance, although he reportedly did not need any treatment.

Federline was reported to have showed up later in the night when custody of the children - Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, was transferred to him.

Spears is now under a “special needs” watch in hospital under the care of doctors and is expected to remain there for the next 72 hours. Those who are kept under such a watch have usually either overdosed or tried to commit suicide and are therefore monitored by hospital staff 24 hours a day.

Spears's father, Jamie, and friend and sometime manager Sam Lufti also visited the singer in hospital.

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