Video: Britney Spears leaves hospital

The parents of Britney Spears criticised the early release of their daughter from a mental health facility last night and said they were scared for the singer’s life.

Jamie and Lynne Spears said that the star should not have been allowed to leave the hospital where she was taken forcibly for psychiatric evaluation last week.

“As parents of an adult child in the throes of a mental health crisis, we were extremely disappointed,” they said in a joint statement. “We are deeply concerned about our daughter’s safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk.”

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• Video: Britney leaves hospital

The singer was chased around Los Angeles yesterday in a black Mercedes-Benz by a pack of paparazzi after being released from “mental health evaluation hold” a week earlier than expected.

Her car was surrounded by more than 15 photographers and their swarm of vehicles while a helicopter swooped from above to film her drive home.

The Toxic singer has suffered a gradual and very public decline in her mental and physical health since she lost custody of her children last year to Kevin Federline, her ex-husband.

Spears’s father was appointed as “conservator” to the former child-star on Monday, when a court agreed that she was unable to look after herself. The role should make him legally responsible for her financial affairs as well as her health.

But her parents said yesterday that their wishes were not being respected. “There are conservatorship orders in place created to protect our daughter that are being blatantly disregarded. We ask only that the court’s orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted.

“Over the recommendation of her treating psychiatrist, our daughter Britney was released from the hospital that could best care for her and keep her safe.”

The move by her parents to seize control of Spears’s life comes after suggestions that she was being badly advised and ill-treated while in a vulnerable state.

Osama Lutfi, her full-time companion and part-time manager, was ordered to stay away from Spears by a Los Angeles court last week after he was accused of drugging and bullying her.

Lynne Spears gave detailed and emotive testimony claiming that after moving into her house Mr Lutfi had taken control of Britney’s life, grinding up medication to add to her food, cutting phone lines and verbally and mentally abusing her.

A restraining order now demands that Mr Lutfi, who is known as Sam, ceases all contact with the singer and her family.

He gave an interview to an American magazine yesterday admitting that he had given Spears "magic" pills but insisting they allowed her to sleep and that she agreed the medication was helpful.

Mr Lutfi also claimed that Spears had been suffering from bipolar disorder for around five years.

"In the depressive episodes, it's all crying. But in the manic episode, there's very little crying or sympathy or compassion. She becomes another person. She becomes somebody that just doesn't care about anybody or anything," he told Us magazine.

Numerous video clips have captured Spears taking on a cod-British accent before veering back to her native tone.

As well as lambasting Mr Lutfi, Lynne Spears evidence also created a vivid depiction of the fragile mental state of her daughter.

The relationship between mother and daughter has also been described as fragile after a strained upbringing in the public eye. The Louisiana girl was the youngest ever Disney Club presenter at the age of 11 and by 17 she had released the hit single Baby One More Time.

After separating from Federline, her husband, at the end of 2006 she has been photographed in a number of compromising situations and states of distress.

Last October a judge removed her right to visit her two sons, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, after she failed to agree to random drug testing and the court ruled she was a “habitual and continuous drug user".

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