[BODY]Britney Spears is back in the hospital.
Will stay in long enough this time to really get some help? And will her being off the street force the ever-present paparazzi - who have made an industry out of her troubles - to find something else to do and someone else to live off of.
We can only hope!
It stopped being fun some time ago reporting on Britney’s endless travails. Things changed for good on Jan. 4. That was the day she had a tense custody standoff with police, was forcibly carted off in an ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and hospitalized all-too-briefly.
Things went down differently this time. By early Thursday, Britney had been willingly taken to UCLA Medical Center as the result of a long-planned intervention by her family.
“She’ll be in there for at least 72 hours getting evaluated. She might even stay longer,” a source told People.com. “She’s more comfortable this time, she came into the waiting area, had a cigarette, made a joke about being there again. But who knows what will happen? All we can hope for is that she gets better.”
The site reported that Britney has been seeing a psychiatrist “every day” since her first hospitalization. The intervention came faster than expected because the singer had reportedly not slept since Saturday.
This being Britney, getting her to the hospital was quite a production. At least a half-dozen LAPD motorcycle officers, a police helicopter and several patrol cars got an early morning call to Britney’s Studio City home.
While some kind of motorcade had been planned, more back-up was needed because the paparazzi - more than 100 photographers in all - had already jammed the area Wednesday night.
Police Deputy Chief Michel Moore said: “We had this outrageous number of photographers and paparazzi” that got in the way...The real shame here is this is a needless complication. We are throwing precious few resources from public safety needs, and it costs.”
It is speculated that Britney may be suffering from Bipolar disorder. The damage to her life and reputation has been severe since she began to act increasingly strangely in late 2005 following her split from ex-hubby Kevin Federline.
She currently is banned from even visiting with their two sons, Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1.

We learned Thursday that “Grey’s Anatomy” star Justin Chambers had checked into the same psych ward as Britney earlier this week to be treated for a sleeping disorder, according to TMZ.com.
Justin, the father of four children, went in voluntarily and has since checked out. He has played Dr. Alex Karev on the ABC medical drama since its first season. Production on the show was halted several months ago because of the writers strike.

Like Britney, Robert Downey Jr. knows what it’s like to go from the pinnacle of showbiz to fallen star. But maybe she can take some inspiration from his unlikely comeback.
Once considered virtually unemployable, it was announced on Thursday that the Oscar-nominated star of “Chaplan” and more recently of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “Zodiac,” was named ShoWest Male Star of the Year.
He will receive the award next month at the annual ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas which is an annual confab of theater owners and movie studios.
Robert has a trio films out this year: “Iron Man,” a big screen adaptation of Marvel’s legendary super hero, “Charlie Bartlett” and “Tropic Thunder.”