Britney Spears is shown in
this frame grab from Hollywood.TV video as she is wheeled out of
the ambulance on a gurney at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles late Jan. 3, 2008.? (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw violated the trust of Britney
Spears' parents by making public statements about his abbreviated
visit with the pop star in the room at Cedars-Sinai hospital
following a standoff with police, a family spokesperson said in an
interview Wednesday.
"This is another example of a trust being betrayed," Lou Taylor,
the spokesperson, told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira. Rather than
helping the family's situation, the celebrity psychologist caused
additional damage, she said. "I think it's been compromised,
because it's a measure of trust," she said of the relationship
between Britney Spears and her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears.
Spears's parents have had a relationship with McGraw and his
wife, Robin. Taylor said Lynne Spears did ask Robin if the
psychologist could visit Spears in the hospital as a private
favor.
McGraw arrived as Spears was packing to leave. He says he walked
her out of the hospital, and issued a press release about the
visit:
"My meeting with Britney and some of her family members this
morning in her room at Cedars leaves me convinced more than ever
that she is in dire need of both medical and psychological
intervention -- I am very concerned for her."
"What's wrong with Dr. Phil's statement is that he made a
statement," said Taylor, who is the business manager for Jamie and
Lynne Spears and also for their other daughter, 16-year-old Jamie
Lynn Spears. "The family basically extended an invitation of trust
as a resource to support them, not to make a public statement."
McGraw has not backed off,, telling "Entertainment Tonight,"
"Somebody needs to step up and provide a vector to get this young
woman into some quality care -- I do not apologize one whit, not
one second."
McGraw also said he would devote one of his television shows to
the Spears family. That plan was torpedoed by the family, who felt
that he had gone way beyond what he was asked to do and was
exploiting them and their daughter to further a television career
that got started after numerous guest appearances on "The Oprah
Winfrey Show."
(Xinhua/Agencies January 11, 2008)
