Over the weekend, Dr. Phil McGraw announced that Britney Spears was "in dire need" of medical intervention. While he isn't backing off his assessment, he is fighting back at reports that his professional opinion was forced upon either the troubled pop star or the Spears family.
In a phone call to E! News anchor Ryan Seacrest Sunday night, McGraw said the TMZ report that he ambushed the singer in her Cedars-Sinai Medical Center room Saturday morning was not only greatly exaggerated but altogether false. He told Seacrest he did not show up at the hospital to exploit the Blackout singer's meltdown but rather at the solicitation of longtime friends, the Spears family.
However, just as McGraw said he visited the singer out of consideration for the Spears clan, he cites the same reason for now calling off the devotion of an already high-profile episode of his daily talk show to the singer's plight.
"We had planned to tape a Dr. Phil Now show tomorrow, focusing not on the tabloid side of Britney's latest problems, but instead on the very serious issues surrounding this case," McGraw said in a statement on his official website. "Clearly, it is not just Britney's family struggling to find a way to protect adult children who cannot be ordered or compelled to seek help.
"Because the Spears situation is too intense at this time, and out of consideration to the family, I have made the decision not to move forward with the taping at this particular time. Britney and her family are in our prayers and we ask that they be in yours."
The nixing of the headline-grabbing special comes in the wake of reports that Spears' father, Jamie, was upset with the media traction McGraw's account of his meeting with Britney was receiving.
One of the peddlers of McGraw's media message was Seacrest, who recounted on his KIIS-FM radio show Monday details given to him by the TV doctor of his visit with the singer. McGraw was adamant that he went to the hospital to visit the 26-year-old by specific request of her family. (Hear the complete audio from Ryan's radio show.)
He further said he went to the hospital free of any designs to treat the singer himself, instead to simply "open a dialogue" and possibly start the troubled mom on the path to receiving treatment from a qualified professional.
McGraw told Seacrest he was first contacted by mother Lynne Spears more than a year ago and has since kept open communications with the family about the often bumpy and always public exploits of its most famous member.
McGraw said the Spears family's concern this time around was that Britney, who was released a little more than one day into what was expected to be an involuntary three-day hold—so enforced after the singer was determined to pose a danger to either herself or others—was not yet suitable for discharge.
He also denied reports that either Cedars-Sinai or he violated any sort of patient privacy by arriving unannounced to visit Spears and that both he and staffers adhered strictly to hospital policy during the brief stop.
The TV doctor reiterated those comments on Monday's CBS Early Show.
McGraw said that in addition to Lynne, who remained in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, throughout the ordeal with pregnant 16-year-old daughter Jamie Lynn, he also spoke to Spears' father and brother, all of whom chafed at her being released as soon as she was.
"I went to see Britney at the request of her family, I talked to Lynne, I talked to Jamie, I talked to Bryan, her brother," he said. "They were very frustrated that she apparently wasn't going to be held for a longer period of time."
In the CBS interview, which airs in its entirety on Entertainment Tonight, he said Spears' mother phoned him shortly after the "Gimme More" purveyor was transported via ambulance to the hospital.
"Thursday night, the phone rang, and it was Lynne—she has a very close relationship with my wife, Robin—and, clearly, she was very upset, which you would expect, as any parent would be."
Meanwhile, Spears has already hightailed it out of Los Angeles and was spotted Saturday morning, just hours after her release from the hospital, having brunch with new paparazzo pal Adnan Ghalbi in Palm Desert, just outside Palm Springs.
According to Vegas Confidential, which first reported the sighting, Spears and Ghalbi, with whom she was spotted checking in at several L.A. hotels in the week prior to her hospitalization, spent about an hour eating out and drinking mimosas, and Spears was said to be in a "really good mood."
Extra has since spotted the duo patrolling the streets of Santa Barbara.
While reports of her imbibing alcohol so soon after her release may raise a few eyebrows, People reported that during her hospital stay, at least, she remained alcohol and illegal drug free.
Spears reportedly tested clean during her stay, contradicting initial police reports from Thursday night that the singer was under the influence of an unknown substance during her hours-long custody standoff. (Police on Friday reversed that early pronouncement and said there was no evidence she was under the influence.)
A source also denied to People rumors that there was a gun present in Spears' home when she locked herself in a room with one-year-old son Jayden.
Meanwhile, Seacrest also spoke over the weekend to longtime Spears pal Sam Lutfi, who expressed concern for the singer and, despite the fact that he said upon Spears' release that she was doing "a lot better," said he had yet to see her in person since last week's incident.