Britney Committed

Sources tell E! News that "Toxic" singer admitted to hospital on 5150 hold at behest of psychiatrist

By Marcus Errico, Ken Baker Jan 31, 2008 6:13 PMTags

For the second time in a month. Britney Spears has been taken from her home and forcibly admitted to a hospital.

A source close to the Spears family told E! News that the singer was due to be evaluated at 10 a.m. on Thursday. 

"Britney was a threat to herself," another source told E! News. "She's finally been committed."

"She has been out of control and not listening to anyone, totally uncontrollable and was worrying everyone by not taking any medication. She hasn't slept in three days."

Manager Sam Lutfi alerted Spears' psychiatrist, who made the call to get her in care, according to the source. Lutfi was said to be key in making it happen, even over the objections of the singer's recently reunited mother, Lynne.

"The scene inside the house was chaos," the insider continued. "Lynne was shouting at police. She didn't want them to take Britney away at first. It was a zoo."

Police confirmed that officers were at the Spears house but declined to comment on what went down.

About 1:14 a.m. Thursday, a convoy of emergency vehicles, led by the Spears-hauling ambulance, left the singer's home and exited through a side entrance of the gated Beverly Hills community known as the Summit. At least a dozen Los Angeles Police Department  motorcycles and  squad cars followed, trailed by Spears' family and friends and the requisite caravan of paparazzi, as the "Toxic" singer was transported to UCLA Medical Center.

Lynne Spears was spotted in the passenger seat of an SUV; Britney's boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib, sat in the rear seat. The vehicle was driven by Lynne's friend Jackie. Father Jamie Spears arrived separately, as did longtime friend Alli Sims and Lutfi.

"Lynne looked very distraught and was crying," an insider told E! News of her arrival at the hospital around 1:30. "She was very upset."

By 1:58 a.m., Spears was admitted on a 5150 hold, meaning she will be held in the psych ward for up to 72 hours.

While the parents, Ghalib and Sims were allowed into the facility, a family source tells E! News that Lutfi was initially denied entry to the waiting area at the request of the family. By 2:30 a.m., however, he was allowed inside.

While it's unclear if any one event sparked the latest meltdown, Spears and Ghalib were together at the Beverly Hills Hotel earlier in the evening but left the premises at 7:25 p.m. and headed back to the singer's home in the Summit. A source told E! News that approximately two hours later, with Ghalib still at the house, Spears and Lutfi got into an argument in one of the bathrooms in her home.

At roughly 10:37 p.m., an LAPD helicopter was seen hovering over the home, shining a light on the grounds. Just after 11, Lynne entered the gated community. An hour and a half later, at 12:30 a.m., Sims arrived. Just 44 minutes later, an ambulance arrived on the scene.

Spears' father, Jamie, did not go to Spears' home, rather he drove directly to the hospital, joining the group around 2 a.m.

The unlikely quintet previously assembled Monday night, when they confronted the Blackout artist and urged her to get treatment for what they believe is a bipolar condition.

Spears' family, friends and lawyers have told her that keeping the condition in check is the only way the troubled 26-year-old will win back shared custody of her sons with Kevin Federline.

Spears hasn't seen Sean Preston, 2, or Jayden James, 1, since Jan. 3, when she wound up being hospitalized following a bizarre standoff with police. Last week, the court commissioner overseeing the custody spat gave Spears permission to call the boys. The next hearing in the case is Feb. 4.

Last Friday, after speaking with mother Lynne for the first time in more than a month, Spears was spotted entering the Santa Monica office of a psychiatrist. Lutfi recapped the visit to The View's Barbara Walters on Monday, acknowledging Spears suffered from "mental issues, which are treatable."

Indications were that Spears had been regularly seeing a therapist and taking her meds in recent days but still had not admitted to having any problem.

"She's so unpredictable. No one trusts she'll stay on it," a Spears confidant told E! News early Wednesday. "And she has to, or else what's the point? It won't work."

—Additional reporting by Jeanifer Hwang

(Originally published January 31, 2008 at 2:38 a.m. PT.)