Britney Spears has accepted some of the blame for her latest oops moment.
The pop princess, who came under fire this week after she was photographed driving her car with her infant son Sean Preston Federline perched on her lap, has admitted that perhaps it wasn't her brightest moment.
"I made a mistake, and so it is what it is, I guess," Spears told Access Hollywood in an interview Thursday.
Though Spears violated California law by neglecting to strap her four-month-old baby into a car seat, officials said no charges were being pursued against her. However, as a result of the incident, the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services dispatched a sheriff to the singer's Malibu residence "to obtain her contact information," per the sheriff's department. (Reports suggest that this isn't the first time Spears has neglected to put Sean in a car seat, and earlier photos have shown Spears exiting her car from the passenger side while holding the baby.)
Spears said that the only reason she was driving with her child on her lap was to make a hasty escape from a swarm of paparazzi with whom she was having a "horrifying, frightful encounter" at the time.
"I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger. I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way," Spears said in a statement.
According to People's account of the incident, Spears, baby and bodyguard had taken Spears' black SUV for a spin to the local Starbucks. While the bodyguard went in to pick up some caffeinated refreshments, Spears, who was behind the wheel, unbuckled the baby from his seat and held him in her lap.
Cue "horrifying, frightful encounter," as shutterbugs moved in for the money shot of mother and child. As soon as the bodyguard returned to the car, Spears drove away, one hand on Sean Preston, one hand on the wheel.
X17, the photo agency that snapped the shots, denied Spears' account, claiming the pictures were taken "in a very peaceful context, in which photographers exhibited no aggressive behavior."
But Spears wasn't taking any chances--or the time to strap Sean Preston into his car seat.
"Being put in the situation that I was in, it was kind of bad with the paparazzi," she told Access Hollywood. "Last week, my mom and I went out and they were on us really bad, so you instinctively do what you need to do."