Television’s “Dr. Phil” McGraw has pulled the plug on plans for a one-hour show that was to examine Britney Spears’ latest public meltdown.
Celebrity Web site TMZ.com had reported on Sunday that Spears’ parents were scheduled to appear on the show Tuesday.
In a statement posted Monday on his Web site, McGraw said the 26-year-old pop star’s situation was “too intense” for him to go forward with the show. He didn’t say whether he planned to reschedule.
Spears was hospitalized Thursday night after a child custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline resulted in an hours-long standoff with police. On Friday, a court commissioner gave sole physical and legal custody of 1-year-old Jayden James and 2-year-old Sean Preston to Federline.
McGraw said he met with Spears for an hour Saturday before she left the hospital.
But according to TMZ, Dr. Phil showed up in Spears’ hospital room on Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles without the pop star's invitation.
She had been admitted on late Thursday after a custody confrontation at her home that ended in hysterics by the troubled pop star, several media outlets reported.
Sources told TMZ that Spears' parents, Lynne and James, were the ones who asked Dr. Phil to help her. When he entered Spears' room, she reportedly walked out and returned later. Sources say he tried to speak to Spears for 15 minutes and later followed the star out to her car as she left the hospital.
A spokeswoman for the hospital declined comment citing patient confidentiality, and a representative for McGraw could not be reached.
Dr. Phil speaks about visit
On Saturday, Web sites for celebrity TV shows "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" reported that McGraw walked Spears to her car. The New York Post's PageSix.com cited a "family insider" as saying Spears had "a complete nervous breakdown."
“My meeting with Britney and some 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," McGraw told the programs.
"She was released moments before my arrival and was packing when I entered the room. We visited for about an hour before I walked with her to her car. I am very concerned for her," he said.
The trouble erupted when representatives of Federline went to Spears’ home to pick up their sons from a weekend visitation.
The pop singer, who spent much of 2007 in and out of alcohol and drug rehab and battling legal problems, became hysterical, was taken from her home on a stretcher and transported to Cedars-Sinai via ambulance, television and Web sites reported.
Federline's attorneys went to a Los Angeles family court on Friday and obtained a ruling that suspended Spears' visitation rights to her two sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, until Jan. 14.
Federline had previously been awarded temporary custody because Spears has defied court orders, resulting in limitations on her visitation.
“I’m not happy about any of these events,” Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said when he left a closed-door emergency hearing Friday afternoon. “There’s no winners here.”
Federline was not in court for the hearing, Kaplan said.
The attorney had said he did not expect the ruling to be released until Monday, but it was issued shortly after the hearing concluded.
Conflict on Thursday
Spears' latest troubles began around 8 p.m. Thursday when officers were called to her home to help resolve a dispute over her refusal to turn the children over to Federline, as dictated by their custody agreement.
The dramatic situation at Spears’ home was sparked by a call from Federline to his lawyers, according to a new report from Britain’s News of the World. A friend of Federline’s also told NOTW that the situation escalated because two guns were believed to be on the premises, according to Access Hollywood.
“K-Fed was terrified,” the friend reportedly told the British tabloid. “He realized she had a gun where she was holding them.”
The tabloid claims to have learned that Federline gave Spears a Beretta pistol on a previous birthday.
“Kevin knew she was on the edge and might snap at any time,” the source reportedly told NOTW. “Knowing there were two firearms in the house, including the Beretta, he wasn’t taking any chances — hence the massive police response.”
It took two to three hours to resolve the conflict, said Officer Ana Aguirre.
“There was a time where she was within the residence and wasn’t available to be speaking to the officers, apparently,” she said. “There was no threat to the children.”
“Police resolved the conflict,” Aguirre said. “Both children were turned over to her ex-husband Kevin Federline for custody, and she was in fact taken to a local hospital for medical treatment.”
Early police reports said officers thought Spears might have been under the influence of some substance, but Aguirre said there was no evidence of that.
“Our understanding is that was not the case,” she said.
Officers at the scene determined that paramedics “needed to be called” but it was unclear why, she said.
“We’re not aware of any type of injuries that she sustained” and she was not combative with authorities, Aguirre said.
Spears was conscious as the ambulance left her home escorted by a row of police cars. A horde of paparazzi chased the ambulance, their strobes going off as they held their cameras up to the vehicle’s rear window.