JAPAN: Japanese fans of Britney Spears are saddened by the US pop idols' hospitalisation

Record ID: 462278

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese fans of Britney Spears are saddened by the US pop idols' hospitalisation
  • Date: 7th February 2008
  • Summary: MORE TOKYO STREET SCENES WITH TRAFFIC AND SAMSUNG AND OTHER ADVERRTISMENTS
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4D2IBEH8WD0SWU1S7C7J0NZLE
  • Story Text: Japanese music fans are shocked and saddened by U.S. pop star Britney Spears hospitalisation.
    Japanese pop music fans on Friday (February 1) were shocked at the sudden hospitalisation of troubled pop star Britney Spears at a Los Angeles hospital on psychiatric hold and for the second time in a month on Thursday (January 31).
    Spears, 26, whose life has grown increasingly erratic in the past 12 months, is being held for a three-day mental evaluation on the orders of her psychiatrist, her self-styled manager, Sam Lutfi, told celebrity news media.
    The news shocked some and saddened many of her fans in Tokyo on Friday (February 1) who have been following her whole saga on japanese variety shows.

    "I feel sorry for her, but then she's done what she's done and what happened could of only happened, I suppose," Mai Kanasuga (Pronounced Mah-ee Kah-nah-soo-gee) a 21-year unversity student commuting past the trendy Tokyo district of Shibuya.

    "I thought she was weird from some time ago, so its sort of expected. She's a wreck," another Tokyo resident and university student, Ayaka Tanaka (pronounced Ah-yah-kah Tah-nah-kah) said.

    "I think she is great so I hope she gets better soon and gets out of hospital as soon as possible," Narumi Kinoshita (pronounced Nah-roo-mee Kee-noh-shee-tah) , 32, who identified herself as an actor.

    "She got to the top of her world, didn't she? She must have been under a lot of pressure just being there," added 20-year-old university student Takuya Furuichi (pronounced Tah-koo-yah Foo-roo-ee-chee).
    News video showed more than a dozen police motorcycles and squad cars leaving Spears' Los Angeles home shortly after midnight on Thursday and taking her to the UCLA Medical Center.
    The hospital declined to confirm Spears was a patient, citing confidentiality.
    Road blocks were set up in a vain bid to deter paparazzi who have trailed the former pop phenomenon round the clock as her life has spun out of control.
    Spears' estranged mother, Lynne, and her father, Jamie, were pictured leaving the hospital on Thursday along with Lutfi.
    Celebrity web site TMZ.com said the pop star's psychiatrist felt Spears was a danger to herself because of reckless driving and a recent deterioration in her behavior.
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