The Ghost of Christmas Crazed paid a 2007 visit to Britney Spears.
The platinum-selling pop tart, sobbing and suicidal, hit rock bottom beneath the family tree in her posh Malibu mansion on the morning of Dec. 25.
Puffy-eyed and curled up in a ball, the chart-topping mother of two was incapable of speech and gasping for breath. Presents for her sons were scattered about, and tears poured down her face.
“The sight of the Christmas tree and all the gifts for the kids just broke her,” recalled ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib in his first extensive interview on their relationship.
“What she was trying to run away from hit her head on, and she fell like a sack of potatoes to the floor and couldn’t stop sobbing,” Ghalib continued. “I put my arms around her and tried to comfort her, but no words were getting through.”
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Britney Spears, with sons Sean Federline and Jayden James Federline, arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Smurfs 2′ at Regency Village Theatre on July 28, 2013 in Westwood, Calif.
According to Ghalib, Spears had expressed feelings of “wanting to end her life” — and her frenzied, traumatic state indicated she was on the brink of doing something drastic.
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“Christmas Day 2007 was just the most heartbreaking thing I have ever seen,” he recalled. “Britney was literally drowning in despair, fighting for breath, feeling her life was slipping away.
“This was no drug collapse, but a human being grieving to the point where she almost had no concern for her own welfare.”
At the time, Spears was tormented by fortune and fame while desperate to retire in Texas and live in anonymity with her kids. She was barred from seeing her sons on Christmas, and instead unwrapped their gifts by herself.
Adnan Ghalib says he was happy to see Spears performing in Las Vegas and getting her life back in order.
“She was deeply depressed and distressed and the most unhappiest person I had ever seen in my life,” he recalled. “This wasn’t drugs, but like someone suffering post-traumatic stress.
“She felt that she was being punished being away from her children and told me, ‘If I cannot see the boys, I have no reason to live.’ It was terrifying to see.”
Ghalib recalled an unhinged Spears taking prescription Adderall, downing 15 Red Bulls and smoking 40 cigarettes a day.
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“There were staff members around who gave her pills all the time saying, ‘Here are your vitamins’ — and she would just take them,” he said.
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For Spears, ‘Christmas Day 2007 was just the most heartbreaking thing I have ever seen, Ghalib recalled. ‘Britney was literally drowning in despair, fighting for breath, feeling her life was slipping away.’
“They certainly didn’t have the effect that vitamins have, and within a few minutes her pupils would be bulging and she would be wound up and frantic.”
Her mood swings were frequent and dramatic.
“Every day was unpredictable, as she switched from being happy to sinking into deep depressions regularly,” said Ghalib. “And her moods and mental state depended on what was happening with her children.”
Most of Spears’ angst came from her battle with Kevin Federline to regain joint custody of their two sons, Sean and Jayden. The singer, during her dark times, was limited to visits with the boys.
“When she knew the kids were coming over, it was her be all and end all,” he recounted. “On those days she would be happy, smiley and singing around the house.
The Daily News front page on Feb. 18, 200, with the story about Spears shaving her head.
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“They were saying she was going crazy, but she felt her kids were being kept away from her and felt so lost she tried anything to escape or distract herself.”
When something came up and the visits were canceled, Spears became inconsolable.
“Britney would sink to her knees and weep uncontrollably,” he said. “She often ran to her bedroom, slammed the door and then refused to come out. She became consumed knowing the kids weren’t with her, calling out their names as she laid on her bed crying for hours on end. No one could get through to her.
“Often she would stay locked away the whole day, not eating or drinking.”
The Daily News cover of Feb. 23, 2007, showing Spears attacking a car with an umbrella.
When she emerged, the paparazzi were inevitably waiting.
“She would just run out of the house, jump in the car and drive away,” said Ghalib. “She would be distraught and act so erratically, and, of course, with the media watching her every step.”
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Spears spoke often of chucking her celebrity lifestyle for something more sedate.
“Britney kept saying, ‘Let’s buy a two-bedroom home in Texas, bring the boys down and just live away from here. I don’t want to be followed by photographers or fans anymore,’ ” he recalled.
infusla-52/Karl Larsen/INFphoto.com
Spears bares her naked belly for the first time in public sans airbrushed abs for her Las Vegas show ‘Piece of Me’ at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas on Dec. 28, 2013.
“And she told me several times when she didn’t have the kids around: ‘Let’s just start our own family, let’s have a baby. We will live in Texas and they won’t be able to take them away.’ Another occasion she said, ‘Let’s leave here and move to your home in England.’”
At one point during their relationship, Spears thought she was pregnant — but it proved a false alarm.
Ghalib says the best moments of their time together came when the couple was far from the spotlight.
“I remember one day in Palm Springs she wanted to sit and watch ‘I Love Lucy’ at our hotel,” he said. “She would laugh and smile, and just wanted to be cuddled and held. It was like having a normal girlfriend.
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“We would have room service delivered and just sit laughing at the goofy humor.”
Ghalib said he was happy to see Spears performing in Las Vegas and getting her life back in order.
“I have seen firsthand that she is a music genius and very intelligent,” he said.
“I watched her write songs for the ‘Blackout’ album in front of me on a napkin and then recite to me exactly how the videos and tour would play out.
“She will always be Britney Spears — music superstar — to the world because of what she has achieved,” said Ghalib.
“But to me I always picture her as that beautiful, vulnerable little girl who just wanted to be a great mom.”
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