Thursday, January 10, 2008

Britney's folk not happy with Dr. Phil blabbing to media

Last week Dr. Phil, TV's answer to Jerry Springer, made a "house call" to visit Britney Spears when she was hospitalized for - well - freaking out. Of course being that anything related to Britney makes headlines and rather than receive praise for his effort, Dr. Phil has actually been villified by many as using the situation for his own purposes. For his part Phil didn't disclose any details of his one hour "talk" with Britney because he said that would be unprofessional.

O-kaaaaay...

However, he did make an overture extending an invitation to appear on his show and when that didn't work out he moved on to her parents, who also refused. Now the Spears family is mad.

"Britney Spears' family says "Dr. Phil" McGraw crossed the line by not keeping his mouth shut after making a house call on the singer last week. Lou Taylor, a business manager for Spears' mother, Lynne, and younger sister, Jamie Lynn, appeared on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday and said McGraw had betrayed the family's trust by talking to the media about Spears' mental health after showing up at the 26-year-old pop star's hospital room on Saturday for a visit.

"The family basically extended an invitation of trust for him to come in as a resource to support them, not to go out and make public statements," Taylor said. "Any statement publicly that he made, because he was brought in under this cloak of trust, (is) just inappropriate." Taylor said McGraw was invited to the hospital by Spears' family, but "he was not invited to make this part of a public display or part of the media."

This is really a somewhat surprising and amusing reaction coming from the family of a celebrity that will go to any length to attract the attention of paps.

"McGraw said earlier this week that he was shelving plans for a show on Spears' latest breakdown. He said Spears' predicament was "too intense" for him to go on with the show. Taylor said the syndicated TV psychologist broached the idea of the show to Spears' handlers, who eventually decided that such a show would be "detrimental" to the family.

Actually, there was no reason for Dr. Phil to comment on their meeting, period, or provide any background information. His blabbing to the media makes him out as an opportunist and somewhat wanting as a medical professional. Dr. Phil is/was a psychologist before he became...Dr. Phil, superstar.

"Mental health professionals also criticized McGraw this week, saying he went too far by showing up at Spears' room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles as she was about to be discharged. McGraw fired back at his critics in an interview with "Entertainment Tonight" on Monday. "Somebody needs to step up and get this young woman into some quality care -- and I do not apologize one whit, not one second, for trying to make that happen," he said."

Oh well... Sometimes being a TV doctor-come-savior ain't easy.

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