The bodyguard story: kids
suffer as she sinks into drugs hell
BRITNEY WAS SWEATING, HER PUPILS WERE
HUGE.. WE THOUGHT SHE WAS DYING
WORLD EXCLUSIVE
By James Desborough & Carol Aye Maung
THE bodyguard of tormented Britney Spears
today reveals the damning drugs evidence that may cost her her
children.
Tony Barretto filed shattering, secret testimony at the hearing
over custody of her two boys on Monday.
Here for the FIRST TIME he details his evidence and lays bare
the FULL terrifying depths of the star's addiction and its effects
on her children.
His shocking account persuaded a worried judge to
order Britney to be tested for drugs TWICE A WEEK. And here Barretto
dramatically tells how the tormented singer:
OVERDOSED in a drug-strewn hotel room on a binge with junkie lover Howie Day
just days after checking out of rehab. "She was in a terrible
state, just sweating and shaking. Her pupils were huge—we thought
she was dying," said Tony;
CONTINUES BELOW
WEB EXCLUSIVE:
READ WEB-ONLY SECTIONS OF TONY'S INTERVIEW
THE TRUTH ABOUT
BIZARRE DIVA LIFESTYLE
READ HOW BRITNEY
FLASHES AT STAFF
THE BRITNEY RULE
BOOK
SHOCKINGLY, he believes Britney was under the influence of drugs
and booze at home while her two sons Sean, two, and year-old Jayden
James, were there;
SECRETLY snorted cocaine over TWO NIGHTS with pals in a trendy LA nightclub.
Frightening
Man mountain 6ft 7in Barretto, 27—nicknamed Fat Tony—told us: "I gave evidence to the court because Britney is out of control and needs help.
"I have done this for her children. She's not a good mother. She has mental problems. With her drug and booze issues, her home is no place for kids to be raised."
His last-minute evidence capped a nightmare week for Britney in which she was dumped by her manager Jeff Kwatinetz and her lawyer.
She hired married dad-of-two Tony—a former private eye—days after checking out of the Promises rehab centre in Malibu on March 26 and publicly declaring she had beaten booze and drug problems.
Tony is a drugs expert after taking a ten-week police course about their dangers. He realised Britney's willpower had not lasted—on the frightening night of May 2 in Los Angeles, just hours before the start of her comeback tour in Anaheim.
She went on a date with musician Day, 26—who she'd met in rehab—telling her worried protection team she didn't need them. Tony said: "We did security checks on Howie and told her he was trouble. But she ignored us."
Hours later hysterical Britney, 25, called aides, claiming Day was refusing to let her leave their hotel room. Tony recalled: "She said she wanted to cancel the tour. She was very confused. We asked her if she was OK and reminded her she had a show to do. Then Howie came on the phone and started arguing with us. We knew we had to get to her fast."
Tony raced to LA's plush Mondrian Hotel with another bodyguard and Britney's best friend and PA Alli Sims. When they got to their room they found the door open and an appalling scene inside.
Tony said: "We could see Britney all red-eyed from crying. Howie was lying in his boxers asleep on the bed. The hotel room was trashed.
"There were half-eaten plates of food everywhere. There were blankets all over the floor, clothes strewn everywhere. The trash was emptied everywhere over the floor.
"The entire place was littered with empty beer bottles and liquor bottles, small glasses of ice and cigarette butts everywhere.
"On the surface of the dresser, I could see mounds of white powder and a straw on top. I suspected it was cocaine or powdered methamphetamines.
"By the side I spotted a glass pipe, which I knew from my drugs training was often used with crystal meth."
The drug has similar effects to amphetamine and ecstasy. Overdosing can cause heart failure.
Tony went on: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Britney was completely out of it. We thought she'd overdosed. She was distraught, crying. Her skin was all waxy. She looked so ill. We tried to speak to her. My fellow bodyguard and Alli were so worried they wanted to get hold of a medic to detoxify her. We were panicking. We thought she was going to die.
"There was talk about where to put the detox line it was that serious—through her arm, which would make fans think she'd been injecting, or through her neck.
"It was very distressing. Eventually we decided to get her out of there. We grabbed her and took her downstairs. All the time all she could say was, ‘I don't feel good'.
"In the car she was really odd. She kept asking for the air con to be turned up because she was sweating so much. I knew that was a bad sign.
"Somehow, we managed to get her to the gig and on stage in time. When she started singing she was staring intensely at me. She was out of it. I kept telling the other guard she needed help but he said she'll get you if that's the case."
"Critics later panned her performance for lip-synching to her biggest hits.
Tony said: "On the way home, she was making up strange songs and
singing them in a weird voice. 
"Then she wound down the window and started yelling, ‘I'm a rock star. I'm a rock star'."
It wasn't the only time Tony witnessed Britney with drugs. "I saw her snort white powder on two nights out at Teddy's nightclub in LA," he said. "The first time, she was in a private booth. She was sat with another girl.
"The second time she had asked me to walk her to the rest room. After she'd been inside for about half an hour I poked my head round the door. There she was with a straw up her nose."
Most disturbing for dad-of-two Tony was her still being hung over by booze and drugs at home with the kids close by. "There were times when Britney appeared to be under the influence near them," he said. "It was frightening.
"She has a whiskey stash in her pantry—and even if the children are close by,
that doesn't stop her drinking. After rehab she didn't want people
to see her boozing. So in clubs she'd have Jack Daniel's and coke
in polystyrene cups so it would look like coffee." 
Tony added: "I noticed that when she was under the influence of drugs at home, she behaved the same way as she'd done on drugs at the club.
Nails
"I was worried about the children due to her erratic behaviour. She wouldn't talk to them at all and she would be in her own world.
"I remember being in the hallway, and she was at the other end looking completely out of it.
"She would be nervously chewing her fingernails and babbling away. We'd have to look after the kids while she went through her strange behaviour.
"I know enough about drugs to know she was not being the normal Britney."
Tony's fears led to him making his 11th hour deposition at this week's custody hearing. His US attorney Gloria Allred described his evidence as "highly explosive".
It c
ould spell the end of Britney's hopes of gaining custody of
her children from ex-husband Federline.
The LA court judge was so appalled by it that, on top of the weekly drug tests, he ordered Britney to do eight-hour weekly sessions with a parenting coach.
Tony said: "I hope this will be wake-up call to her. I like Britney. All I want is for her to be a success and a good mum."
BABBLE SCARED SONS
BRITNEY'S young children were often FRIGHTENED by their
mum talking to them in weird voices, according to Tony.
He also told how she kept Jayden James and Sean Preston up
late so they would sleep through the mornings and not wake her.
If they woke early, a member of staff dealt with them.
Tony said: "Britney does love her kids but she is a fickle
mum. When the kids are happy, she's happy. When they're crying
or unwell, she's not sure what to do.
"She speaks to them in weird, creepy, baby voices, in made-up
languages, which they just don't get. All it does is unsettle,
upset and scare them. Often she would scream and cry uncontrollably.
Imagine what that is like for young children."
Tony said he never saw her feed the boys. He added: "When they
are unwell, her answer is: ‘Give the baby a bottle of medicine.'
I've never seen her deal with them like a full, attentive mum."
Tony knew he had to take action when Britney nearly wrote off
her car with the kids inside. He said: "We followed her but
she was driving like a lunatic on the wrong side of the road.
It was terrifying."
On Friday Britney was charged with hit-and-run and driving
without a licence after allegedly crashing into a parked car
in a separate incident. She could face up to six months in jail.
READ
MISS MIFFED THEN HAVE YOUR SAY
(c) Copyright News of the World 2007
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