BODYGUARD Tony Barretto today lifts the lid on the dangerously crazy world of Britney Spears and how her bizarre lifestyle is threatening to affect her two young children.

He has witnessed first hand how the once fresh-faced pop pin-up has degenerated into a disturbed, bloated and directionless diva.

Tony reveals the washed-up star, who still makes a staggering £371,000 A MONTH, spends her time either in bed, in a tanning salon or shopping for junk.

And he branded her behaviour as bordering on schizophrenic.

Tony, who was sacked by the volatile star in May after he failed to pick up a hat she dropped, said: "She was in a different world most of the time. I don't think she even knew my name because she only ever called me 'baby' or 'honey'."

But whatever the boozed-up star wanted, he had to do it -even letting her rub her BREASTS on his BOTTOM.

Tony recalled: "We were at a party in Teddy's club in LA one night and I was standing by the dancefloor keeping an eye on the people around her.

"All of a sudden she came up behind me and started rubbing herself on me. She rubbed her breasts on me and ran her hands provocatively up and down my back.

Grinding

"I turned around, and she then smiled at me. Over my earpiece, the other bodyguard told me, 'Dance with her'. I replied, 'Are you kidding?' He just snapped back, 'She wants you to dance'.

"So I found myself dancing away with her. She was in a skimpy dress, bumping and grinding into me.

"At one point, she spun round and pushed her bottom into my groin. It was very embarrassing because she doesn't wear knickers.

"But the weird thing is she does buy knickers because I've seen her. So I don't know what she does with them."

Tony also revealed how her depression over her split from Federline drove her close to emotional breakdown and suicide. He said: "I arrived at Britney's home one day to find the most horrible atmosphere. She was screaming and sobbing in her room-and what made us all even more nervous was that she had sent her nanny home and told her PA Alli to pack her bags.

"As Alli was leaving, she told us, 'She's told me to leave. It's in your hands now. Look after the kids'.

"I remember the other bodyguard told me, 'Britney's shutting down. I've seen her acting suicidal before. It was just before she shaved all her hair off.

"He also told me to keep an eye on the kids and, whatever happened, not to let them near the swimming pool. It was about 2pm. All I could do was keep checking on the pool.

"All sorts of things were going through my mind. One of those was to quit my job. It was all getting too much. I was genuinely scared she would hurt herself." Her bizarre behaviour worried him. He said: "As well as talking in strange voices to the children Britney would talk in strange made-up languages to me too.

"And the expression in her face was always deadly serious. One time I found her out by the trash. She was mumbling and talking a whole made-up language.

Outbursts

"I couldn't understand a word of it. It was like something from a different language, like she was trying to be someone else. It was quite scary. She was very confused."

Tony said she clearly regretted shaving her head. "I remember seeing her without her wig on once and it was a shock-although she still looked attractive," he said.

"But she'd have outbursts of crying over it. Once I saw her standing by the sink, shaking, sobbing.

"She was in shorts and a skimpy shirt with no wig on, extremely upset.

"You could see the tears running down her face. I asked, 'Are you okay, Britney?' She nodded, and turned away from making any more eye contact with me. She looked so lost."

He was also shocked by her strange daily rituals.

Tony revealed: "After getting up at lunchtime and drinking her Starbucks coffee, she goes to a tanning shop in Bel Air, where she spends ten minutes on a UV bed every day. After that she usually eats sushi for lunch or bowls of Special K.

"We were always having to go out to get her Special K.

"And she downs can after can of Red Bull or cola. She drinks three Red Bulls an hour. That completes her daily routine."

One of Tony's other duties involved vetting Britney's mail.

Stalkers

He said: "I was pretty shocked to discover the number of stalkers she has.

"She would get two letters a day from stalkers-and some of them were way out there.

"She attracts some pretty sick types. What she needs more than anything is her family round her. I never ever met or saw her mother or sister Jamie Lynn because she had fallen out with them.

"She never mentioned their names ever.

"But when I first started work, one of the most important directives I was given was, 'My dad is NOT to be on this property'. That was made very clear."

Yet the sad star, who forged a showbiz friendship with bad girl Paris Hilton, is desperate for new friends.

Tony revealed: "She keeps an album called her My New Friends Photo Album.

"It has a special ornate cover and she is constantly updating it. The funny thing is I'm told I am still on the front page of that book even though she sacked me." Britney was also obsessive about her clothes. Her bodyguards had to take pictures of her in what she was wearing EVERY day.

"She seemed to want to capture every outfit she wore," said Tony. "She loves dressing up in weird wigs and outfits.

Risk

"Every day she'd ask us all what we thought about what she was wearing. It really mattered to her.

"She'd say, 'Do you think I look nice, y'all?' We'd all tell her 'yes'-because we didn't want to risk putting our jobs on the line.

"Or being on the end of her temper."

Mobile phones didn't last long in the star's hands. "In eight weeks, I saw her get through SIX expensive cellphones," said Tony.

"She'd smash them up or throw them out of the window during phone fights with Kevin Federline."

One thing Britney hated was getting too close to her fans.

"She loved shopping and not just in the classy shops.

"She'd often have us arrange for RiteAid (the US equivalent of Superdrug) to be closed down so she could shop without anyone bothering her.

"Britney absolutely hates anyone touching her-even her bodyguards when we are leading her to safety."

But she really hates fans touching her, asking her for autographs and pictures. Tony said: "If that happens, there is the potential for us ALL to have a bad day because it puts her in such a bad mood."

Tony was devastated at his abrupt firing back in May. Britney dropped her hat and ordered him to pick it up.

As the star was already aware, Tony was born with a hearing problem.

She had to ask him three times before he heard and picked it up.

"I was made to go and stay in the car like a dog. That's how she treated me. I was told she 'didn't want to see my face'.

"I felt hurt and embarrassed. One of the other bodyguards tried to smooth things over and sent her a text reminding Britney about my hearing problem.

"The response was so cold and unsympathetic, it shocked me. It said, 'I forgot. But I can't deal with it'.

Respect

"When I got back to the house I was barred from entering, and all my items were brought out to me. That's how it ended.

"I would have laid down my life for Britney and her kids. You would have thought she would have had more respect for me."

£3,000 a day in readies

BRITNEY'S minders were given £3,000 A DAY in cash to finance her out-of-control shopping.

Tony said: "She thought nothing of spending money even though she couldn't be trusted to carry her own credit card or cash.

"She wasn't responsible enough for that. The other bodyguard and I would have to carry the cash which was delivered to us daily in a white money bag to pay for whatever she wanted to buy."

The only time she was happy was when she was shopping. Tony added: "She could certainly spend money-even in junk shops. In one, she spent £4,000 on stuff including an old chandelier.

"I spent 45 minutes putting up the thing for her and then it didn't work. Britney's response was, 'Get rid of it'.

Empty

"Money was no object because she didn't know the value of it.

"I remember she decided to go to Puerto Rico on a whim. We found a private jet she could hire.

"It cost £30,000. But then just before she was due to go, she changed her mind.

"When we told her that there was a £20,000 cancellation fee because it was such short notice, her attitude was 'doesn't matter, don't care'.

"We were given up to £3,000 a day-but Britney couldn't be trusted to look after it herself."

As well as the money, Tony would also have to drip-feed Britney the 100 Marlboro Lights that she chain-smoked through her empty days.

Tony added: "She employs four bodyguards but we were all at her beck and call like servants and asked to do things we weren't supposed to do."