Britney Jean Spears (b. December 2, 1981, McComb, Mississippi) is an American pop music singer, songwriter, and dancer. She currently resides in Beverly Hills, California.

She is best known for her studio albums, music videos, and songs such as "...Baby One More Time", "Oops!...I Did It Again", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Toxic", for which she won a Grammy Award.In the early 2000s, Spears' success as a singer led her way to high-profile advertising deals and endorsements, as well as forays into other forms of media, including film and reality television. Her third and fourth albums, Britney and In the Zone, were released during this era. In 2004, she married back-up dancer and aspiring rap artist Kevin Federline, and the following year she gave birth to their first son, Sean Preston. Their second son, Jayden James, was born in 2006. Spears filed for divorce from Federline on November 7, 2006 citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on July 30, 2007.

Spears has sold over seventy-six million albums worldwide according to Time magazine The RIAA ranks her as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history, having sold thirty-one million albums in the U.S.

Britney then marries a boy from her childhood years, the marriage getting annulled three days later. Two months beyond this, she gets engaged to Kevin Federline, divorced father of two at 26 years old. Within six months, Spears is married; three smash (and a few not so) hits, a moderately successful fragrance, and a crashing five-episode reality show failure later, Britney gives birth to baby Sean Preston Federline.

And though Britney has purportedly an “Original Doll” album in the making, clearly suggesting her awareness that her Lolita image is what works (or worked best), it is that image that has incurred the disdain of many: Governor Robert Ehrlich’s wife, First Lady Kendel, would “like to shoot Britney Spears;” is questioned as a fit role model; and is, of course, likened to Madonna—though she is far less the savvy and knowledgeable one, and cannot claim anywhere near the struggles and creative challenges Madonna has earned the right to.

So, consider the latest kinds of coverage on Britney Spears: first, while a star-search online usually yields a Wikipedia entry on page one of Google, for example, when you search for Britney Spears, the wiki entry shows up half way down page two. Hmmm. Next, in the latest edition of Us Weekly (which is generous with Jessica Simpson shots or plastered with Angelina Jolie articles and features), the items that appear on Brit involve 1) a photo of her in a food-stained dress, which she wore, Us said, on March 14; 2) a photo of her coming out of a gas station bathroom sans shoes, August 04 [also shown in earlier grocery store rags, btw].

But where are the shots of the baby? In that same issue, motherhood (and father hood) is a predominant theme—a three-paged bit is done on Angelina Jolie, featuring a full-paged and an additional inset photo of Jolie with newly adopted Zahara; centerfold “Mommy & Me” photographs appear with Liv Tyler, Kate Moss, and Denise Richards hanging out with their kids; and in “The Stars are Just Like Us!” we even see monumental stars like the great Dustin Hoffman taking his son to a NY Nicks game.

So is lack of baby evidence to protect the baby as well? Is it to protect and endure Britney’s teeny-bopper image? Is it to protect the hearts of the wishful thinking fans who fantasize being with Britney without baby or happily married mate in tow? It may be we will never know, as the line between popularity (candid, serendipitous coverage) and publicity (intentional stagings) is paper thin.