Midnight Celebrity: Britney Spears’ parents blast Dr. Phil for “violating their trust”

Britney Spears' parents have hit out at TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw - claiming he breached their trust and misled the public for speaking out about his hospital visit with their troubled daughter.

"He was not invited to make this a public display," Lou Taylor, a spokesperson for Brit's mom Lynne, said on Wednesday's Today show.

Taylor also claimed that at no time had the family planned to do a show with McGraw, 57, despite his statements about such a program.

McGraw later said the scheduled episode would not go on as originally planned, claiming the situation surrounding the troubled pop princess was "too intense" for him to go ahead with the taping.

"It was decided it would be detrimental to ever do that," said Taylor, who described McGraw's request for such a show in the first place to be "self-serving." She also said that McGraw has now "compromised" Lynne and Jamie Lynn's relationship with their 26-year-old daughter.

Taylor confirmed that McGraw had been sent to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday to meet with Britney at the request of the family, and that Lynne Spears and McGraw's wife, Robin, know one another.

Asked by Today's Meredith Vieira if McGraw had ever treated Britney on any previous occasions, Taylor replied, "Not to my knowledge."

On Friday, when McGraw visited the troubled Toxic Siger in the hospital — he claims Lynne initially called him him to intervene — he released a statement, saying Britney was "in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention" and that he planned to address her situation on an upcoming episode of Dr. Phil Now.

Of media criticism surrounding his association with Spears, he said in a statement Monday, "they want to criticize me for trying to help her? Get real. She needs less publicity, not more!"

Britney's troubles have put her family in a difficult position. "She needs to be on suicide watch," her aunt, Chanda McGovern, told Us Weekly magazine, in its latest issue, on newsstands now.

Dr. Phil. shot to fame following appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1998. In 2002, he launched his own syndicated daily television show, Dr. Phil, produced by Winfrey's Harpo Studios.

In 1989, The Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists imposed disciplinary sanctions on Dr. Phil for an inappropriate "dual relationship" reported in 1988 by a therapy client from 1984. McGraw was later ordered by the Board to take an ethics class, pass a jurisprudence exam, complete a physical evaluation, undergo a psychological evaluation and have his practice supervised for one year in order to continue his private practice in Texas. McGraw admits to giving the client a "job" at his office (which is forbidden), but denied carrying on an inappropriate relationship with the 19 year old, who claimed their relationship was "sexually inappropriate." As of 2008, McGraw is still not licensed to practice psychology.

Dr. Phil has also been condemned by, several other people in his profession; one psychiatrist deemed Phil's actions "intrusive and inappropriate." Another psychiatrist said the hospital "is supposed to be a safe place. If the patient doesn't want to see someone, that person doesn't get in - period."

And two of the industry's most respected mental health clinicians, doctors Drew Pinsky and Keith Ablow have also given their opinion on the whole Britney Spears saga.
"I fear that there could be a really bad outcome here," Dr Ablow told Extra. "She needs a comprehensive plan and she needs confidentiality. She needs to be treated like a person, not a star."

For Ablow, the Britney buck stops with her mom Lynne, who he says must be a part of any recovery program.

"Here's the bottom line," he said. "When your 16-year-old daughter [Jamie Lynn Spears] is pregnant, and your older daughter is in a psychiatric facility and your grandkids don't seem well cared for, but you look pretty put-together, generally I start to look to the put-together person and say, 'I'd like to talk to you.'"

Ablow believes the troubled 'Gimme More' singer should be weary of being pushed into the spotlight even more.

"That should be like a looking glass for her," he said. "She should say, 'Have they ever been purely interested in me as a child, as a young woman, as a developing person, or have I always been a commodity to them in part?' That could be the beginning of a walk toward the truth for her."

Pinsky adds that Brit needs to do something.. before it's too late.

He said: "If she doesn't begin to turn it around in the next two to four weeks, I would say you're going to see her on a ventilator in an ICU somewhere.

"It looks as if we're watching an Anna Nicole Smith type case revolve in real time."

By Owen Williams, Jan 09 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy

Category Britney Spears, Showbiz Gossip

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