Britney Spears' last laugh: Career and personal life on track

By April MacIntyre Jan 18, 2009, 17:46 GMT

Back bitches: 12/02/2008 - Britney Spears - Britney Spears Performs Circus Show on ABC\'s Good Morning America for Her Birthday - December 2, 2008 - Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center - New York City, NY, USA © Mark Dye / PR Photos

Say what you will about Britney Spears, but her core team of her dad and manager Larry Rudolph have pulled the Louisiana pop star from the brink of complete career meltdown (and the clutches of "Sam" and "Adnan") for an eleventh hour miracle resurrection.

Perhaps Rudolph can do the same for troubled star Joaquin Phoenix, currently in free-fall from his career high performance in James Mangold's brilliant film, "Walk the Line."

Britney has now unveiled her tour-ready body, a far cry from the lackluster, disastrous 2007 MTV award show appearance.  In 2007, People magazine quoted an "insider": "She was extremely nervous. It's been a while since she's done this, and she was performing in front of all her peers, on live TV. She just got out there and froze."

MTV sources told People the scene in the star's dressing room before the show was one of "absolute blind panic".

"She knew she hadn't rehearsed enough and was going to mess up the whole show and possibly her career — then she saw her hairdo and it was the final straw...She went into a wild rage and started lashing out at everyone — including her stylist."

Attendees reported that Spears looked "like a zombie", was "unprepared" and "half asleep" in her stage performance.

Well, what a difference a year makes.
 
Britney Spears is ripped and fit, and more importantly focused once again.

Spears showed off her toned abs in new photos posted on her Web site as she rehearsed for her upcoming tour.

Her contributing choreographer JaQuel Knight and Jose have helped the “Womanizer” singer get it together. 

Spears shared with tabloid OK! last August that she is on the eating right and daily exercising plan that has yielded big results.

“I’m the healthiest I’ve been all my life,” she said to OK!. “My diet has a lot to do with my getting into shape. I have no sugar. I don’t eat fruit or even fruit juice because of the sugar. I eat chicken and salmon and rice. I eat avocados. I’ll have egg whites for breakfast and sometimes turkey burgers for lunch.”

“I try to do just 1,200 calories a day,” she added. “It may sound like it’s not much, but it’s actually a lot of food if you eat the right things.”

Spears’ tour to support “Circus,” begins in March in Louisiana.

link_photos