It predates bulimia nervosa as an eating disorder distinct from anorexia nervosa.

Perhaps future coverage of this story could focus on the blame we assign to those with eating disorders rather than just chastising tabloids for doing so. Britney Spears is obviously a very troubled woman and focusing on her body--rather than her mind and heart--even on Broadsheet, even to defend her, even with the best of intentions, only makes the problem worse for her and all others with EDs. Focus on her eating disorder and she'll turn to drugs to mask it, and then she will die. And we will all be complicit.

This is the day Britney returned to network TV to flog her new album on GMA. Some understanding, please, about the nature of self-promotion and publicity. About a woman's agency (in both senses). Binging and purging is as unsafe and unhealthy as Britney's earlier pathologies. It's entirely up to her to be in the public eye and take the scrutiny along with the dollars, as she makes her recovery the story.

But since she shares two chromosomes with a Broadsheet writer, tribal loyalty will as usual overcome the weight of evidence. Britney's being picked on. Remember how they made fun of Anna Nichole.

She is a train-wreck because she was created to be an International Singing Sensation before she learned how to be a grown-up. She was all of what, 12? 13? when she put on those Mickey Ears and became a Brand instead of a person. She was used by her parents, her friends, her producers and her entourage. They all destroyed her to make their money.

If any one of us were given insta-fame, boatloads of money, closets full of trampy clothes, and instant wish-fulfillment, (not to mention a job where we were on display 24-7 and expected to behave outrageously) before we'd completed puberty, I doubt any of us would be sane at 30.

This poor woman needs to be in intensive therapy. She needs to be given tools and skills to live a non "celebritart" lifestyle. She needs to retire from show biz before it kills her. She needs some sort of witness-protection program for fading stars.

But I do know that Britney signed a contract prior to her breakdown, one which I'm sure the record company, her parents, etc., are making sure that she fullfills. If she doesn't, she'd probably get the crap sued out of her.

Publicity and promotion are part and parcel of any recording contract; they tell her where to go and she better go or else.

Her father is the permanent conservator of her estate, so if she wanted to pack it all in, sell her house in Hollywood, and move back to Louisiana, she has to have his permission to do so. She can't even retain her own lawyer. Any money she earns is managed by him and I beleive her brother. Not to mention, leaving Hollywood would mean leaving her kids because she doesn't have custody of them. The fact that the court took such a drastic step pretty much shows that, to excuse the term, Britney was batshit crazy at the time.

So yeah, I feel sorry for her. Not because she and I share the same number of chromosones, but because I think it would suck to be a 27 year old woman who doesn't have ANY control over your life. And she's obviously been ill or is ill and probably heavily medicated to boot.

... mentally ill, and the media would do her a great favor by not mentioning her at all and allowing her to retire to private life.

Seriously, so?

another story about another supposed victim.

who in their teens would NOT want to have what she had?

who is ready to stand up and DEFEND Michael Jackson, who went through that same process when HE was a child.

I know the answer already. If you are male, you are somehow the perpetrator, never the victim. You are not to be liked or pitied or understood but merely slammed or jailed or placed on meds. If you are female, you are the victim, never the perpetrator. You are to be given all sorts of breaks and everyone considers you to not have been capable of making any decisions, only on being pushed around.

Are you kidding?

I pity Britney Spears, not because she and I happen to both be women, but because she has obviously been severly mentally damaged from being forced into stardom at the tender age of 16.

I pity Michael Jackson even more. He was pushed into stardom at the age of 8, and no one - NO ONE is caring for that poor man. I disagree with many who think that Britney's dad shouldn't be taking care of her - her parents should be there and helping her through this. Did they see how she was spending her money and time? She needed guidance, and that just happened to come in the form of her father. No one did that for Michael Jackson and look where he ended up.

Child stars who are not kept in check by their parents are to be pitied. A child or teen needs bounds, even when they are 'stars' and when that does not happen - well just watch The Surreal Life and you will see what happens when parents don't.

"who in their teens would NOT want to have what she had?"

Um, me. Sure, it might've made my life easier as a teenager to have had more money and to have been prettier. But to have been put through THAT?! Lord, no.

I pity Michael Jackson, too. He was abused and emotionally stunted as a child. That doesn't override his responsibility to become an adult and behave like one. Neither does it so for Britney.

I do hate the way our collective perverse fascination with her seems to bring out all of our worst, most childish impulses towards messed up girls. But I think she knows very well that if she ever does decide to grow up, she'll be a whole lot less interesting to watch for a huge faction of American consumers.