“We thought she was dying”

Tony Barretto

Britney Spears former bodyguard Tony Barretto spoke to UK tabloid News of the World over the weekend. And he pretty much sold her out. Remember Howie Day? Britney met him in rehab. He seems fun:

Hysterical Britney, 25, called aides, claiming Day was refusing to let her leave their hotel room. Tony recalled: “She said she wanted to cancel the tour. She was very confused. We asked her if she was OK and reminded her she had a show to do. Then Howie came on the phone and started arguing with us. We knew we had to get to her fast.”

Tony raced to LA’s plush Mondrian Hotel with another bodyguard and Britney’s best friend and PA Alli Sims. When they got to their room they found the door open and an appalling scene inside.

“We could see Britney all red-eyed from crying. Howie was lying in his boxers asleep on the bed. The hotel room was trashed. There were half-eaten plates of food everywhere. There were blankets all over the floor, clothes strewn everywhere. The trash was emptied everywhere over the floor. The entire place was littered with empty beer bottles and liquor bottles, small glasses of ice and cigarette butts everywhere. On the surface of the dresser, I could see mounds of white powder and a straw on top. I suspected it was cocaine or powdered methamphetamines. By the side I spotted a glass pipe, which I knew from my drugs training was often used with crystal meth.”

Tony went on: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Britney was completely out of it. We thought she’d overdosed. She was distraught, crying. Her skin was all waxy. She looked so ill. We tried to speak to her. My fellow bodyguard and Alli were so worried they wanted to get hold of a medic to detoxify her. We were panicking. We thought she was going to die. There was talk about where to put the detox line it was that serious—through her arm, which would make fans think she’d been injecting, or through her neck. It was very distressing. Eventually we decided to get her out of there. We grabbed her and took her downstairs. All the time all she could say was, ‘I don’t feel good’. In the car she was really odd. She kept asking for the air con to be turned up because she was sweating so much. I knew that was a bad sign. Somehow, we managed to get her to the gig and on stage in time. When she started singing she was staring intensely at me. She was out of it. I kept telling the other guard she needed help but he said she’ll get you if that’s the case.”

“Critics later panned her performance for lip-synching to her biggest hits.” Tony said: “On the way home, she was making up strange songs and singing them in a weird voice. Then she wound down the window and started yelling, ‘I’m a rock star. I’m a rock star’.” (Source)

And that’s just part of the interview, though the rest of it’s pretty boring–like that time Britney was driving with her kids on the wrong side of the road “like a lunatic.” Or how Britney often keeps her children up late so they’ll sleep through the morning and not bother her. Ya’ know, ordinary “mom” stuff no one wants to read about.

Read more about: Britney Spears, Tony Barretto

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