"Oops" Britney again misses deposition

The one-time queen of pop Britney Spears missed her long-awaited court-ordered deposition yesterday due to an undisclosed “illness”, evading the deposition fourth time over the course of one year.

The 26-year-old pop singer has once again failed to meet expectations by missing her court-ordered deposition in her ongoing child custody fight with ex-husband Kevin Federline on Wednesday morning.

Britney was supposed to meet with her former husband’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan to answer questions about her parenting abilities in regards to the bitter custody battle for her and K-Fed's two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James.

The pop sensation Britney was scheduled to give her deposition under oath at the Los Angeles offices of Kaplan at 10 a.m. along with her lawyers, Anne Kiley and Tara Scott. But, she failed to show up for the deposition, and the lawyer was forced to start without her, taking testimony from her former assistant Alli Sims and ex-manager Larry Rudolph, among others.

Kaplan said that an hour after the scheduled time to begin the deposition he had been informed that Brit would not be coming, and that the deposition would be rescheduled for a later date. "I was told of a general [medical] condition, and [Spears] felt she couldn't attend," Kaplan said.

Meanwhile, Sam Lufti, a friend of Britney, said in defense of the singer that she felt too overwhelmed to attend her long-delayed deposition, and had every intention of making the under-oath testimony, but her anxiety level was too high for her to honor the appointment.

"Her attorneys came to pick her up, but when she saw the media frenzy outside her house, her anxiety skyrocketed," Lufti said.

Britney Spears, the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s, has been engaged in child-custody battle with her former husband Federline, better known as K-Fed since she filed divorce from him in November, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for ending her two-year marriage to Kevin.

The 29-year-old Federline and his lawyer are making every efforts to prove that Spears is an unfit mother, and were reportedly due to ask Britney a wide range of questions, including her past, alcohol and substance abuse history and personal issues in yesterday’s deposition.

The popstar, who has always been interesting fodder for media wags, with her strange behavior dragged media attentions many a times.

What had repeatedly casted doubt on the “Oops!” girl fitness as a mother was her erratic behavior, including wildly shaving-off her locks, trying to take her own life by hanging herself in a the Promises treatment center in Malibu. Not only this, she tainted her reputation by dressing scantily without underwear and dancing on stage with strippers.

After departing from Federline, Britney has been seen partying hard with Paris Hilton.
She was also criticized for her carelessness towards her children. Several photographs published showed Spears driving her SUV in Malibu, California with her then 4 months old son Sean Preston perched on her lap rather than strapped into a car seat in the back seat, and another time almost dropping him.

In late September, Brit’s former bodyguard Tony Barretto who is allegedly a witness of all too much of Spears' miserable motherly skills disclosed about her "nudity ... drug use and safety issues involving the children."

Concerned with his ex-wife Spears’ erratic behavior, Kevin filed for primary custody of his sons on August 8 this year and is hoping to receive primary custody of their boys.

A new date for Spears' under-oath testimony has been rescheduled, but not made public yet. "She's going to show at a later date, but we don't waive any rights to ask for certain relief from the court as a result of having a court-ordered deposition not attended," Kaplan said.