(Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP photo)
Troubled pop princess Britney Spears was spotted screaming, barking, and even holding a knife in a California restaurant on Wednesday, just over two months after she was arrested for DUI, according to a TMZ report.
The “Toxic” singer was seen at the Blue Dog Tavern in Sherman Oaks with an unknown man and woman, TMZ reported on Thursday, and it wasn’t long before the dinner turned chaotic.
The outlet reported that Spears “was raising her voice, screaming, and even barking at times … with witnesses describing the vibe as chaotic and ‘kind of sad’ … though she still looked cute.”
A fellow restaurant customer told TMZ that Spears also walked by their table with a knife in her hand, “sparking fear she might accidently (sic) stab someone,” though the patron added that she may have just “forgotten to put it down.”
TMZ also reported that Spears lit a cigarette inside by the door, prompting restaurant staffers to ask that she put it out. She also reportedly left quite a mess, with one customer telling the celeb news site that the floor under her table looked “like a toddler had been there.”
In a statement to TMZ later Thursday, a Spears rep called the incident “completely blown out of proportion,” adding, “Britney was enjoying a quiet dinner with her assistant and bodyguard. She was simply telling the story about how her dog was barking at the neighbors.”
The statement went on: “At no point did she put anyone in danger with a knife. She was cutting her hamburger in half. This constant attack on everything that she does and this is exactly what happened 20 years ago when the media tried to depict Britney as a bad person. This is ridiculous and it needs to stop now.”
Spears, 44, was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers on March 4, and charged with DUI. She checked into a hospital shortly after her release from custody.
It was the latest legal tangle for Spears, who exploded on the music scene with “…Baby One More Time” in 1998.
In 2007, she was slapped with four misdemeanor charges related to a hit-and-run of a parked car. The charges were later dropped after she reportedly paid the car owner’s repair bill.
Earlier that year, she had an infamous meltdown where she shaved her head and attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
The incident led to a rehab stint and a year later, she was placed in a conservatorship led by her dad, Jamie Spears.
The conservatorship, which sparked the “Free Britney” movement among her loyal fans, ended in 2021 after 13 years.
Before her release, she ripped the conservatorship as “abusive,” claiming that she was put “on lithium out of nowhere” and was unable “to get married or have a baby,” due to forced birth control.
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