From the Los Angeles Times

Random Drug Testing for Britney Spears

By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer | September 19, 2007
Britney Spears
Britney Spears
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Pop star must also get coached in parenting

A Los Angeles County Court commissioner laid down the law to singer Britney Spears on Tuesday, saying there was evidence that the pop star was "a habitual, frequent and continuous" user of drugs and alcohol and ordered mandatory, random twice-weekly drug tests.

The commissioner, ruling in a dispute between Spears and her former husband, Kevin Federline, over custody of their two children, also ruled that she must meet with a parenting coach.

Federline wanted to reconsider the pair's child custody agreement amid several high-profile incidents of erratic behavior by Spears.

Despite taking Spears to task, Commissioner Scott M. Gordon did not change the custody agreement, which gives each parent shared custody of the children.

The court proceeding comes about a year after Spears, 25, filed for divorce from Federline, 29, after two years of marriage.

The pair, who cited irreconcilable differences, have shared custody of the two boys since February.

That, however, was before Spears' inexplicable and bizarre public behavior that included shaving off her blond locks at a San Fernando Valley salon, attacking paparazzi with an umbrella and parading in her underwear -- and without -- for all to see. Her recent performance at the MTV Video Music awards has been widely derided.

Despite a stint at the Promises Malibu rehabilitation center, Spears has continued to make the rounds of the Los Angeles celebrity nightclub circuit.

Spears' attorneys could not be reached for comment.

andrew.blankstein @latimes.com

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