KEY POINTS:
Britney Spears' self-arranged photo shoot and tell-all interview with OK! magazine was allegedly such a disaster it could "kill" her career if published.
According to gossip website TMZ.com, sources claim the singer's behaviour during the interview and photo session was "nothing less than a meltdown".
During the shoot, the 25-year-old mother-of-two was said to be "completely out of it", and the resulting pictures are "so bad" that publishing them could "kill her career".
At one stage Britney's eyes allegedly rolled back in her head and she was said to have looked "half dead".
Her mood was described as extremely erratic, with one source revealing she took frequent bathroom breaks and each time she returned her mood had changed.
She was also allegedly severely paranoid during the entire interview, and at one point she believed the ceiling was about to cave in.
During the shoot, Britney ordered fried chicken, and when she had finished eating it she reportedly wiped her hands on a Gucci dress worth several thousand dollars, staining it with grease.
The star also brought her new Yorkshire Terrier puppy London with her and when it defecated on the floor she is said to have used a Chanel dress to wipe it up.
The magazine hired two of the best hair and make-up artists in Los Angeles to make Britney look her best, but she refused to let them style her, instead opting for her own friends to fashion her.
Britney personally called Sara Ivens, the editor-in-chief of the US edition of OK!, last week and said she wanted to do an exclusive interview discussing her divorce from Kevin Federline, her breakdown and her problems with her mother Lynne.
But now magazine executives are deciding whether to go ahead with the exclusive as it happened or protect the pop star with a heavily edited version.
Britney's representative did not return calls, while a representative for OK! - whose Britney issue is due to come out tomorrow - refused to discuss the new issue.
- BANG! SHOWBIZ