Happy Birthday Britney!

Posted: 02/12/11

Philippa Warr

Happy birthday Britney! Britney's 27th birthday cake. Photo: PA

Britney Spears turns 30 today and, as someone we've grown up listening to, it seemed right that we put together a memorable moments gallery to mark three decades of Britters. Granted not all of them are good memories but you can't deny there's never a dull moment when the pop star is around so click on the gallery and find out which Britney milestones stick in our memories:

Memorable Ten: Britney Spears

... Baby One More Time
 With debut single ...Baby One More Time Britney became a radio favourite and we became unable to get her song out of our heads. Also popular was the song's video which featured Britters in a rather impractical-for-winter school uniform and pigtails.
The snake
 For the 2001 Video Music Awards Britney donned an albino python and not much else to perform Slave 4 U. Animal rights activists PETA were not best pleased. As it turns out, neither was Britney herself - as she was apparently terrified of the creature.
Crossroads
 In 2002 Britney took to the silver screen in the seminal cinematic work Crossroads. Britney herself played Lucy - not a girl but not yet a woman - on a quest to find her mother (Kim Cattrall). Despite heavy criticism it turned out the be an award winner. We'll just gloss over the fact that those awards were Razzies.
Britney and Justin
 Partly an excuse for us to reprint the travesty that was Britney and Justin's double denim, partly our way of paying tribute to one of the greatest romances of all time (ahem), here they are at the 28th American Music Awards. 2002 saw the pair call time on their three year relationship. Cue the video for Cry Me a River featuring a Britney-a-like and a whole heap of speculation as to what went down.
Britney and Madonna share a kiss
 At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney hit the stage with Madonna and Christina. Britney was wearing a wedding dress at one point while Xtina was working through her dark-haired phase with skin the colour of a Jersey Shore inhabitant. Madonna chose not to play favourites and shared a kiss with both of them.
Britney and Jason
 3 January 2004 saw Britney and childhood friend Jason Alexander (not the one who plays George in Seinfeld) step out of the Little White Wedding Chapel in Vegas as husband and wife after getting hitched "for the hell of it". A grand total of 55 hours later (making Kim Kardashian's 72 day marriage look like forever) the marriage was annulled.
Britney and Kevin
 Marginally more successful was Britney's marriage to dancer Kevin Federline (which was actually legally recognised as a marriage) and resulted in two children - Sean Preston and Jayden James - and a reality television show (Britney & Kevin: Chaotic).
Britney's breakdown, hospitalisation and conservatorship
 Britney's darkest period came in 2007, a year which saw the star shaving her own head in a Los Angeles salon, checking into the Promises rehab facility, attacking a car with an umbrella, a truly disastrous performance at the Video Music Awards and losing custody of her children. The breakdown culminated in Britney being hospitalised after refusing to hand son Jayden back to a representative of her ex-husband in early January 2008 before being placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold later that month.  As a result, the court placed control of Britney's personal care and financial assets in the hands of her father Jamie - a conservatorship which looks set to continue indefinitely.
The return (ish)
 It's Britney, bitch! (Well, sort of.) Three years on and Britney seems to have put a lot of her woes behind her. Okay so her recent Femme Fatale tour has shown up her current lack of dancing form and she's still lip syncing like crazy but she's putting out some great pop music and there's not a policeman, umbrella or hair trimmer in sight. We love you Britney x
The Mouseketeers
 We wish our teenage photos were as star-studded as this! A young Britney joined fellow Mouseketeers Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling on The New Mickey Mouse Club lineup from 1993-1995.