Whether a drug-addled woman in the midst of an apparent complete mental breakdown should be really held personally responsible by her exploiters for her complicity in her exploitation is a matter best left to Dr. Phil or blog commenters, but it's clear to all who've followed the travails of Britney Spears (and they're hard not to follow, with each nightly travail conveniently illustrated by paparazzi photographs immediately disseminated to USWeekly and TMZ, not unlike that amazing cyber-lebrity episode of CSI: Miami that was repeated last night) that she is a quite willing participant in her own liveblogged downward spiral. And hell, when the Daily Mail reports that (estranged paparazzi ex of Britney) Adnan Ghalib's auctioning off of "intimate" photos is "her worst nightmare," we are not entirely convinced. Still, it's a bit unseemly that one "lensman" would go to Page Six to defend the honor of his tribe (or pack? swarm?).

"Britney is in on it," photog Alison Silva says. "[She] calls the paparazzi before she goes out. We know 15 minutes before she leaves the house. It's all staged." He adds: "Money, fame, the excitement. It's part of her life." Money, fame, drug abuse, hospitalization, breaks with reality, estrangement from non-celebrity industry friends and family—it's what she wants, people! If it wasn't, Dr. Phil, Mike Huckabee, or the angry guy from American Idol would surely intervene.

All The Britney's a Stage [NYP]