Britney Spears Repeatedly Threatened to Kill Herself During Police Standoff

Britney Spears Repeatedly Threatened to Kill Herself During Police Standoff 1/6/08

Britney Spears threatened to commit suicide in front of her two children during her three-hour stand-off with emergency services at her Beverly Hills, California, mansion, it has been revealed.

The troubled pop star dramatically refused to hand over her sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline following a scheduled visit on Thursday night (03Jan08), when she reportedly locked herself and one-year-old Jayden James in a bathroom. Her court-appointed monitor called 911 after witnessing Spears' apparent mental breakdown.

During the deadlock, Spears sobbed hysterically and screamed at police to get out of her house - or face having her dead body on their hands.

One of the first emergency officers to have arrived on the scene told how Spears shouted, "Get out of here. Leave me and my babies alone. Get out or I'm going to kill myself. I'll do it. I'll do it."

Spears then demanded to speak to Federline in person, but when her request was refused by his lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan, she again vowed to end her own life.

A source tells British newspaper the Sunday Mirror, "Britney told Kaplan she wanted to 'sort this out with Kevin face-to-face'. Kaplan said 'no' and she started raising her voice and pacing up and down. She told him: 'Tell him to stop pushing me. Tell him to stop making me feel like I'm not part of my own family. He doesn't want to have to tell his children he killed their mother.'"

According to various U.K. tabloid reports, Federline added to the panic when he remembered Spears kept two guns in the house - one of which was a present he gave to the star during their short-lived marriage.

And, in a last-ditch attempt to keep hold of her sons Jayden and Sean Preston, Spears phoned Federline and offered to pay the dancer $100 million (#50 million) in return for full custody of the boys, reports the News of the World.

Another insider adds, "Britney said that Kevin could have an incredible $100 million if he'd give her the kids and never see them again. He's used to Britney going off on one, but he knew from her voice that this was a while other thing entirely. He hung up straight away and called his legal team in a panic.

"He told them that Britney was capable of anything and admitted that she still kept two handguns at the house... The lawyers called the police immediately."

Spears was later admitted to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for a mental evaluation, where she remained until Saturday afternoon (05Jan08), when she checked herself out to return home with her father Jamie.

Following the headline-grabbing incident, Spears' visitation rights to see her sons were temporarily suspended and Federline was awarded "sole legal custody and sole physical custody" of the kids at an emergency hearing on Friday (04Jan08). The custody order lasts until 14 January (08).