Seriously? OMG! WTF?

This week, as news of Britney Spears filing for divorce jostled with national affairs coverage, the troubled star’s minders have been busily working behind the scenes to get her story out there, her way. Not only is Spears newly K-Fed-free, she is now offering photos of her second son, Jayden James, born in September — and gratis for the right magazine. Sources say Spears has sidestepped her usual go-to venue, People, which ran the first photos of the then-happy family in December. Instead, she’s gunning for the prestige of a monthly or bimonthly, hoping to rehabilitate her flagging image in the TomKat/Vanity Fair mold. As one of a handful of editors who had been called by Spears’ representation on the story pointed out, monthly women’s magazines don’t write checks for photos and interviews, as People reportedly has for her in the past. But a little-known clause in the prenuptial agreement the couple signed guarantees Kevin Federline proceeds from all photos, which perhaps is another reason Spears is going for image rather than cash. Another complicating factor is that Spears has dropped her longtime rep, Leslie Sloane Zelnick, and is now back with her old manager, Larry Rudolph.

WWD 

You know the expression nothing is for free, I wonder what her conditions are???

Britney Spears — who I promise we won’t write about much longer — is on a tear. She’s back with her former manager, Larry Rudolph, after a two-year baby making hiatus. And she may have been back with him for longer than ex-to-be Kevin understood, since Britney is said to recording her new album here in New York right now. (I know this is incredibly exciting. It’s almost like when Dylan did "Nashville Skyline"!) But how, you might wonder, did the little pop tart arrange her visit the other night to David Letterman’s show? Since her loyal publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnick, has also been on ice for the last few months, Spears simply had her assistant pick up the phone and call Letterman’s beloved exec producer, Barbara Gaines. So that’s it, really. Kevin will get half of whatever she earned during their two years of marriage, he’ll get a tad more for signing a 20-year confidentiality agreement. He’ll be set for life and have two children for whom no support money will be required. Britney will make another forgettable, fun dance album and clean up in Vegas. And with that, I return them all to the supermarket tabloids! Good luck, kids!

Fox411 

No wonder the book he is writing is about before he met Britney…he can’t write about her?

A day after Britney Spears filed divorce papers, Kevin Federline counter-filed court papers Wednesday seeking sole custody of the couple’s two children. The former backup dancer and aspiring rapper is also seeking spousal support. He says the couple’s community assets are "uncertain," though Spears said in her divorce papers there were none to speak of, suggesting the two had a prenuptial agreement in place. "Kevin is prepared to go the distance in order to do what he feels is necessary to protect and safeguard the children and will not be intimidated or dissuaded from pursuit of those goals," said Michael Sands, spokesman for Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan. Citing "irreconcilable differences," Spears filed for divorce Tuesday. Spears, 24, and Federline, 28, have a 1-year-old son, Sean Preston, and an infant son, Jayden James, who was born Sept. 12. Spears is seeking custody of both children. Spears wed Federline in the fall of 2004. They had a ceremony in September, but court papers state the couple were officially married Oct. 6.

AP 

I wonder how Shar Jackson feels about him wanting sole custody of Britney’s kids and not hers?

Britney Spears didn’t pick November 6 as the day to file for divorce from Kevin Federline by accident. She filed two years and one month from the day of her marriage, on Oct. 6, 2004. Her prenup, according to legal theorists, evidently carried increases for Federline for every year of their marriage. And those deadlines, they say, likely had 30-day grace periods. Hence, Nov. 6 would have been Britney’s last chance to get out of paying a third year of alimony settlement to a basically talentless slacker who was a drain on her finances. And in the end, money is probably what Spears’ divorce is all about. Since she deliberately showed off a new trim body on David Letterman’s show the other night, Spears is obviously getting ready to go back to work. If a new album and tour are on the boards, Spears obviously doesn’t want to share the proceeds with Federline. It was clearly better to get out now, so that K-Fed can lay claim to only half of Spears’ earnings during what has been the most fallow period in her career. Indeed, Spears has no doubt been feeling the pinch of diminished income since she met Federline and had quickly had two children with him. The one thing she’s been unable to do is tour, and that’s really where she makes her bread and butter. Spears has never been a huge recording artist. She hasn’t released an album of new material since 2003, and it’s hard to say whether there’s an audience out there to buy a new album. Her biggest hits occurred some time ago, between 1999 and 2001, when "Baby One More Time" and "Oops I Did It Again" caused sensations. But Spears didn’t write those songs, and she doesn’t get a publishing royalty for any of her few big hits. That has no doubt hurt her pocketbook, since sales of her albums are long since finished. Without touring, and getting paid for commercial endorsements, Spears doesn’t have much of a profitable career these days. Add in two kids, a husband with expensive tastes who doesn’t earn money, various family members and employees, and Spears could be facing Michael Jackson type financial problems. Offloading Federline, even with a prenup, is probably the first best thing she can do to cut expenses. Spears, by the way, also has her name on a charitable foundation. But Nina Biggar, director of the Cambridge, Mass.-based Britney Spears Foundation, didn’t even know Spears had filed for divorce when I called her yesterday. She told me that the organization had given away almost $2 million in its short life, including $800,000 to the Twin Towers Fund. The charity is entirely funded by Spears, but Biggar told me that this past year’s contribution was lower than the one before. This doesn’t reflect lack of interest on Spears’ part, but just lack of funds. Once K-Fed is off the payroll, Britney will be able to afford a return to her charitable activities.

Fox411 

I was wondering if there was a Tom Cruise clause in there when she filed.

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