Here’s the Blender story on Britney Spears. Rolling Stone will be coming out with a story and cover of Britney next.

"Britney Spears has lost her kids, her fans, her underwear and her mind," reads the strikingly honest cover line on the March issue of Blender magazine, on sale nationwide February 12. The cover image is a composite photo (by Michael Elins), featuring doe-eyed, fresh-faced Spears, wrapped in white silk sheets, that reminds us of her potential. For the article, The Road to Ruin, writer Michael Joseph Gross spent a month interviewing dozens of sources and trailing Britney with the ever-present paparazzo to tell the inside story on all that went wrong-her missteps, her meltdowns, and what friends say may be her last hope for rescue. Those closest to her speak out.

On being a child star: "She was the bread winner in her family," says one former manager. "And when you know everyone’s living off you, you learn not to trust." Moreover, again like most child stars, "she was never really taught how to live. Basic things: how to balance a checkbook, how things get done."

On her breakup with Justin: The breakup, according to those closest to Spears, began her personal collapse. "Ever since then," says one friend, "she’s been mad at the world."

On Chaotic and her relationship with Kevin: "Chaotic destroyed the image that we had worked so carefully to create," says one of her advisers at the time, who opposed the project. "She thought that if she showed the world everything, everyone would love her for it. What it did, instead, was make her look like white trash – and that is not what she is. She’s better than that. It created an appetite for this wild and crazy girl and created this spiral where nothing can satisfy that appetite."

On her brief time in rehab: She ended her rehabilitation early "because that would have required her to admit, in front of the world, that she had problems. That was the one thing she couldn’t do," says one of Britney’s closest companions at this time, sounding eaten by frustration. "Is there anyone on the planet, except Britney Spears, who cannot see that Britney has a problem? After that, she pushed her family, literally everyone, away."

What will it take to save her? Her former manager Johnny Wright says "I’m not pointing fingers, but I can’t believe that she woke up one morning and said, ’I don’t want my family, or anyone else I knew, to be in touch with me anymore.’ "People say she needs to go to rehab. I think she just needs a friend – somebody not caught up in Hollywood, not looking for a paycheck. Somebody she trusts has to step up and break it down for her."

Among the most shocking revelations in Gross’ s article comes from an exclusive interview with Danny Haines, an vulnerable 29-year-old man who met Britney Spear-de facto manager/publicist/confidante Sam Lutfi, over MySpace in the fall of 2005. Haines divulges shocking details about Lutfi’s dark past (including at least three outstanding restraining orders and a violent temper) and how he may be a driving force behind Britney’s actions.

On their relationship: To Haines’s fractured ego, Lutfi’s social skills and emotional intelligence were magnetic. He encouraged Haines to "stand up for himself" and at the same time worked to become indispensable to him. Lutfi ingratiated himself with Haines’s family, acting as a go-between and informal counselor. Haines says that their relationship was not romantic or sexual but that Lufti was more jealous than a lover. He could be supportive one day and vicious the next, leaving voicemails tracing extremes from "You’re a worthless motherfucker" to "I love you, man. I love you to death." He says that…Lutfi reserved most of his energy for emotional blackmail and extortion. "Everybody hates you," he wrote to Haines, suggesting that Haines should just kill himself: "Seriously, sleeping pills, LOTS of them…"

The threats: When Haines finally cut the cord, Lutfi humiliated him. He e-mailed naked photographs of Haines to his family, friends, colleagues and employer. He texted and called incessantly, telling Haines he hoped his sister would be "raped to death" according to the restraining order…such communications moved Haines to seek the restraining order, which also protects his mother from being contacted by Lutfi.

Haines, whose relationship with Lutfi was the subject of a few obscure blog comments after Lutfi’s other restraining orders wre reported in December, says that he subsequently received an e-mail from Lutfi’s sister’s address, which he read as a warning: "One of your friends is writing to some magazines about your history with my brother…I don’t think that’s wise for him to do." The warning came with what sounded like a threat: "Those pictures and your history isn’t so positive either and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that to be public as well."

"If Sam’s not doing anything wrong with Britney, if he’s not worried about being exposed," Haines asks, "why would his sister be saying, Don’t talk about my brother and his past?"

Britney’s parents weigh in: Informed of the details of Haines’ relationship with Lutfi, Jamie and Lynne Spears, who declined to discuss Lutfi on the record, both expressed grave concern to Blender about his ongoing involvement in their daughter’s life and have encouraged Haines to go public with the story.

Britney Spears was at Millennium Dance Studio with Sam Lutfi. No big deal, until Britney decided to change clothes while dancing, and pulled out and exposed her right breast on purpose. The action happens exactly at 3:26. Fast forward to 3:20 to catch it. It’s gross!

Having Lutfi around is just what Britney needs right now, and the boob action is sure to make Lutfi even more obsessed with her. Danny Haines, an ex-friend of Sam Lutfi who took out a restraining order against him, via the New York Post, told Haines that he should "just kill himself" when their friendship flopped, and Sam was "more jealous than a lover," according to Haines.

In court documents, Haines claims that Lutfi even wrote an e-mail to him, saying of Haines’ mother, that he hoped "Satan devours her flesh and bones" and that his sister would be "raped to death."

Surely Britney will have no trouble getting rid of Lutfi when the time comes.

Sam Lutfi is expected at the offices of Kevin Federline lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, for a deposition in the custody case. Lutfi has tried to block the deposition, even running from Aaron Cohen, who served him with the depo subpoena.

One of the lines of questioning is expected to involve the photo agency X17. Kaplan wants to know if Britney Spears made a deal with X17 to "catch" her living life, and if Lutfi helped arrange the deal or collect the money for her. If Britney is making money from a photo agency, the commissioner would not be happy about it.

There are many rumors that Britney has been making deals to swap photo ops for cash with several photo agencies.

It turns out that the rumor spread by Sam Lutfi that Britney Spears had taken out a restraining order against Adnan Ghalib was in fact just a rumor. The two were spotted hitting a motorcycle with Adnan driving Britney’s white mercedes even after Adnan just sold his tell-all story to the media. Britney is probably get some of the money again.

Adnan gave a two part interview to ET, and said that he want to marry Britney, and when she was looking at pregnancy tests she said she wished she was pregnant. The pictures of Britney and the pregnancy test were staged, and Britney got some of the money. She’s cashing in on the pictures since her music albums aren’t making much. Adnan said in his interview:

On her hospitalization following a Jan. 3 standoff with police: "She didn’t understand why she was taken to the hospital," he said. "She didn’t feel the need to be there." As for the photographs of Spears laughing as she was wheeled out on a gurney, "I think she was just afraid of what was going to happen. It doesn’t mean you are crazy."

On Spears being photographed buying a pregnancy test: "She has a very maternal instinct," Ghalib said of their recent Rite Aid run. (Photos of the trip were sold by his own photo agency, FinalPixx.) "She was feeling a lot of things she said she felt when she was pregnant. I think she was hoping she was pregnant with my child."

On losing visitation rights with her kids Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1: "Her primary focus is on re-establishing a relationship with [them]," he said. "She doesn’t talk about a strategy to get them back. That’s something that’s very private to her. She loves those kids – it pains her a lot "

On Britney’s mental state: "She is not crazy at all," he said, despite reports claiming that she is bipolar and has suffered from postpartum depression. (Some have even suggested she may have multiple personalities.) He also dismissed talk that Spears wrote a suicide note before her January meltdown. "She never has suicidal tendencies," he said. "You’ve got to understand the love she has for her kids outweighs anything else."

Britney Spears sat for more than 2 hours today answering questions from Mark Vincent Kaplan for her divorce deposition, and she looked totally in control. Adnan was also not around. Maybe the restraining order rumor is true.

Simon Cowell thinks Britney Spears mental health problems are all an act. Simon says:

“Everyone thinks it’s breakdown this and breakdown that,” Simon says. But he isn’t buying it. “From the kind of stunts she’s pulling now, I think she is the puppet master and completely in control."

“I really felt for her at one point, I thought she was heading for a meltdown and everything was out of control, but — especially over the past week, I thought she was honestly in control and, more to the point, wants to be in control.”

“You don’t walk into a church surrounded by the media the day you’re supposed to be in court fighting for your kids just so that you’ve got another picture unless you are totally aware of what you are doing,” he says, “and in my opinion Britney is.”

“If you don’t want to get any press attention, just keep your head down, don’t drive yourself anywhere and sit in the back of blacked-out limousine,” Simon says. “But if she thinks she knows what she is doing, then good luck to her.”

Britney certainly looked lucid today, so maybe Simon has a valid point.