Stop Celebrity Self-Help Experts

Dr. Phil McGraw rushing to Britney Spear's aid and then unethically talking about her medical condition was sleazy. I'm glad that Spears' family came to the same realization.

A source close to Dr. Phil McGraw said it was Britney's parents who cut him off, furious he blabbed about her mental state after visiting her in the psych ward at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"As soon as Jamie realized Dr.Phil was making public statements about Britney, including assessments of her condition, he got angry," the source told Life & Style magazine. "He started making phone calls to everybody in the family, telling them not to cooperate."

Dr. Phil is telling the media "because the Spears situation is too intense at this time, and out of consideration to the family." Whatever.

Melissa McEwan shares my contempt of Dr. Phil.

In other news: why should Dr. Drew Pinsky get a second shot at rehabilitating Jessica Sierra? Didn't he do enough damage by having Sierra on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew?

Pinsky explains his reality show.

"We're like the Aztecs. We tear someone's heart out every day," said Pinsky, who was in a Florida courtroom this week to help persuade a local judge that more rehab, not jail, time was in Sierra's best interest. "Instead of it being up on a big temple, we do it on television."

Circuit Judge Daniel Perry reluctantly allowed Pinsky to take Sierra to California. We can count on the trashy tbt* to cover every moment.