Spears 'threatened to kill herself'

Britney Spears has reportedly threatened to commit suicide because she is scared her parents will seek a court order forcing her into a mental hospital.

The singer told a friend that she was terrified of being sent to the "nut house" before heading to Mexico with paparazzo boyfriend Adnan Ghalib last week.

As she was followed around LA in her car by photographers, she yelled into her phone: "They're not sending me to the nut house! No one can make me go if I don't want to go - and I ain't goin'."

Ignoring her friend's attempts to reassure her, she screamed: "See that? I just went through another stop sign. See what you made me do? I'm gonna hurt someone out here."

She then reportedly said: "I'll kill myself before I let them lock me up again. So tell Mama and Daddy I said so. Oh my God, it's over for me."

Spears' father is thought to have begged her to seek psychiatric help after visiting her in hospital following a custody dispute at her home earlier this month. But she told him: "You're not going to lock me up. You can forget it. I'm not going."

A report has claimed that Birmingham-born Ghalib has been scheming to win the 26-year-old's heart for the past 18 months and intends to sell his story to a tabloid for a large sum.

Spears is due back in court today for a further custody hearing over her two sons.