Britney & Paris: So Happy Together
The tabloids and celebrity blogs just can't stop talking about Britney Spears. The chatter isn't about her divorce from K-Fed or about her latest mother-mishap ... it's her new friendship with Paris Hilton that's raising eyebrows.
She's been out almost every night with her new party pal and just this past weekend the pair was accosted by paparazzi when Lindsay Lohan joined in the fun.
It seems as though Spears is changing her image, showing herself as a young, sexy chic who hangs out with the Hollywood elite.
Photos: Paris and the police
Just two weeks since she filed for divorce, she and Paris Hilton, 25, stepped out over the holiday weekend, each wearing one leg of fish net stockings. Together they've partied at Hollywood hotspot Hyde and at a jazz club called Guys.
The partying with Paris began in Las Vegas, moved to L.A., and there are reports they're headed off to Miami next. Pictures surfaced from one night in Vegas where it appeared that Spears took her pants off at a club. There were shots of her sitting on a couch smoking a cigarette, wearing just fishnet stockings and a shirt.
"It seems that whatever happens in Las Vegas … you can fill in the missing pieces," says Paris Hilton's rep, Elliot Mintz, who has accompanied the girls out in recent weeks.
"Paris had a party at her house a few nights ago, they've seen each other almost everyday. This (is) a good thing, this is a nice thing," Mintz told The ShowBuzz on Monday.
How did this friendship come about? "It's a relatively new friendship and the intensity of their friendship, I think, took fruition in Las Vegas and since then they've been virtually inseparable," says Mintz. "They're like sisters."
Mintz insists that although children separate Hilton and Spears on a personal level, they really do have a lot in common.
"The two of them live in a world unto themselves, again I can't speak for Brit, but with respect to Paris, she doesn't have a lot of friends. If you're Paris Hilton, it's difficult to go out and meet a new girlfriend and start from the beginning and, of course, when you do have girlfriends there are issues of jealousy and other things that come into play," Mintz says. "They really don't have anything to be jealous of when it comes to each other; they're both young, they're both rich, they're both famous, they're both popular, they're both talented, so there is a commonality of experience that the two of them feel comfortable with. From my observation, they just seem to hit it off. They just like each other a lot."
According to Mintz, Paris has spent some time with Spears' two children, Sean Preston, 1, and Jayden James, born Sept. 12.
"Paris absolutely adores children," says Mintz. "Paris is great around kids, that's a real plus."
Whether Spears' new behavior is to taunt the ex or simply garner new headlines before releasing an album, we can certainly expect to see more of the pair out and about.
Katrina Szish, a contributing editor for Us Weekly, which has Britney and Paris on the cover this week, spoke on The Early Show about Spears' new image.
"She's definitely trying to remake her image. This is an interesting way to go about it," Szish says. "She is the mother of two small kids but Paris has been hanging out with Britney and her kids, they've been shopping together. It's an interesting way to remake your image. You're getting in the middle of Hollywood's a-list partiers, getting fashion tips from Paris, as we can see they've been shopping together, and it's interesting."
As for the late nights out, Szish says Britney may be looking at this as an opportunity to get out of the house after taking care of the kids for so long. After all, Federline's partying ways was reportedly one of the reasons the couple split.
"I think a lot of people are saying, look, Britney's been taking care of these two young kids by herself since they were born. She now has a full-time nanny. This mom actually deserves some time to get out and enjoy hers," says Szish. "She's out at night, with the kids during the day, so experts are saying, it doesn't matter. She's being a great mom."
By Amy Bonawitz