How Britney Spears got her life back

Daddy knows best
When she had her breakdown in 2008, Britney's father quit his job, moved to LA and went to court to gain control of her career and her fortune. Even though she's much better now, she still can't spend anything (other than her monthly allowance) without his permission, and she seems happy for it to stay that way, for now at least...

Last April Britney hired a financial manager to teach her the basics of money management, a sign that she is looking to the future and a time when she can control her affairs and her dad can get off the payroll and go back to being just a dad, instead of the bloke who argues that she doesn't need a new pair of crystal-encrusted Louboutins every month...

Shape up or ship out!
No one wants to see Britney in size-too-small clothes with greasy hair and last night's make-up, especially when there are dozens of immaculate stars such as Beyonce, Rihanna or The Saturdays to drool over! So after a few rough years, she needed to shape up and remind us why we fell in love with her in the first place.

Britney hired a team of personal trainers, nutritionists and chefs to lay down the law and make sure that she didn't anything bad in her mouth, in contrast to when she was in meltdown mode and there was hardly a day when there wasn't a photo of Britney chugging down a calorific drink from Starbucks. But now she says that's all changed. "Frappuccinos — gone. I do still drink coffee, but just with Equal," she said, adding to OK magazine, "I'm the healthiest I've been all my life."

Touring... the right way
When Britney went on tour in 2009, little more than a year after her meltdown, she was accused of miming, missing her cues and not interacting with the audience. Her ex-manager, Johnny Wright, spoke out to say that she'd made a mistake going back on the road so soon, adding that it could have been because she felt like she couldn't ask for time off. He said, "She's thinking, 'I've got 170 people on payroll, my dad quit his job, my mom relies totally on me and I can't take a break.'"

But thankfully her new Femme Fatale tour has had excellent reviews and it's already the highest grossing tour by a female in North America this year. Rolling Stone said, "The pop star whose career seemed in danger of ending just a couple years ago has shown that she's back — hopefully this time to stay."

Don't mix business with pleasure
Spears has been dating Hollywood agent Jason Trawick for about two years after they met when he was put in charge of her career. But mixing business with pleasure is never a good idea, so when their relationship went up a notch, Jason stepped down from his job and became 'just' Britney's boyfriend, rather than her boss... and he rarely leaves her side.

Putting family first
In contrast to previous years when Britney seemed like she put her work before everything else, now she's taking extended breaks between jobs. Before she left for the European leg of her tour, Brit took a few days off to celebrate her sons' birthdays — Jayden and Sean turned five and six within days of each other in September. She's also much closer to her mother after they fell out during her breakdown and they speak every few days, no matter where Britney is in the world. Aw...

Eyeing the silver screen
Britney's had a few acting roles and it's comedy where our girl shines, particularly in TV guest spots on Glee during a special Britney-themed episode, and on How I Met Your Mother. At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards recently, she stole the show when she flirted with Lady Gaga's male alter ego (watch the video above) when she went on stage to accept an award. It's these moments when we see the old spark return to Britney's eyes.

Even though her boyfriend Jason resigned as her agent, he's recently started working for her again in a limited role, in charge of "handling acting endeavours," which is a clear sign that her people see the silver screen as where her career is headed. Well, it worked for her ex Justin Timberlake...

Friends in high places
Everyone wants Britney back to her best; even her biggest pop rivals are willing to give her a helping hand! When Rihanna was looking for a "major" star to duet with on a remix of S&M earlier this year, she chose Ms Spears. Lady Gaga has said that she wants to collaborate with our favourite pop princess and already has two tracks in mind; Kylie's another one who has held her hand up for a duet in the last few weeks. And when Britney asked Nicki Minaj to support her on her American tour, the fiery rapper said she was "honoured" and "beyond thrilled" to be touring with "an icon."

Family friendly endorsements
Britney's uber-manager Larry Rudolph has been guiding her career for most of the last decade. In the last couple of years he's carefully chosen endorsements with family-friendly brands like Candies clothes, to try to position Brit as more of a girl next door than a sexbomb, and she is also one of the faces of Barack Obama's anti-bullying campaign across America. The more she does stuff like this, the more the bald head, the rehab and the psych ward become distant memories...

Giving Twitter a try
Britney's Twitter account was totally run by her 'people' when it was first launched, but now the lady herself is tweeting more and more. Fans aren't stupid, they know when a tweet isn't from the star itself, so it's great to finally see her being given the freedom to post her own updates, and her fans - all 9.5 million of them — love the chance to bond with Spears one-on-one (kind of).

Turning 30
Britney has a big milestone coming in December; her 30th birthday. And after her boyfriend was spotted in an exclusively jewellery store in LA recently, rumours swirled that he could he be about to put a ring on it! Now that would be the fairytale ending that Britney (and her gazillions of fans) would love to see!