Having fled rehab at an all-time low, troubled pop princess Britney Spears tried to hide away from friends and family by drowning her sorrows at the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles and begging strangers to be her friend.
Hotel guests revealed how she:
โข Constantly swigged booze at the pool side
โข Paraded around the pool in her underwear
โข Tried to shave her legs at the sink in the changing room
โข Was not allowed to book a hotel room because she had no cash
โข Posed for photos with guests as if they were her best friends
"It was all so sad," one eyewitness said.
"She seemed out of control and like a lost soul." Spears, 25, stumbled into the swanky Hollywood hotel on the morning of February 17 - wearing an electric blue wig to cover her newly shaved head.
The pop princess tried to book a room but was refused when it emerged she had no credit card or cash - just half a credit card number scrawled on a piece of paper.
Guests and hotel staff said it was clear the singer had not been to bed and was wearing her clothes from the night before.
One worker insisted: "She looked rough like she hadn't slept. Crusty eye make-up and everything." The previous evening fans and photographers had watched aghast as Spears turned up unannounced at a hair salon and shaved her own head with clippers, before getting two new tattoos at a nearby parlour.
But her behaviour was about to get even more bizarre - proving to everyone that she was a superstar spinning out of control and desperately needing help.
As the Toxic star headed towards the pool area at the Mondrian Hotel she immediately turned heads. Without a bikini, Spears stripped down to a black bra top - reportedly given to her by a stripper - and blue knickers, and began lounging by the pool.
A 29-year-old hotel guest described how she walked into the pool changing area - and saw the singer shaving her legs at the sink.
"She had her legs up in the sink and was just shaving them right there," the woman said. "It was weird.
"She just suddenly started talking to me, asking where I was from and what my name was.
"She was wearing what looked like her bra and underwear - along with a blue wig.
"I kept questioning myself about whether it was her or not.
"It's not a sight you expect to see - Britney Spears shaving her legs at the Mondrian Hotel."
The woman said Britney kept going backwards and forwards to the bathroom, changing her wig.
"She kept going to the bathroom and every time she came out she had changed," she said.
"At one point she came out wearing a blonde wig, which she had on the rest of the day.
"She had no concept of what she was doing or what the people around her thought about it.
"It was sad, she looked in desperate need of a friend."
Spears was so desperate for pals she approached complete strangers at the poolside and asked them to be her friends.
"She asked me if I wanted to sit with her," the hotel guest revealed. "I said I was there with a girlfriend but told her she could join us if she wanted.
"She said 'I'd love to. Let's get some drinks' and sat with us for the rest of the day."
The singer began necking alcoholic drinks, getting through them so quickly she barely had time to finish each one.
She started with spirits poured by the hotel staff, raided a hotel guest's mini bar and poured vodka into a Red Bull can, then ordered pitchers of mojito cocktails from the bar.
"She constantly had a drink in her hand - I'm not even sure she finished any of them," the eyewitness said.
"She came across as fun and giddy and really sweet. She was very talkative and asking random questions."
Worried about the stares Spears' underwear was attracting, guests asked if she wanted to borrow a bikini.
"Britney had asked one of the hotel managers for a bathing suit, but they don't sell them in their gift shop," the onlooker said.
"My friend told her she had a spare one if she wanted to borrow it.
"Britney said 'Can I go and put it on in your room?' and she went upstairs and came back down in the bikini.
"While she saw there she raided the minibar. She grabbed bottles and just started mixing drinks.
"She was maxing a drink up, taking a couple of sips and switching to another one.
"At one point she poured liquor into a red bull can and started swigging out of that." At the poolside her drinking continued.
"Britney ordered a pitcher of mojitos and probably had three or four drinks from there," the source said.
"She also had a frozen drink before that and she'd help herself to what everyone else was drinking as well.
"She had a rum and coke and drank someone's margarita."
But the guest said despite her constant slurping, the pop princess appeared able to handle the booze.
"She didn't really seem drunk, she was holding her own," the woman said.
Bizarrely for someone so heavily in the public eye, Spears wanted her picture taken and posed for photographs with guests like they were close friends.
"Everyone there assumed that she would want them to respect her privacy and not ask for photos with her," the guest said.
"But it was Britney who kept saying 'Let's have some photos taken together y'all.
"It was like it made her feel like they were long term girlfriends, all having fun together.
"When she was with these 'friends' she seemed bubbly, like she was desperate to win their approval.
"But away from them she just looked lost, sometimes looking into space. It just seemed like she was looking for a friend."
