With her pigtails and wide-eyed innocence, Britney Spears became an overnight sensation thanks to her first single ...Baby One More Time in 1998.
For four years she was untouchable, scoring hit after hit, making millions from world tours and being named the world's most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine.
But everything started to crumble in December 2002 when her three-year romance with Justin Timberlake ended.
The fickle tide of popularity appeared to be turning and the following August she was cruelly jeered by fans during a world tour and slammed for kissing Madonna on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Her parents divorced and she eloped to Las Vegas to marry childhood friend Jason Alexander, before their union was annulled just 55 hours later.
New Channel 5 documentary, Britney Spears-Breaking Point, explores how the Louisiana native's quest for normality saw her marry backing dancer Kevin Federline just eight months later - a union that would lead to her unravelling.
"Britney was desperate for love. From the earliest age, Britney wanted everybody to love her, including Kevin," Rob Shuter, former executive editor of US OK Magazine, says.
"And I think that when it didn't work out, it was heartbreaking for her. And I don't think she ever really dealt with it."
And as their relationship crumbled in November 2006, so began Britney's 14 months of hell.
Two months after birth of their second son Jayden James, Britney filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.
Her increasingly erratic behaviour saw her hit the town with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan sans knickers.
And the death of her beloved aunt, Sandra Covington, is said to have sent her spiralling out of control in January 2007.
She was sent to Eric Clapton's rehab centre, Crossroads, in Antigua but flew straight back to America and headed to Kevin's house, where he refused to let her see their kids.
Steve Dennis, author of Britney - Inside The Dream, says by that point she was no longer "thinking straight".
"Britney is in chaos. She's in turmoil and she's in massive anxiety. And what you see, what we all see,sadly, is Britney acting out, lashing out, rebelling, losing control," he says.
What came next sent shockwaves around the world.
Angry, frustrated and surrounded by 70 or more members of the paparazzi, Britney drove to a nearby hair salon and asked hairdresser Esther Tognozz to shave her head.
Tognozz refused and tried to talk her out of it, but once her back was turned, Britney picked up the clippers and sheared half her hair off herself.
"She had two bodyguards supposedly keeping an eye out to make sure the paparazzi were not getting any pictures," Tognozz recalls as footage shows her aides laughing with photographers.
"They were allowing the paparazzi to take her picture," says Rob Shuter, suggesting they may even have been paid for it.
The saddest part though was Britney's expression as her smile gave way to panic and sadness once she realised what she'd done.
Crestfallen, she fretted that her "mum was going to be p***ed," before rallying and heading to the Body and Soul Tattoo studio.
Speaking out for the first time ever, tattooist Emily Wynne Hughes recalled hearing "an insane roaring sound outside" as Britney and the paps pulled up.
"I wasn't sure what was happening, if there was a riot outside and then the flashes came. The door opened slowly and a hooded figure walked in the door," she said.
Britney demanded a tattoo of another woman's lips to begin with, followed by a small cross.
And when Wynne Hughes asked what happened to the star's hair, she was taken aback by her 'weird' reply.
"It was, you know, 'I just don't want anybody, anybody touching my head. I don't want anyone touching my hair. I'm sick of people touching my hair,'" she says.
And far from helping their celebrity charge, the tattoo artist said the troubled star's aides were completely "disengaged".
"It just didn't seem like they cared very much. I've felt this insane sense of anxiety and energy that felt so negative," she said.
"It just seemed like everybody was waiting for the crash to happen."
The following day, Britney continued to strip herself of her manufactured identity, talking in strange accents and wearing different wigs.
Wearing the same clothes as the night before, she tried to check into the five-star Mondrian hotel in Los Angeles with no money or credit cards - just some numbers scribbled on a piece of paper.
When staff refused, she asked to use the pool instead and paraded around in her underwear before shaving her legs at the sink in the changing area.
Hotel guests recalled how she was asking people to be her friend as she downed drink after drink.
According to Rolling Stone she stayed up for 48 hours straight, fearing she was being followed by demons or that a mobile phone charger was taping her thoughts.
Four days later she was back in rehab. Again she left early and went straight to Kevin's. Again, he refused to let her see the kids.
And when her cousin Alli Sims drove her to a nearby garage, it was there that she finally snapped and attacked a photographer and his car with an umbrella.
"She went after us and attacked my truck," Dano Ramos tells the documentary.
"She was grinding her teeth and just beaten my truck up and she started going after [fellow photographer] Roberto, he turns his back and she swipes him in the back with the umbrella."
And author Steve Dennis says her outburst was typical of most human beings when "something just becomes crowded and claustrophobic."
"You lash out. And what was in her hand at that time was an umbrella. And she was lashing out not just at the paparazzi, but at the press and at fame and who she had become and the life that she could never get back," he says.
This time she went to Promises rehab in Malibu and completed her month-long stay.
But her worst nightmare came true when Kevin was granted full custody by the courts in October 2007 after claiming Britney had a habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.
Heartbroken and with no-one around her to trust, she bought two baby blue parakeets and named them Sean and Jayden after her children.
"That's how sad she was. She just needed companionship," says Hollywood gossip journalist Janet Charlton.
Despite Britney's worsening condition, the circus around her only escalated and after one court-appointed visit with her kids, she locked herself in the bathroom with Jayden for three hours.
Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances surrounded her mansion, and when the star was finally coaxed out, she was laughing hysterically as paramedics held her down and strapped her to a gurney.
Once at hospital she was placed on a 5250 psychiatric hold which allowed doctors to detain her for 14 days for her own safety.
Her parents swooped in to take control of her affairs, placing her under a conservatorship that continues to this day.
For her agent Nancy Carson, who'd first met her as a sweet and innocent eight year old, the episode was heartbreaking but relieving, all at the same time.
"I cried. I just was so glad when her parents stepped in and did what they did and they did exactly what they should do as parents," she said.
"Yes, I cried. I loved this little girl, and I knew she was in pain and it broke my heart."
* Britney Spears - Breaking Point airs Sunday, November 3 at 9pm on Channel 5
