Time Bomb    ·    January 10th, 2008

Last Thursday night, Britney Spears’ apparent mental illness — speculated to be anything from bipolar disorder to postpartum depression — was undeniable to the world.

“She needs to be on suicide watch,” her aunt, Chanda McGovern, tells Us Weekly in its latest issue.

The nightmare scenario came to a boil when Spears, frustrated by a custody deposition earlier in the day, refused to turn over her sons, Sean, 2, and Jayden, 16 months, to ex-husband Kevin Federline’s bodyguard as planned at 7 p.m.

When Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline’s attorney, appeared to show the court papers of the visitation, the singer “lost it,” an insider told Us. “She screamed, ‘Get him out of my house!’ She hates Kaplan.”

The 26-year-old then locked herself in a bathroom with Jayden. “She was crying and freaking out. She kept saying she wanted her babies,” a Spears insider tells Us.

Us has learned Federline made desperate calls to Spears’ estranged parents, Lynne and Jamie, from Cedars-Senai, where Spears was rushed by ambulance.

Britney father, who showed up to around 1 a.m., “has cried a lot of Britney and Jamie Lynn, but he was just happy to be with his baby again,” an insider says.

At the hospital (mom Lynne stayed with Jamie Lynn in Kentwood, Louisiana), Britney and her father held hands as she slept. “Britney was resting and Jamie was watching football,” says the insider, who adds that Jamie insisted Lynne and Jamie Lynn only to talk to Britney through him.

As Spears left the hospital following a rocky visit from Dr. Phil, Jamie “did talk to her about going to a mental facility,” says the insider. “But she freaked out and said, ‘Now you want me to go to rehab again? I don’t need to be locked away!’”

Spears, meanwhile, has spent much of her time since leaving the hospital on Saturday with married paparazzo Adnan Ghalib, who has been shopping photos of a partially nude Spears to tabloids for $1 million — cash, a source says.

“He’s been trying to get with her because she is his meal ticket,” Gina Bisignano, his neighbor is L.A.’s Encino area, tells Us.

Adds Spears aunt, Chanda McGovern: “I’m truly, truly concerned. I don’t think things can get any worse now than us losing her completely.”

Source: Us Weekly