“There’s a lot that people don’t know about me,” Britney Spears said during the MTV documentary, Britney: For the Record, that aired Nov. 30, 2008, two days before her 27th birthday.

On Jan. 12, 1999, she released her first studio album, …Baby One More Time. In exactly one decade we’ve seen her party like a rock star, dance with snakes, tongue kiss Madonna, dominate the charts and ultimately break down. We’ve seen her attack paparazzi, drive with her baby on her lap and shave her head. We’ve even know that she doesn’t like to wear underwear with skirts.

What haven’t we seen, what don’t we know about Britney Spears?

The documentary didn’t tell us much we couldn’t guess… She was feeling lonely and vulnerable after her divorce, she didn’t know what to do in her life, nothing was going right. Basically, it gets lonely on top of the world, and the view isn’t as great as we’d think.

Britney: For the Record, marketed as a tell-all that would leave no questions unanswered, wasn’t quite as interesting as I had hoped or expected. It was, in a word, sad. You can’t help but feel bad for this woman after watching this documentary.

The story begins with still text to a dramatic instrumental:

On the eve of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears invited a film crew into her life.

The film you’re about to see was captured over the 60 days that followed.

No topic was off limits. No question went unanswered.

“Do I know my life is weird??” she laughs. “It’s all I’ve ever known. I don’t see it as being weird.”

Much of the story shows her father and assistants taking care of her and making decisions for her. “Stop biting your nails,” her assistant scolds her at one point. Her life may be in control nowadays, but it doesn’t seem to be under her own control.

Britney asserts that she’s grown up a lot in the last few years, and she is very protective of herself. It’s clear that the family and friends surrounding her are very protective as well, which is a good thing. She definitely has a support system, and they’re working very hard to keep her on track.

“(In the past) I let certain people into my life that were just bad people,” she said. “And I really paid the consequences for that.”

Everybody makes mistakes, but she feels she’s still paying for them. She doesn’t know how she allowed herself to get so low, but she understands how embarrassing her actions were. At one point she says, “I’m a smart person. What the hell was I thinking?”

She alludes to her rumored struggle with bipolar disorder. “I have really good days where I deal really well, and there are some days where it’s in my face where you’re like ‘oh she’s feeling it,’ ” she says. “I have really good days, and then I have bad days.”

She talks about how poorly she handled her divorce, the struggles she’s had over the last several years and her lack of passion. It’s hard to believe that somebody who seemed to have it all and ruled the charts for so many years could have such a difficult life.

At points during the documentary, it looks like she’s going to cry. Other times, she just looks confused. You see a smile every once in a while, but the passion and intensity we used to see in her Toxic dance routines is missing.

It has it’s funny parts, like where she refers to Kevin as “my baby’s daddy” and then goes on to talk about what a “cool chick” she is.

But the majority of this “all-access” glimpse into Britney’s life is just depressing.

“When I tell people how I feel, it’s like they hear me, but they’re really not listening,” she says. “They’re only hearing what they want to hear, they’re not really listening to what I’m telling them.

“I’m sad,” she whispers and the camera cuts before the tears begin to fall.

She compares her life to a prison. “Even when you go to jail, there’s always the time that you know that you’re gonna get out.”

Britney feels trapped — even if her family and friends are keeping her on the right path, she’s still not making any decisions on her own. Her life is dictated by her fame and what America expects of her.

“How does somebody go from being a celebrated entertainer to being a victim of their success?” the interviewer asks.

“I’ve been placed in that category for some reason, and I hate that,” she answers after she says she doesn’t like the terminology of the question. “I love to see people making the most of their situations and being positive. I’m a true believer that it’s all in your perspective.”

Britney and her support group are obviously trying to keep her on the right track and to keep her life positive. We’ll see what happens when her tour begins March 3 in New Orleans. Can she hold it together? Will her comeback be as strong as we’re hoping?

“I don’t really like it when they say ‘the comeback.’ I’ve been here the whole time,” she says.

So what did we learn from Britney: For the Record? Not too much, but now it’s clear how troubled she has been and how hard she’s trying to make amends. We know she’s prepared to step it up, but is she ready?

“I’m ready to make this a really good phase in my life,” she says. We can only hope.

For a pop culture perspective on Britney Spears, check out Patrick Johnson’s column, The Popular Opinion: The bitch is back.

Story continues below advertisement