Britney Spears has officially checked out of rehab just weeks after seeking treatment following a DUI arrest in March. 

The 44-year-old Toxic singer left the facility ahead of a scheduled court hearing in Ventura County on Monday, 4 May. 

Spears had entered the undisclosed programme on 12 April, with sources close to the star revealing that her sons, 20-year-old Sean Preston and 19-year-old Jayden, were the ones who ultimately convinced her it was time to get professional help.

The pop star is currently facing one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence after being pulled over near her home on 4 March. 

While her arraignment is set for Monday, the Ventura County District Attorney’s office has confirmed that Spears isn’t actually required to be there in person, as her lawyer can attend on her behalf. 

Prosecutors have indicated they will likely offer a “wet reckless” plea deal, a common move for first-time offenders with no history of accidents or high alcohol levels. 

If she accepts, she would face 12 months of probation, a mandatory DUI class, and various fines.

The DA’s office noted that Spears’ decision to self-motivate and check into rehab is a significant factor in how these cases are handled. 

Her representative had previously admitted her actions were “completely inexcusable” and expressed hope that this period of reflection would be the first step toward long-overdue changes in her life. 

In the days following her arrest, Britney was seen spending time with friends like Molly Shannon and Diane Warren, but it was the heartfelt intervention from her children that proved to be the turning point.

According to insiders, Britney was initially quite nervous about entering treatment because she finds it difficult to trust outsiders or follow a strict routine. 

However, her bond with her sons is reportedly in the best place it has been for years, and she was willing to do whatever it took to avoid jeopardising that relationship. 

Sean Preston and Jayden, whom she shares with ex-husband Kevin Federline, had grown increasingly concerned about her behaviour and urged her to get back on track. 

With her rehab stint now behind her, the singer appears focused on her recovery as her legal team prepares to navigate the next steps of her DUI case.

Ian Somerhalder has opened up about the financial crisis that forced him to walk away from one of television’s most lucrative careers, and sell houses, paintings, cars and watches to claw his way back.

The Vampire Diaries star told E! News that fraud and a badly built business left him and his wife Nikki Reed in an eight-figure hole, meaning the debt ran to at least $10 million. 

“I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole. Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of. But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.”

He was candid about the painful irony of the situation. 

“I should’ve been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world [instead of] starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever,” he said.

Somerhalder retired from acting seven years ago, after his Netflix series V Wars was cancelled in 2020. 

Before that, he had spent years as one of television’s most recognisable faces, first as Boone Carlyle on Lost, then as vampire Damon Salvatore across all eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries on The CW.

He has previously credited Reed, whom he married in 2015, with saving him from what he called a “true nightmare.” 

In an Instagram post at the time, he wrote that she had “devoted her life to getting me out of that mess and it almost killed her along the way. I am where I am BECAUSE of this woman.”

Looking back on the decision to leave acting, Somerhalder expressed no regret. 

“I remember sitting with my management talking about this, saying, ‘Hey, this is the only thing I’ve ever known that’s ever sustained my family, and I’m walking away from it,’ at this sort of peak. I would much rather do this than go spend two months in some city, shooting a TV show away from my family. Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things.’ I don’t need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself.”

Evangeline Lilly has publicly called out The Walt Disney Company over its latest round of Marvel layoffs, accusing the studio of discarding the artists who built its empire and replacing them with artificial intelligence.

The actress, who played Hope van Dyne, the Wasp, across four Marvel films, took to Instagram to voice her anger after learning that Marvel’s visual development department had been among those hardest hit in company-wide cuts that reduced Disney’s workforce by around eight per cent. 

“SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away,” she wrote in her caption.

In the accompanying video, Lilly explained that she had reached out directly to Andy Park, the artist who designed the Wasp suit she wore in the original 2015 Ant-Man film, to confirm what she had seen reported. He confirmed he had been let go. 

“I can’t quite believe that Disney have let go of the artists who brought the current Marvel Universe to life through their imagination and their genius,” she said. 

“That the people who invented these characters in the first place, who designed them in the first place, are now being replaced by AI. AI that will take their designs and take what those artists created and use it to create iterations of that.”

She was direct about where she stood on the issue. 

“I am so sorry Andy, and I am so sorry to every single one of the artists who were let go in the 1000 artists that Disney fired, and particularly the entire team at Marvel who have been considered obsolete now after building the Marvel empire.” 

She added that the work these artists produced “are human creations, and they shouldn’t be stolen by tech giants so that their robots can replicate them. I think it’s disgusting and horrible, and I stand with all the artists and Andy.”

The cuts at Marvel affected most of its departments, including film and television production, comics, franchise, finance, legal and visual development, the latter being particularly hard hit, following a smaller round of redundancies in 2024.