Britney Spears is hell-bent on destroying her looks and her friends fear the troubled pop singer hates herself so much she's desperately trying to erase all traces of the pretty girl she once was.

In yet another example of her increasingly wacky behaviour, Britney's sporting a 'trout pout' after having her lips pumped up with collagen injections. The fading star was barely recognisable as she drove around LA last week wearing a dark wig, sunglasses and her bizarre new bee-stung mouth. And, according to those who know her best, that's how she wants it.

'Britney's so self-loathing right now, it's as if she wants to disappear,' a friend told New Idea. She says: 'I hate being me. I wish I was someone else.' She shaved her head, then she piled on weight and now plastic surgery - you'd never know she was once a sexy teen idol. She's in complete meltdown and nobody knows how to help. We want the old Britney back, but we fear we've lost her.'

Sources say Britney recently became so disorientated that she couldn't find her way home and had to ask photographers where she lived. The confused star was heard mumbling 'I'm scared', over and over after fans gathered outside a restaurant. Britney's self-destruction began a year ago, after she filed for divorce from husband Kevin Federline, father of her sons Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one.

The once squeaky-clean star started falling over outside nightclubs - minus her underwear - and collapsed on New Year's Eve following a night of hard partying. In February, she walked into a salon and shaved off her hair in front of shocked customers. Later, she stunned onlookers by attacking a photographer's car with an umbrella with her bald head on show.
And in July, Britney horrified staff on a US glossy magazine by letting her puppy poop on a $7500 designer dress before storming off with armfuls of clothes, shoes and jewellery. Her musical comeback in September was just as disastrous, with an embarrassing pole dance at the MTV Video Music Awards. But the biggest blow was losing custody of her sons to Kevin over concerns she wasn't fit to look after them.

'Britney can't overcome her problems on her own,' the friend says. 'She's in a really bad place and needs professional help. We all hope she agrees to find it before it's too late.'