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While Britney Spears admirably recognized her shortcomings as a parent by hiring some much-needed back-up, she apparently has not yet had the same light bulb moment about her inability to publicly manage her image. Anyone who watched Spears' weepy, disheveled collapse under Dateline Grand Inquisitor Matt Lauer's pummeling questions will probably not be too surprised to discover that the event was not managed by her long-suffering publicists. Says Page Six:

"Neither of her publicists, Leslie Sloane Zelnick or Nanci Ryder, showed up," said our source. Spears insisted on doing her own hair and makeup - a regrettable decision. Web sites derided her hair as a "rat's nest" and, when she started crying during the interview, one of her fake eyelashes fell off. "When [the NBC crew] got there, they thought they had the wrong day . . . During the interview, no one was there to rein things in," we're told... Reps tried to control the damage on Friday. "They asked NBC not to release footage to places like E!," said a source. Asked why Spears was on her own for the interview, Sloane Zelnick said, "Britney is a grown-up and makes her own decisions."

The flack's disappointment is palpable, and her lashing out by patronizingly referring to Spears as a "grown-up" is probably just rooted in the frustration of knowing that a great opportunity for image repair was squandered by an irresponsible client. Had Zelnick been on the scene, she could have ordered members of her team to distract Lauer and tackle the cameraman the instant that fake eyelash broke free of her tear-soaked lid, giving Spears a crucial moment to compose herself before the next wave of leading questions about her deficient parental skills.