Britney Flying Solo

FREE AGENT Spears Avert your eyes, ladies and gentlemen. Britney Spears is taking charge of her own publicity. The pop-tart turned mother-of-two's longtime flack Leslie Sloane Zelnik has been on hiatus since Labor Day, with Spears vowing she could handle the PR duties related to the birth of her second son, Sutton, on her own. (Her music rep, Sonia Muckle, is still on the job.)

Expect more classic TV moments such as Spears's interview with Matt Lauer last June, when the Today host arrived to find Kevin Federline's disheveled wife alone at her Malibu mansion in runny makeup and fake eyelashes. Of course, Sloan Zelnick may be relieved. "If Britney were my client, I would fire her," says a rival flack. "Why work with someone who clearly doesn't want to listen?"