Spears Family Spokesperson Slams Dr. Phil

A Spears family spokesperson has lashed out at Dr. Phil McGraw for making comments in the press following his visit with Britney Spears at Cedars Sinai Medical Center last Saturday.

Lou Taylor, a Spears family spokesperson, hit the “Today” show Wednesday morning to express the family’s concern that Dr. Phil used Britney’s situation for personal gain.

“What’s wrong with Dr. Phil’s statement is that he made a statement,” Taylor told Meredith Veira. “The family basically extended an invitation of trust for him to come in as a resource to support them, not to go out and make public statements. Any statements, publicly, that he made, because he was brought in under this cloak of trust, are just inappropriate. So we feel like to set the record straight, that we’d need to say that.”

Taylor confirmed that Dr. Phil was invited in, noting that Britney’s mother Lynne Spears, “has had a relationship with Robin” McGraw.

The interviews that Dr. Phil gave and the post he made on his Web site however, violated Lynne and Jamie’s trust.

“He was not invited to make this part of a public display or part of the media and I think that was the heart of Jamie and Lynne to say, ‘Look, we’re looking for support here!’ not to add to the trouble that’s already upon them,” she said.

In fact, when asked by Veira, if the family felt their relationship had been damaged by Dr. Phil’s public statements, Taylor said she believed that it had.

“I think it’s been compromised because it’s a matter of trust — I mean, here you have Britney [who] needs to have some security somewhere that every single thing she does and every single person she has a relationship with doesn’t become an opportunity to be exploited… And you know, I just felt for Jamie and Lynne. This was a time where they were taken advantage of,” she said. “They are people who love their daughter and that know exactly what’s going on and want that support.”

Taylor confirmed that Dr. Phil approached the Spears family with the idea of doing a show on the situation with Britney, but the family rejected the idea.

“No, they were not going to do a show… Dr. Phil did broach that issue and it was vetted amongst the team, but it was decided that that would be detrimental for anybody to ever do that,” she said. “To me personally, being part of this team, I felt that [it was] inappropriate for him to even be self-serving in bringing something like that up, because that would not be a vector to get Britney help. I just think it would have been wrong.”

When contacted by Access Hollywood, a rep for Dr. Phil said, “We have no further comment. Dr. Phil stands by his previous statements.”