Britney Spears Is Back But Is She Stable?

May 17, 2011— -- On the latest cover of Harper's Bazaar, Britney Spears appears happy and healthy, in a not-too-revealing white dress, her trademark blonde locks trailing down her back. But her parents would have you believe that her mental state remains fragile.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a court case brought by the singer's former manager Sam Lutfi is once again bringing into question Spears' mental state. Even as she has regained partial custody of her two boys, is about to embark on a world tour and has a steady boyfriend, her former agent Jason Trawick, Spears can't completely escape the memory of her well-publicized breakdown.

Lutfi is suing the star's mother, Lynne Spears, over claims she made about him in her memoir, "Through the Storm." In the book, Lynne alleges that Lutfi regularly drugged the 29-year-old pop star and cut her off from friends and family. Lutfi denies the allegations and wants Spears to testify in the case.

But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Spears' parents have said their daughter is "mentally incapable of testifying." The singer remains under the conservatorship of her father, Jamie, and her lawyer, Andrew Wallet.

"Britney suffered many traumas in the public's eye from the period of 2007 and early 2008. Although that was the lowest point in her life, Britney is now flourishing," her spokesman Jeff Raymond said in an exclusive statement to ABCNews.com. "An interrogation into that time period would devastate anyone who had survived that experience, let alone this young woman who has so courageously and relentlessly worked to put her life back together."

Spears, for her part, claims she's normal, just like everybody else.

"I'm pretty normal, you know?" she told Harper's. "Like I said, the type of day I love is just like everybody else's. I'm like everybody else."

But Ian Drew, senior music editor at US Weekly, thinks Spears' words should be taken with a grain of salt. "The image you're seeing that looks normal is constructed by team of people," he told ABCNews.com. "There's a smokescreen of people that parade her out. She has people around her to make sure she doesn't rebound. This is someone who is very ill."

It's long been speculated that Spears suffers from bipolar disorder. In 2007, she shaved her head, went back and forth to rehab and lost custody of her sons, ultimately landing in the psychiatric award of the UCLA Medical Center in early 2008. Soon after, her father and Wallet became her conservators and Spears slowly regained her footing.

Lutfi isn't buying the singer's current fragile mental state, however, and has asked a judge to order a psychiatric evaluation of Spears.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lutfi had a psychiatric expert analyze a recent video interview with Spears to bolster his case.

Joshua Pretsky, an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCLA, concluded that Spears was mentally competent to testify.

"In the Ryan Seacrest interview, which was recorded approximately two months ago, Britney Spears is interviewed at length, and she responds logically and coherently to questions, evidencing logical thinking and mental competency," he told the court, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Pretsky reportedly told the court that there is good cause to conduct an independent medical examination to "investigate the Conservators' claim that Ms. Spears is not mentally capable of testifying."

Drew doesn't think Spears could handle testifying and he thinks she should steer clear of Lutfi. "I don't think that guy had her best interest as opposed to her family and the people who love her. He called her boyfriend a "stabilizing force in her life."