Did Ditzy Britney Turn Genius in Divorce?

Nov. 8, 2006 — -- It's not just leaving Kevin Federline that has star watchers cheering -- it's how Britney Spears chose to do it.

The pop star's Election Day surprise -- coming one day after she showed off her new, slimmed-down look on late-night TV -- was a masterful public relations move to launch her post-K-Fed career.

And she heads to divorce court with what lawyers are calling "an ironclad prenup" that will shelter her multimillion-dollar fortune.

"You've got to love the timing," says Jill Dobson, news editor at Star magazine. "The Letterman appearance was a last-minute thing. She obviously didn't talk about it on the show. But she wasn't wearing a wedding ring.

"Then, a day later, she drops the bomb -- during a national election -- when everybody is watching the news, and journalists work overtime."

Famed divorce lawyer Raoul Felder agreed that for Spears, "Election Day is probably the best day of the year to announce a divorce."

"She waited till she got herself back in shape, and then got rid of her husband," Felder says. "Now she can reinvent herself."

'Iron Clad' Prenup Leaves K-Fed Few Options

A dark cloud of bad publicity had followed the 24-year-old singer since she married the 28-year-old dancer, who had dreams of becoming a rap star.

Federline had abandoned a Shar Jackson, the mother of two of his children, when he started to date Spears. At the time, Jackson was pregnant with one of his children.

The club-hopping couple soon became a tabloid sensation, and they attempted to capitalize on their well-publicized exploits in the self-filmed reality show, "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic."

"Their marriage was just one disaster after the next," says Michelle Lee, executive editor of In Touch. "The divorce was inevitable."

This was Britney's second marriage. Eight months before marrying Federline, she tied the knot with childhood friend Jason Alexander after a heavy night of partying in Las Vegas -- and the marriage was annulled 55 hours later.

"Perhaps the first marriage was a good thing. I think Britney learned from her mistake, and that's why she has a prenup now," says Lee. "Everyone is always smarter the second time around."

Spear's attorney, Laura Wasser of Los Angeles, is considered one of the top divorce lawyers, and she drafted the agreement.

"It's ironclad," says Harvey Levin of TMZ.com. "Kevin will get several million dollars. But Britney and the people around her have done the job she needed to do to protect the bulk of her considerable wealth."

In her filing for divorce, Spears cited "irreconcilable differences" and asked for custody of the couple's two children -- one-year-old Sean Preston and infant son Jayden James, who was born Sept. 12.

As divorce proceedings unfold, it's likely that Federline will challenge the prenuptial agreement, and he could ask for custody of their children, but he's unlikely to be successful in either case, Felder says.

"There's a Bob Dylan lyric that goes, 'When you've got nothin' you've got nothin' to lose.' If he has nothing to lose, he'll litigate the prenup to try to sweeten it just a little bit, just to make it worthwhile for him to take what's already on the table," Felder says.

"But it's safe to say Britney has put herself in the position a lot of divorcing women would like to be in."