Just when you think there’s nothing more to say about Britney Spears, she’s starring in a controversy — believe it or not — not of her own making.

Sure, someone who shares a televised kiss with Madonna, marries a corn-rowed, dirty-looking backup dancer and drives with her infant son on her lap needs no help making news.

But this time, someone else placed Britney in the headlines after apparently deciding Britney was lacking in tabloid coverage.

A Connecticut artist sculpted a life-size statue of Britney giving birth to her son, Sean Preston, who was born late last year.

The artist, Daniel Edwards, has never met Britney, nor, he claims, has he followed her career. He simply saw a photo of a very pregnant Britney on the cover of a magazine and thought she epitomized motherhood.

Maybe he missed the infant-behind-the-wheel-of-her-car incident.

Spears did not pose for the statue, called “Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,” and that’s now nice to know because Statue Britney is facing downward on a bearskin rug with her hindquarters in the air.

I haven’t seen a photo of the statue from all viewpoints — one photo was enough so soon after I’d eaten — but according to several reports, the artist sculpted a baby’s head coming out the other end.

Edwards said the statue is not political, although many politicians have been known to show their hind-ends in public. His use of the phrase “pro-life” means only that it is “a sincere tribute to giving birth,” Edwards said.

While those Hollywood types easily toss around phrases about the sanctity of childbirth and the beauty of the human body — especially if nudity adds a couple hundred thou to their paychecks — I’m guessing most of the world thinks childbirth is an event best shared among a husband, wife, a doctor and a couple of painkillers.

Well, except for Tom Cruise, who thinks soon-to-be-mother-of-his-child Katie Holmes should give birth in silence because that’s what Scientology preaches.

You know no woman came up with that idea. The only women I know who were silent during childbirth were unconscious. Unfortunately for Katie, Scientology also disapproves of medication.

And, unless my friends are all lying to me, not a single woman I know gave birth face-down on a bearskin rug, including Spears, who reportedly had a Caesarean section.

But truth and art do not always live on the same planet.

Still, Edwards said he worked hard to make Statue Britney lifelike, studying photos and visiting Las Vegas to see the dummy.

I’m referring to Madame Tussaud’s wax replica of a pole-dancing Britney, of course.

But most revealing of all is the opinion of Spears formed by the artist after his research.

“I never really studied her before, never really paid attention. But she really is a model, a living Barbie doll,” Edwards said.

Hmmm, wasn’t Pregnant Barbie removed from the shelves amid controversy and scandal? At least in Barbie, Edwards discovered something Tom Cruise hasn’t — a woman who would be silent during childbirth.





If you’re brave enough to look, photos of Statue Britney can be found all over the Internet, including The New York Times Web site at www.nytimes.com .