By Stacy Jenel Smith Book-ended by Britney News, 2008 was a year of Calamities and Embarrassments in the Celebrity Realm

When it came to scandals in 2008, Hollywood was hard-pressed to keep up with the antics in political circles. After all, Tinsel Town had nothing like the crashing of the careers of the governors of the states of Illinois and New York -- accused of trying to sell a United States Senate seat, and of employing the services of a call girl, respectively.

Yet the show business set certainly had more than its share of tragedies, calamities and embarrassments in 2008.

The first celebrity to hit the news in a scandalous way was, of course, Britney Spears, who on January 3rd refused to relinquish custody of her sons to representatives of her ex-husband, Kevin Federline's, and wound up hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation. In the absence of illicit drugs, Britney-watchers speculated that bi-polar disorder was the cause of her strange behavior. She hadn't slept for more then four days when the police came. By Jan. 14, her visitation rights were suspended indefinitely. By month's end, she was placed under the temporary co-conservatorship of her father, James Spears, and lawyer Andrew Wallete.

The year also started off with the strange, sad death of golden film actor Heath Ledger at 28. His housekeeper and a massage therapist found him lying face down, naked and unconscious, in his bedroom, with sleeping pills - both prescription medication and nonprescription - on a night table. When he was Oscar nominated for his 2005 performance in "Brokeback Mountain," he seemed on top of the world, his lady and the mother of his child, Michelle Williams, by his side. By the time he died, they had parted - over his druggy lifestyle, it was said - and reports and film clips attesting to that lifestyle emerged.

In March, Nickelodeon star and Britney's little sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, got engaged to Casey Aldridge, the father of her baby.

In April, Jamie Lynn turned 17.

In June, she delivered daughter Maddie Briann at a Mississippi hospital.

Mother Lynne Spears reportedly sold the story of Jamie Lynn's pregnancy to Britian's OK! Magazine for $1 million dollars.

The fall from grace of Anne Hathaway's now-ex-boyfriend, Raffaelo Follieri, was certainly one of the entertainment world's bigger scandals this year. She said she felt as if the rug was pulled out from under her after he was caught and arrested trying to pass a bad check for $250,000 in April. Amazing - not in a good way -- details of the con man's crimes came to light during his trial on 11 counts of fraud and money laundering, getting wealthy clients to invest in non-existant real estate deals and falsely presenting himself as a representative of the Vatican. God's gonna get him for that one - but the U.S. government got him first. In October, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for fraud.

In April, parents of Miley Cyrus fans throughout the land were scandalized by her Lolita-style Vanity Fair photograph - touseled hair, smeared makeup and bare back as she held a satin sheet in front of her. Making matters worse were the pics and the Vanity Fair website video of then-15-year-old Miley and her daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus, posing more like a couple than a father and daughter. Photog Annie Liebovitz offered up her patented I-don't-know-why-you're-so-stirred-up-it's-beautiful-it's-art stance. Billy Ray stonewalled. It was left to Miley herself to offer statements of contrition while Disney Channel PR people worked on spin control. Miley herself also took those provocative, underwear-clad, blouse-lifting internet pictures, but anyway, the storm seems to have left her unscathed.

In May, 17-year-old Nick Hogan, son of famed wrestler Hulk Hogan, was sentenced to eight months of jail time for the DUI-involved car accident that left his best friend, John Graziano, disabled. Meanwhile, his mother, Linda, who had filed for divorce from Hulk in '07 after 24 years of marriage, stepped out with her 19-year-old pool boy boyfriend, Charlie Hill. In November, a Florida judge declined to grant Charlie a restraining order against Hulk. Charlie claimed that the ring star had "dangerously followed" him in his car a few weeks earlier and "pulled up next to him and stared at him." Yikes!

But things began to look up for Britney Spears. She guest-starred on "How I Met Your Mother" in May, got good reviews and brought the show its highest ratings ever, and they left the door open for her receptionist character to return again.

In July, Britney reached a new custody agreement with Federline in which he retains sole custody of sons Sean, age three, and Jayden, two, while she has visitation rights. The agreement cost her: among other things, she paid Federline's large legal fees.

Also in July, Christian Bale - Batman to the late Heath Ledger's Joker in the big-budget summer smash, "The Dark Knight" - got a taste of scandal when he was arrested in London after allegedly assaulting his mother and sister. The charges were later dropped.

David Duchovny, who plays a sex addict writer in Showtime's "Californication" entered rehab for sexual addiction himself in August. Though they separated and it appeared he and wife Tea Leoni were headed for divorce, they've reportedly been quietly trying it back together as of this fall.

In September, Lynne Spears' "Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World" book was published. It drew attention for her revelations about elder daughter Britney, such as her drinking and drugging in her early teens, and her losing her virginity at age 14 to an older high school football player rather than to Justin Timberlake, as was widely thought, including by Justin - or so Lynne said. Hey, thanks, Mom! The book - classified as an inspirational memoir by its publisher, Nashville-based Bible and Christian book specialist Thomas Nelson - became a best-seller.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie's mud-slinging divorce launched a tabloid feeding frenzy, with gossip about her relationship with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez drawing all the more attention from media sharks. Naturally, Madonna's main mouthpiece, Liz Rosenberg, denied, denied and denied the marital split, pants aflame. But sure enough, by October the papers were filed, Madonna and A-Rod were being seen together and reportedly planning an Africa trip together, and by December, the material quinquagenarian was settling her divorce from her British director mate of seven-plus years for a sum reported as no less than $76 million, but potentially as high as $92 million.

Messy also was the Balthazar Getty-Sienna Miller affair that had the "Brothers & Sisters" actor - a married father of four - captured by paparazzi cavorting with topless Sienna in Italy. His marriage, and their affair, ended, but Sienna won $79,000 and $27,000 dollars in chump change - er, make that out-of-court settlements -- from a photo agency and a tabloid publisher that she sued for harassment and invasion of privacy, and an agreement from Australian paparazzo Darryn Lyons that he will stop following her. (Just to put a little perspective on this, earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported that a single good paparazzi picture of teen star Miley Cyrus getting kissed would fetch between $30,000 and $150,000.)

The year 2008 was a tough one for Heather Locklear, who wound up in rehab. The beauty who for so long had the image of the golden girl who has it all was arrested in September for D.U.I. and charged with a misdemeanor for driving under the influence of prescription medications. She was also reported as suicidal, then admitted to problems with anxiety and depression.

It was also tough for Christie Brinkley, who went through the ordeal of a week-long divorce trial from husband of 10 years Peter Cook - wherein lurid details of his affair with a teenager and affection for pornography came to light.

This was the year that O.J. Simpson was found guilty of spearheading the robbery of a Las Vegas sports memorabilia dealer - 13 years to the day after his acquittal for his wife's and Ron Goldman's murders. He's in a Nevada prison for up to 33 years, at minimum, nine.

It was the year that Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in federal prison for failing to pay income taxes. Snipes is appealing the ruling.

And 2008 was the year that Britney Spears rose, phoenix style, from the ashes of her own celebrity pyre. In September, her "Piece of Me" took top honors at the MTV Video Music Awards -- Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year. Her "Womanizer" single became a No. 1 hit in October - the same month an L.A. Superior Court judge dismissed 2007 charges against her for driving without a license, declaring a mistrial. In November, she won Album of the Year and Act of 2008 honors at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Her "Circus" album, which got its official release on her 27th birthday Dec. 2, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 505,000 copies in its first week. Oh, and she looks gorgeous and fit again, back in form as the artist who's sold more than 82 million records world-wide.

If Rolling Stone writer Vanessa Grigoriadis is right about Britney being the "canary in a coal mine" of our pop culture, the harbinger of things to come, we can only hope that we're in for a sweeping comeback as well.