Tough love guru in the media crosshairs Mr. Phil has broken his silence™ about the Britney Spears incident, speaking with Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning. Since exploding onto the national stage as Oprah's motivational-speaking protégé, no other case has managed to so rattle the foundations of his "Talk Loudly At People Until They Do What You Tell Them To Do"-based therapy practice.

Insisting that his cameraman-accompanied visit to Spears's hospital room was "never intended to do a show with Britney at all," McGraw reiterates his regret over having delivered his professional diagnosis (an acute case of "this gal needs some serious help, and pronto! Am I right, folks? And we'll be right back after these messages from Febreze...") to celebrity news cameras, instead of to the family members who requested his help in the first place.

• drphil.com
• Breaking His Silence [Today Show]

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