Britney hopes children avoid showbusiness

Britney Spears hopes her two young children choose a career outside the entertainment industry and have a "more normal childhood", US reports said today.

In her first interview for two years, the troubled star told OK! magazine that she hoped her boys Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one, would avoid following in her footsteps.

The 26-year-old singer also said she was shocked by seeing her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, face so much public scrutiny from her recent pregnancy.

Spears, who was allowed extra visits with her two young sons following an agreement with her former husband Kevin Federline last month, said she hoped they would not go into the entertainment industry.

"I'd love them unconditionally if they wanted to," she said. "I'd just as soon they have a more normal childhood."

Spears, who described her forthcoming album as "more urban" and her "best work ever", also said she was "shocked a little bit" by her 17-year-old sister's pregnancy.

"She's always been the baby, and now the baby was having a baby," she said. "It was mind-boggling."

But she added: "I'm sure the boys will be like big brothers to Maddie."

Spears' father Jamie also told the magazine that her recent troubles had helped to improve the relationship between her and her parents.

"God has a way of taking something bad and turning it into something good," Mr Spears told the magazine.

"If this hadn't happened, I would never have been able to get back with my daughter and have this relationship I have with these two little boys."

The magazine described her as a "very different woman" to the "erratic and distracted Brit (who) stormed out of an OK! photoshoot" last year.

Federline was granted custody of the couple's two children in January following several high-profile incidents of erratic behaviour.

The court heard police were called to Spears' home after she refused to relinquish one of the boys to a Federline bodyguard.

Just five months ago, Spears left a psychiatric ward and stirred up a paparazzi car chase, a scene that looked like the beginning of even more erratic behaviour.

But in the weeks that followed, she kept a relatively low profile and largely avoided the cameras, spending time with family members.

She even found success in a cameo appearance on TV show 'How I Met Your Mother'.

Spears has been under the conservatorship of her father Jamie for the last five months after the court put him in control of his daughter's personal and financial affairs.

During that time, the pop star has been relatively invisible to photographers, only occasionally snapped shopping or having dinner with her mother, Lynne.

A traffic accident in April turned out to be a minor bump in which no one was injured, and for which no one was prosecuted.

The pop star also made news that month when she took on full-time exercise and nutrition coaches from Bally Total Fitness.

Once known for her flawless figure, Spears was widely ridiculed for her flabby form in September during a universally-panned performance on the MTV Video Music Awards that was meant to herald her comeback.