Despite Sobs, Brit Tells OK! She's "Fine" — But Is She Really?

Amid a sea of media and onlookers, Britney Spears walked

into an L.A. courtroom at 1:40 p.m. PST on Friday to make her first appearance

in the ongoing child-custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline. Wearing

a very short blue dress, brown cowboy boots and Dior sunglasses and carrying

her white Versace bag, Britney kept her head down and, according to an

onlooker, “seemed really nervous.”

Whatever fears she may have had were not unjustified. From

the outset, it was clear the former marrieds weren’t prepared to put their

differences behind them anytime soon. “They barely looked at each other,”

an eyewitness tells OK!. “They did exchange a couple of glances but there were

not smiles. The rest of the time they were just looking straight ahead.”

The “Toxic” singer, who one witness tells OK! “looks like

she’s got really bad acne and greasy extensions,” removed her sunglasses only

after sitting down at a table at the front of the courtroom. Britney, who had

been smoking rapidly as she pulled up to court, still “looked nervous” as she

waited for proceedings to begin. As her attorney kept leaning in and talking

into her ear, she continually sipped water and flipped through a date book.

Kevin, wearing a snappy grey suit and tie, said, “Thank you,

gentlemen” to his security team and entered the courtroom five minutes later.

The eyewitness tells OK!, “Kevin was looking confident, more in control.”

Britney and Kevin, positioned with his attorney at a table

opposite his ex, both said, “I do” when they were sworn in by a court clerk.

“There was a lot of tension in the courtroom,” adds the eyewitness. “There’s a

lot at stake for both sides.”

The press and members of the public were removed from the

courtroom a short while later, and during the hearing, court security blocked

off the entire floor and wouldn’t let anyone through — including Brit's friend

and cousin Alli Sims and hanger-on Sam Lufti, who damaged two cars in the

courthouse parking lot while attempting to block paparazzi from taking photos.

“Alli looked very worried,” one witness tells OK!. “She

was biting her nails and I heard her say to Sam, ‘God, I hope she's

okay.’”

After about an hour, the hearing broke for a short recess,

during which Britney was escorted to the ladies’ room by five sheriff's

deputies. At approximately 3:30 p.m. PST, Britney, protected once more by a

phalanx of courthouse guards, descended in the elevator for another break.

According to sources inside the courthouse, despite the fact

that Brit first told reporters that “everything's great,” she was later

“bawling her eyes out” during one of her three breaks from the proceedings. She

even shouted obscenities — “Eat it, snort it, lick it, f**k it!” according to

witnesses — at reporters who asked how things were going.

Finally, after more than three hours, Brit made her way out

of the courthouse with her lawyer and cousin, Alli, by her side. “She’s

fantastic,” Brit’s attorney Anne Kiley told OK! immediately after the hearing

ended. However, that statement goes against everything witnesses inside the

courthouse have been reporting.

“She appeared to be crying,” one onlooker tells OK!. “The tip of her

nose was red and her cheeks were pink and puffy.” Following the hearing, Brit

sped off through downtown L.A. in her car, but not before saying, “I’m fine... I’m

okay.”

For his part, Kevin appeared “calm and collected” following

the end of the proceedings.

Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon did not issue any

ruling today regarding the fate of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, and is,

instead, taking all the evidence presented under advisement. He is expected to

issue his decision on Monday or Tuesday.