Pop Star Thinks Again After Las Vegas Wedding

Britney Spears, the pop princess turning heads with her increasingly wild behaviour, stunned her nearest and dearest at the weekend by marrying a childhood friend in Las Vegas, only to annul the union hours later.

Wearing jeans and a baseball cap and walked down the aisle by a hotel bellman, Spears got hitched to Jason Alexander early on Saturday in a prank wedding at the Little White Wedding Chapel on the famous strip.

But scarcely had the licence been issued than the pair arranged to have it annulled.

They "took a joke too far by getting married," her record label, Jive Records, said in a statement.

"Ms Spears and Mr Alexander have filed for an annulment which will become official on Monday," read the statement.

"I don't know what's going through her mind," one source close to the singer was quoted by People Magazine as saying.

The incident is the latest in the singer's path from virginal role model to raunchy good-time girl.

She has been photographed smoking and emerging from clubs looking the worse for wear.

It has been a wrenching transformation for many fans, prompting questions about whether she is spinning off the rails. Spears has the added pressure of falling record sales and a film debut that flopped. Her stage shows and outfits are increasingly provocative and she caused a furore at an awards ceremony last year when she kissed Madonna.