Britney fires assistant!

Britney Spears has taken action against her 'ill-fated' new personal assistant, Shannon Funk, who has only been in the job for 3 full weeks.

It is believed Spears decided to sack the newly instated assistant after claims that she was "too controlling", and publicly blaming her for her personal troubles.

This decision came after a dreadful photoshoot with the OK! Magazine, in which she holds the PA partly responsible, suggesting there had already been major problems.

"Britney didn't blame the day directly on her assistant," an insider told Chinadaily.com, "but just said in general that a lot of her problems recently were caused by Shannon's unprofessional behavior. Britney thought Shannon was rude and tried to run her affairs without listening to her."

Manager Larry Rudolph and public relations firm BWR have also been in the firing line this year, an extremely troubled year for the pop sensation.