Britney Spears’ troubled life has moved on to the next level of catastrophe: she lost custody of her two toddler sons to her former husband, Kevin Federline.

Pop singer Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, backup dancer turned “Mr. Spears” turned failed rapper, finalized their divorce in July 2007. A custody battle ensued, with Federline requesting sole physical and legal custody of sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon ruled Monday that Federline “is to retain physical custody of the minor children on Wednesday ... at 12 p.m., until further order of the court,” thus putting a temporary end to an ugly custody battle.

Another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. No further details were released.

The aspiring rapper was deemed a more fit parent for the boys after Britney was portrayed by a former bodyguard as an unsafe mother who is a habitual user of drugs and alcohol.

Commissioner Scott Gordon ordered Britney to undergo random drug testing and to work with a parenting coach two weeks ago after finding evidence of “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.”

She apparently did neither. Nor did she comply with Gordon’s other orders. TMZ reports that the 25-year-old singer failed to respect all of Gordon’s orders: random drug tests, drug counseling, and parenting classes. She failed to sign the judge’s order as well.

On Saturday, the celebrity gossip site posted a video showing Britney break another order: she was driving the two boys around Malibu without a valid California driver’s license, something Gordon forbade both her and Federline from doing.

According to media reports, after finding out that she had just lost temporary custody of Sean Preston and Jayden James on Monday, the singer handed the boys over to Federline’s bodyguard and proceeded to beautify herself at a tanning salon and then obtain a driver’s license for California.

While this is consistent with a sort of ‘pattern’ of erratic behavior from Britney that includes shaving her head before entering rehab, all those crazy stories from her time in rehab, partying, going out without underwear or with underwear that is highly visible, it does ring an additional alarm.

As her YouTube defender has said, she is “not well.”

I can’t help but remember a message Britney posted on her website in late May, addressing her fans and warming them up for her comeback. Among other things, in that message, she talked about being a family person and about the pain and bewilderment of seeing her marriage fail.

She mentioned her kids quite a lot and she sounded coherent and aware of herself.

“Now recently I find with my children that I want them to have that feeling (of being at peace) all of the time. I am having to face a lot of things right now since I have children of my own. A lot of insecurities from when I was little are coming up again. It is like we are never good enough.”

She said she was “only human” and said she finds life “surreal.” “Everyday is so surreal. Life in general is so surreal and crazy.”

What happened to that sane-sounding Britney in the meantime?