Britney Spears celebrated her 27th birthday yesterday with her family in New York.

The star started the day performing two tracks from her new album on Good Morning America then shot a pre-taped segment for the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center (which will be broadcast in the US tonight).

But after a busy day, the star still found the energy to celebrate her special day with her family and friends, including parents Jamie Spears and Lynne Spears, and sons Sean & Jayden, at the Rainbow Room on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

A source told OK magazine that the group started with carpachio as an appetizer then ate from a pre-set menu including salad, risotto and chicken or beef. At the end of the meal, Britney was presented with a triple layer chocolate cake decorated with berries, but Britney “ate only the smallest bite .. she must be on a strict diet.”

The source added that the night ended with a round of bellinis - but the excitement of it all was too much for two year old Jayden: “Jayden kept screaming ‘Daddy’, it was so sad.

“Jayden was throwing a tantrum so Britney picked him up and walked outside. As she did, she literally snapped her fingers at her security guards who immediately got up and followed her outside.”

But even a hug from mum couldn’t comfort him and the source reports Britney handed him over to a nanny, who then whisked the toddler out of the restaurant.

Brad Pitt has said he worries that talking about his family cheapens the experience of fatherhood.

He and partner Angelina Jolie frequently talk about their lives together and their six children, but Brad explained recently that words can never do justice to how he feels about them.

He explained this week: “I just feel bad about it when I [talk about the children].

“There’s no way to give it true validity and weight in what it means to you in your life, and it seems to get cheapened somehow as it goes through the filters and the airwaves. Some things you just want to keep close to the chest.

“[But] I will say this: I’m really proud of this family. I look at my sons and my daughters - one’s from Vietnam and one’s from Cambodia, and one’s from Ethiopia… and they’re brothers and sisters, man.

“They’re fighting and laughing and they’re going into hysterics and they’re staying up late and they’re messing with their parents and they’re driving me crazy.

“I feel rich being around them. It’s a rich home and each one of them offers so much to the mix.”

Amy Winehouse’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil has been sent back to jail after breaching the conditions of his early release.

After being sentenced to 27 months in jail in July, Blake was released into rehab last month - but has been returned to jail after failing a drug test.

According to the Sun, he was told of his imminent return last night and skipped the curfew at the LifeWorks clinic in Surrey to visit Amy in hospital before his return to prison today: “Blake did a runner. He turned up in hospital and hell broke loose - everyone was totally shocked.

“He was asking Amy to forgive him. As he was going back inside anyway he felt he didn’t have much to lose.”

A source told the Mirror that Amy is angry about his slip-up - particularly as she paid £30,000 for his treatment at the private clinic: “He is devastated about going back inside. And she is furious that it all seems like a waste of money.

“Amy dipped into her own pocket to help turn his life around but now feels that it’ll all be thrown back in her face.

“She had finally started stepping up divorce proceedings again but he started phoning again and getting inside her mind. Now he is out of the picture again she can concentrate on getting her life on track.”

Blake is expected to now remain in jail until the end of his sentence in 2010. The Sun’s source explained: “If he had stayed in prison last month rather than taking the rehab option, he was set to be released at the end of this month. He’s blown it.”

Last month Blake appealed his sentencing, saying it was six months too long, but the Appeal Court dismissed his claims. He has been in jail since his arrest for assault and perverting the course of justice in November 2007.

Victoria Beckham has said she thinks she’s found her calling with fashion design, even though she can’t draw out her ideas.

The former Spice Girl is launching a new limited line of dresses this week, selling for between £650 and £1900 a dress at Selfridges, and she insists the outfits are all her own work.

She told the Times recently: “Being in the Spice Girls, fashion-wise probably didn’t open any doors. If anything it shut doors and I’ve had to bang them down.

“We all looked like we did later on when people thought we’d been manufactured. Emma had her bunches, Mel C had her tracksuit on. I had a little black dress that everyone said was Gucci, which it wasn’t - it was Miss Selfridge.

“I was never that good a singer but I think I am good at fashion. Even when I was at school, where I was bullied - sometimes physically, sometimes verbally - I was always customising my uniform.

“Do I draw? No. Then again, nor do lots of designers. But I put it all on myself and walk around in it, and I know what feels comfortable. I know how a dress should sit.

“I’ve worn so many and when I see the photographs I think, crikey, my boobs are up round my neck again because the corsets are too short and not cut high enough.
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Take That’s Gary Barlow and Howard Donald have said they doesn’t “see the point” of Britney Spears any more given her new lacklustre dance routines and her tendency to mime rather than sing live.

Last week, Britney performed her single ‘Womanizer’ at a German awards show, then on the French and UK versions of The X Factor to promote her new album ‘Circus’ before heading back to the US for her 27th birthday yesterday and another lip-synched performance, this time on Good Morning America.

Gary, who with the reformed boyband released their own album ‘The Circus’ yesterday, told the Mirror: “I don’t see the point of Britney anymore, she was rubbish on The X Factor. I think she’s more famous than she deserves to be now.

“Why [go] on a show like that and mime? I don’t like her new song either. Her old stuff was great but maybe she should have spent more time on this one.”

Bandmate Howard Donald added: “The truth is all the contestants on X Factor are so talented and were able to sing and dance live, so why couldn’t Britney do it?

“It’s the whole point of the show and her miming looked stupid. It’s not that she can’t do it, Britney is really talented and can sing - I just don’t think she understood the show.

“I think probably she was made to do it as a promotional opportunity in England. Britney is unlikely to have had a lot of say in it. The contestants did a better job than her. I’m glad she’s back but X Factor wasn’t right for her.”

Take That’s album is currently at No1 in the midweek album charts while Britney’s record, released the same day, is at No3.

• See Britney’s Good Morning America performance below

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Lily Allen has said she thinks it’s a “bit of a farce” that Diana Vickers has reached the final four on The X Factor.

Speaking on The Scott Mills Show on Radio 1, she explained that she was gutted when Ruth Lorenzo was voted off the show at the weekend: “Ruth was my favourite - really Vickers should have gone. I felt the whole thing was a bit of a farce.

“When she didn’t sing on Mariah Carey week she should have had to come back the next week and sung a Mariah song as well as a ‘Best Of British’ song, because then it would have been fair.

“I don’t think that Diana is very … good. [Well,] Diana’s good enough for Eurovision!”

The outspoken singer added that she didn’t want to come across as mean with her comments: “Why do I get myself into trouble? I’m a nice person really, I just don’t like Diana Vickers!”