Pal: Christina Aguilera's "Drinking Is Out of Control"

USMagazine, Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 12:46pm (PST)

Christina Aguilera's pals probably saw this one coming.

The songstress, 30, was busted for public drunkenness in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in West Hollywood; she was the passenger in a car driven by her beau Matthew Rutler, who was arrested for driving under the influence.

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"When she got out of the car, she couldn't stand. We had to help her stand," L.A. County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Steve Whitmore tells UsMagazine.com. "She didn't know where she was and she didn't know her own address. We took her into custody for her own protection."

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After passing a sobriety test, Aguilera was released from custody around 7:30 a.m. Although she was slapped with a misdemeanor charge, the star will not be prosecuted, Whitmore explained. (The case against Rutler, who released on bail, is ongoing.)

"It was an arrest for her own safety...It is a public welfare issue. She was incapacitated and not able to take care of herself."

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"Her drinking is out of control," an Aguilera confidante recently told Us Weekly. "She's a total mess." The Burlesque star -- who famously flubbed the National Anthem at the Super Bowl Feb. 6 and nearly fell off the stage at the Grammys one week later -- has been unraveling in the wake of her split from husband Jordan Bratman and a series of career disappointments.

Among Aguilera's alcohol-fueled antics:

A boozy international press tour for Burlesque in December. "Every city they went to -- London, Tokyo -- Christina was pretty drunk, and Matt had to carry her home," a Rutler source says.

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The inebriated singer and her mom, Shelly Kearns, got into a heated fight in her $11.5 million home on New Year's Eve. "Christina was so wasted before her guests arrived that her mother told her to lie down and sober up," another insider says. "Christina then yelled 'Who do you think you are?' It was crazy!"

After crashing actor Jeremy Renner's star-studded birthday bash at his Beverly Hills pad on Jan. 8, she got "wasted" and climbed into his bed -- enraging Renner, who griped about the incident to pals at the Golden Globes.

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At L.A. club The Dime on Jan. 25, Aguilera was downing vodka sodas and "crying uncontrollably" about tensions with ex Bratman, 33, a witness says.

Read more about Aguilera's scary downward spiral -- how little Max is holding up, how her pals are "fed up" and more -- pick up the latest Us Weekly, out now!

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