What was Britney thinking?
Quickie marriage has tongues wagging and wags joking
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Spears and Alexander hit this Las Vegas chapel very early Saturday morning.
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People Magazine's Mike Fleeman has the scoop on pop star Britney Spear's marriage and reported annulment (January 5)
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(CNN) -- On Saturday, the question for Britney Spears was, "Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
Today, the question is likely to be, "What were you thinking?"
The pop star and a childhood friend, Jason Allen Alexander, were married about 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning at a Las Vegas, Nevada, wedding chapel, reportedly after watching a video of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
By midday Monday, a Clark County judge had signed an annulment order, and the marriage was over.
Total time of wedded bliss: 55 hours.
"That was fast," Brian J. Steinberg, a Las Vegas attorney, told The Associated Press. "I'm not even sure they had time to have sex."
The escapade was the butt of jokes before the ink had dried on the annulment order.
"Britney is one of our great comedians. She has been hilarious," said humorist Andy Borowitz on CNN's "American Morning" Monday, adding that "the marriage did last longer than several of Jennifer Lopez's."
"The next morning, her people had to tell the poor guy the marriage is over. Sounds to me like somebody got punk'd," said David Letterman during his Monday monologue on CBS' "Late Show."
'Let's go get married, just for the hell of it'
Well, DID somebody get "punk'd"?
Alexander, 22, told "Access Hollywood" that the move was impulsive, but nothing more.
"We were just looking at each other [Saturday morning] and said, 'Let's do something wild, crazy. Let's go get married, just for the hell of it.' "
A Spears friend told the AP that the singer was not intoxicated during the ceremony, and that she woke up later Saturday morning a "little stunned" that she had gone through with the wedding.
However, it wasn't as though the two didn't try a little bit. According to reports, the pair went to the Little White Wedding Chapel -- known for uniting Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, as well as other celebrities -- after spending time at a club in the Palms Casino Hotel. When informed by chapel staff that they couldn't get married without a license, they went to get one and then returned to the chapel for the ceremony.
Spears, also 22, and Alexander wouldn't be the first couple to have an instant marriage followed by an instant divorce.
Dennis Hopper and the Mamas and Papas' Michelle Phillips were married for eight days in 1970. Zsa Zsa Gabor was apparently married to Felipe de Alba -- her eighth husband -- for one day in 1982, though since the wedding was performed by a ship's captain at sea, and she was still married to her seventh husband at the time, the validity of the union is in question.
Other short-lived marriages include Janet Jackson and James Debarge (three months), Tom Green and Drew Barrymore (five months) and Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd (15 months).
'She has reclassified herself as worthless'
Spears' husband of 55 hours, Alexander, said the marriage arose out of a desire to "do something wild, crazy."
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How Spears' misstep will affect her career is anybody's guess, but at least one public forum -- an America Online message board -- had a great deal of criticism for the singer. (AOL is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.)
"She has reclassified herself as worthless. I hope her fans boycott her music and use her CDs for compost," said Pecanwombat.
"Seems Britney will do anything to keep herself in the limelight -- news item one day, annulment the next. She is so transparent," added BLHARRING.
Spears was defended by one poster from her home state of Louisiana.
"Here in Louisiana, when we work, we are serious and sane. When we are not working however, we do become a little crazy at times liking to joke, laugh, and have a good time. Britney is no different," wrote Jay Herrod, adding the biblical admonition, "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone."
Though Spears isn't in dire straits -- her latest album, "In the Zone," debuted at No. 1 -- her album sales have declined and recent events, including a calculated kiss of Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, have met with derision.
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 Seems Britney will do anything to keep herself in the limelight -- news item one day, annulment the next. She is so transparent. 
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-- A poster on an AOL message board
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Legally, the marriage may present problems for Spears. Though an annulment essentially declares the marriage nonexistent (unlike a divorce, which acknowledges a union did occur), Nevada law allows for community property between married couples. So any income that Spears made while she and Alexander were married could be contested, Clark County District Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer told the AP.
A Spears spokesman, attorney David Chesnoff, said Alexander had agreed to the annulment "completely."
"There is no marriage now," he told the AP. "They've made a wise decision. I know they care about each other. They are friends."
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
