LeAnn Rimes isn't exactly entering her 30s on a high note.
On Wednesday, one day after her 30th birthday, the country singer checked herself into a 30-day in-patient treatment center "to cope with anxiety and stress," her rep told Us Weekly. "She is simply there to learn and develop coping mechanisms."
First becoming a precocious, golden-voiced tween singer in the mid-90s with her hit "Blue" and many subsequent hits (including "How Do I Live"), Rimes encountered major personal drama in 2009, when Us Weekly caught her cheating on then-husband Dean Sheremet with her Northern Lights costar Eddie Cibrian, also married (to Brandi Glanville) at the time.
After both Rimes' and Cibrian's marriages crumbled, she and the actor, 39, tied the knot themselves in 2011; the Twitter-happy star raised eyebrows again and again via her battle with Cibrian's ex Glanville — not to mention her alarmingly shrinking figure.
"She has a lot of mental anguish over how she is perceived," a source tells Us Weekly. "[She has] this constant feeling of being punished for something. She feels like society has never forgiven her. She has this overwhelming need to be loved and respected."
As the talented Grammy winner's music career failed to sustain momentum, "she became focused on being a celebrity . . She's incredibly hard on herself, but she doesn’t realize the decisions she has made."
Although some speculate that Rimes is battling an eating disorder, "her issue is the stress she puts on herself and how the world sees her," the source says. "She really does have a lot of anxiety."
Strangely enough, all seemed well with Rimes on her birthday night Tuesday, when she and Cibrian dined on sushi at Nobu in Malibu. "They looked really happy," a Nobu observer tells Us. "They were constantly in conversation . . .they looked in love and just like they had a lot to say to each other."
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