NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When Britney Spears kicks off her first tour in five years, it may seem as if she's picking up where she left off in 2004: She'll be promoting a platinum album with a grandiose stage show, a chiseled body and elaborately choreographed moves on display.

But whereas her last tour was more like a coronation, Spears' "The Circus" tour marks another step in the ongoing rehabilitation of Spears' image and her career.

In the past five years, Spears has gone through more tumult than many endure in a lifetime: She's been married and divorced, had two kids, gone to rehab, gone through a custody battle, found herself briefly committed to a psychiatric hospital, and been so out of control that her father, Jamie Spears, was appointed by a court to oversee his daughter's personal and professional affairs indefinitely.

But over the past year, Spears' life and career has rebounded. Her "Circus" CD, released in December, has already sold more than 1.3 million copies, and she's had two hits off the CD, the number one "Womaniser" and the top five "Circus."

Spears comeback has been carefully orchestrated, beginning with well-received appearances on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" last year to her comeback appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards last fall following her disastrous performance on the awards show in 2007. She has given few interviews, and those that have been granted have been heavily managed.