Britney's "Today" confessional

Britney Spears is a good mom, and if you're rooting for her marriage to fail, then that's just sad.

At least that's what the pop star herself had to say during an interview at her home with the Today show's Matt Lauer that's scheduled to air Thursday both on the morning show and in the evening on Dateline.

"I think everybody should be pro-love," the 24-year-old singer said when asked about the media that appear to be hungry for signs of a split. Telling Lauer that her marriage of almost two years has been "awesome," Spears denied rumors that K-Fed has been banished to sleeping in the basement.

"He helps me--he has to," she said, tearfully describing how the paparazzi who have become her constant companions of late are turning her into an "emotional wreck."

"I think 90 percent of the world would agree that the tabloids have gone a little far with me...They've crossed the line a little bit," Spears said, referring to photographers who have snapped her on her private property. "They like to have the person they pick on. I feel like I'm a target."

Of course she's a target. She's a young, pretty, platinum-selling pop artist who once dated Justin Timberlake and then, after a whirlwind courtship, settled down with a backup dancer and announced how ready she was to start having babies. Then she had a baby. And now she's having another baby.

And she lives in Los Angeles (which is where a lot of famous people live).

All of which, however, explain why the Louisiana native would want to defend her marriage and parenting skills on national TV.

Another order of business was the public lashing she got after she was photographed driving down the Pacific Coast Highway with her then five-month-old son, Sean Preston, on her lap.

"I can't go anywhere without someone judging me," Spears told Lauer. "I did it with my dad. I'd sit on his lap and I drive. We're country."

At the time of the incident, Spears admitted in a statement to making a mistake, but added that she was trying to keep her son safe from a swarm of "physically aggressive paparazzi."

When Lauer asked Spears if she had any message for the tabloids and photogs who are constantly on her case about motherhood, couplehood and every other type of hood, as well, the ...Baby One More Time singer did have a message:

"You have babies at home. And...you have a life. And if you don't, you have to realize that we're people and that we...just need privacy and we need our respect. And those are things that you have to have as a human being."