Britney with her baby at a temple in California. (PTI)

Los Angeles, Feb. 2 (Reuters): Pop star Britney Spears will give her first public performance since giving birth last fall when she appears in an upcoming episode of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

Rather than singing or playing herself, Spears, 24, will take a stab at comedy acting, portraying a Christian conservative talk show host in a guest appearance on the gay-themed series, NBC said.

She will share most of her scenes with the flamboyant Will & Grace character Jack, played by Emmy winner Sean Hayes. The episode, marking Spears’s first gig as an entertainer since giving birth to a son in September, will be taped on February 15 and aired on April 13. Her last real experience as an actor came in the 2002 film Crossroads.

Spears has kept a relatively low profile since marrying dancer Kevin Federline in September 2004, saying then she was taking some time off to “just chill”. In April 2005 came the news she was pregnant with her first child.

That did not stop celebrity magazines and paparazzi photographers from following Spears’s every move as she vacationed, shopped and prepared for motherhood.

A reality show chronicling her courtship with Federline, Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, also aired last year on UPN, but that was made up of home video footage shot before their marriage.

In another sign of return from her self-imposed maternity leave, Spears and Federline showed up at a Hollywood after-party following the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.

Spears has sold more than 60 million albums since her 1999 debut Baby One More Time. With Oops!... I Did It Again and Britney, she became the first female performer in the history of Billboard magazine to land her first three albums at no. 1 on the US pop charts.