Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears in Los Angeles in April 2017.Photo:Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty
Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty
Britney Spearsis reflecting on her tumultuous relationship withsister Jamie Lynn Spears, with whom she’s both publicly feuded and seemingly made amends with in recent years.
“She will always be my sister, and I love her and her beautiful family. I’m working to feel more compassion than anger toward her, and everyone who I feel has wronged me. It’s not that easy,” Britney writes.
In her book, the Grammy winner says that growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana, the younger Jamie Lynn “ruled the roost” and left Britney feeling like a “ghost child” to parents Jamie and Lynne.
Britney Spears on the cover of PEOPLE.Britney Brands
Britney Brands
Still, Britney felt like a second mother to Jamie Lynn, who followed in her sister’s footsteps and pursued a career in show business, rising to fame as the star of Nickelodeon’sZoey 101in 2005.
In her book, Britney recalls an incident in which she had “words” with one of Jamie Lynn’s costars on the set of the show after her sister “complained” about the actress; upon reflection, the singer says she has since learned the girl was “innocent” and offers an apology (Actress Alexa Nikolas, who played Nicole on the show, has since spoken out about the same incident and called it “traumatizing” ).
Tension continued to build between Britney and Jamie Lynn after the “Toxic” singer was put under a conservatorship in 2008 and placed in a mental health facility in 2018, prompting her to text Jamie Lynn for help getting out.
Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears in 2003.Frank Micelotta/Getty
Frank Micelotta/Getty
Britney claims that Jamie Lynn texted back, “Stop fighting it… There’s nothing you can do about it, so stop fighting it.”
“This will sound crazy, but I’ll say it again because it’s the truth: I thought they were going to try to kill me. I didn’t understand how Jamie Lynn and our father had developed such a good relationship,” Britney writes. “She knew I was reaching out to her for help and that she was dogging me. I felt like she should have taken my side.”
A rep for Jamie Lynn did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In a2022 interview with PEOPLEamid the release of her memoirThings I Should Have Said, Jamie Lynn said that as an adult, she’d been asked to be a part of Britney’s conservatorship, but ultimately declined the opportunity “nicely.” Court documents indicate that Jamie Lynn was appointed as trustee of Britney’s multimillion-dollar estate in 2018 but never filled the role.
When Britney’sconservatorship was terminatedin 2021, she writes that she felt an array of emotions, including betrayal from her family.
“My sister and I should have found comfort in each other, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case,” she writes. “As I was fighting the conservatorship and receiving a lot of press attention, she was writing a book capitalizing on it. She rushed out salacious stories about me, many of them hurtful and outrageous.”
Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears at Toys “R” Us Times Square in New York City.James Devaney/WireImage
James Devaney/WireImage
Jamie Lynn has repeatedly said she supports Britney, and in her interview last year with PEOPLE said she’s “only ever tried to be helpful, so any notion that says the contrary is just completely ridiculous.”
“I love and I support my sister, and I always will. It’s very clear that this has been a painful process, and I have to respect however she works through that,” she said. “I didn’t have a say when [the conservatorship] happened. My sister was going through a hard time, I was still a child, and that’s what everybody, I think, forgets: I was just a kid going through my own crap.”
She continued: “I just wanted to remain her sister, very simply. It’s unfortunate that I’ve been grouped into this, but the facts are I had nothing to do with anything.”
Ahead of her book’s release, Britney discussed it in an interview over email with PEOPLE.
“Over the past 15 years or even at the start of my career, I sat back while people spoke about me and told my story for me,” she says. “After getting out of my conservatorship, I was finally free to tell my story without consequences from the people in charge of my life.”
The Woman in Meis due Oct. 24 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It is now available for pre-order.
For more of the exclusive excerpt and interview with Britney Spears, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
