Lynne Spears says she blames herself for Britney’s problems


In a surprising interview with The Daily Mail, stage mom Lynne Spears says she still blames herself for her troubled eldest daughter Britney’s numerous meltdowns over the last year and a half. Lynne says that she stepped aside once Britney was out of her teens because she assumed that adult Britney had her life together and knew how to take care of herself. But when her daughter’s life fell apart so publicly, Lynne discovered she no longer had access to Britney anymore.

Britney may be back – but her demons haven’t gone away. And no one knows that better than her mother, Lynne, as she reveals in this frank interview.

There was a point, admits Lynne Spears, mother of Britney, when she toyed with the idea of calling her autobiography It’s All My Fault. ‘I can laugh about it now, but did I feel that way at the time? Yes, I did and, if I’m being totally honest, I still do,’ she says.

Lynne is referring to her daughter’s all-too-public meltdown last year, when she sank from America’s sweetheart to public enemy number one, seemingly intent on destroying herself and everything around her.

‘When her life was such a success, what did she need me for? And when things took a turn for the worse, I was out, because other people – dancers, managers – were closer to her, and with her day and night. Being a mother, you can’t help but have regrets about what you did and didn’t do for your kids, and I’m no different,’ admits Lynne.

…It must have been hard to see her daughter wrenched from her young children, but Lynne has nothing but praise for their father, Kevin Federline. ‘He has been real good with Britney, and doesn’t want to keep the kids from her at all,’ she says, adding that Britney’s access rights translate in real terms to ‘getting to see the kids almost any time she wants’.

‘He’s not a bad guy and he has a good heart. I would have chosen a prince or a state governor for her, but Kevin’s worked a lot to help out, and I can’t say anything bad about him.’

Lynne, 53, has been painted over the years as the hard-nosed architect of Britney’s fame, pushing her off to dancing and singing lessons as a young girl, desperate for superstardom. It’s an image that clearly rankles.

‘I was never a stage mum and never Britney’s manager. What really gets me about that stage mum thing is that, in this business, it’s customary for the mother to take five per cent, but I never did, even when times were bad and our family needed the money.

Jamie [Britney’s father] and I both said that we never wanted to be her managers; we just wanted to be parents. I was never in the driver’s seat as far as Britney’s career goes.’

…By the time Britney was 11, she was a star of Disney’s popular Mickey Mouse Club TV series. Many claimed that Britney’s escalating fame was a godsend to her parents, who were teetering financially, but Lynne is indignant at the suggestion.

‘It cost a lot to send Britney to classes and competitions, and by the time she made it to the Mickey Mouse Club, what she made barely paid for the apartment we stayed in [in Florida], and with living expenses, too, it actually cost us money. But she really wanted to do it and we weren’t going to stop her.’

In retrospect, does Lynne sometimes wish that she had said no to all the aspirations of her daughter? ‘Well, that’s unrealistic,’ she says. ‘You don’t tell your child, “You can’t play football because you might get into steroids one day”, because you just don’t foresee those problems. Even if I had said no to Britney, maybe worse things might have happened because she was frustrated and couldn’t fulfil her dreams.’

In January of this year, Jamie was awarded ‘legal conservatorship’ over his daughter, giving him control over Britney’s personal and business affairs. Lynne and Jamie divorced six years ago after 27 years of marriage, but on this course of action they were united.

‘I admire Jamie for making the effort and trying to do it well,’ says Lynne. ‘We decided he should be the one to do it, because he’s the stronger figure. Mums always give in to their kids because we’re softies, and what Britney needed at the time was the stronger person.’

But Jamie, too, has had his problems. He has battled with an addiction to alcohol, though he has now been sober for five years. ‘We all had reservations at first,’ admits Lynne, ‘and we all worried that the stresses of such a major undertaking would affect them both. But Jamie’s really doing well with Britney, and I must give him credit for that.’

By all accounts, Mr Spears is no slouch on the disciplining front, apparently drawing up a list of rules with which his 27-year-old daughter must comply, including no emailing or driving. And no exceeding the £750 a month allowance he gives her. ‘She was spending a lot of money, so that would make sense,’ says Lynne.

‘Jamie’s real gruff sometimes, but he’s been a disciplinarian when it was needed. He’s always adored his children, but when they were younger, he was so distracted with work and was drinking heavily, so they maybe didn’t bond like they should have done.’

Of Britney’s recent liaison with British paparazzo Adnan Ghalib (who at one point reportedly sold semi-naked pictures of Britney for around £25,000), Lynne remains tightlipped. ‘Did I think it seemed right that they were seeing each other? Oh, no. But when I met him, Sam Lufti [Britney’s former manager] was also around, and Adnan was definitely the better of the two. But Adnan’s out of her life now,’ Lynne adds, with some relief.

As terrible as it must have been for Lynne to witness Britney’s plight, the most difficult chapters for her to write in her book were those concerning her youngest daughter Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy at the age of 16, and the birth of her baby daughter, who is now six months old.

Jamie Lynn followed Britney into showbusiness by starring in children’s TV show Zoey 101, and when the story of her pregnancy broke, the critics were quick to blame Lynne.

‘With Britney, everything had always been out there in the public domain,’ she says. ‘So, even if I wasn’t used to the pain, I was still used to those things happening. But with Jamie Lynn it was so different. I couldn’t believe that my studious, perfect little girl had got herself pregnant. I just went into shock. But she’s doing great now, and is a wonderful mum to Maddie Briann.’

Have Jamie Lynn and her boyfriend Casey Aldridge set a wedding date? ‘No, but Jamie Lynn will do the right thing at the right time.’ Does that involve having more children? ‘Oh, no, definitely not,’ says Lynne, horrified. ‘I think it took that one time to make her grow up and realise her responsibilities.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s about time Lynne Spears stepped up and took some accountability for what’s happened to her daughter. Clearly, her biggest mistake wasn’t getting her child into show business, but instead, it was failing to teach young Britney the basics of being a holistic, independent human being. All she ever knew how to do was be a star- she never learned anything else, especially how to be a decent parent or responsible adult.

It’s interesting that those close to Britney, and Britney herself, still have not mentioned anything about her being mentally ill in any way. Most of us just assume that there must have been some kind of mental illness at work, what with the pink wig and the Brown Boots and the British accent and the car accidents and so on. But it’s never been confirmed. The only thing that’s been publicly disclosed was the court’s assessment that she was a “habitual substance abuser.”

Lynne Spears is shown in an interview with Sydney’s Channel 7 on 11/26/08. Credit: Fame Pictures.

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30 Responses to “Lynne Spears says she blames herself for Britney’s problems”

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  1. devilgirl says:

    She’s just doing it so people will say “Noooo, don’t blame yourself, it ‘s not your fault” She was her mother, she knew what she was getting her kid into and she didn’t care because she wanted the Benjamin’s more than she wanted a well adjusted daughter.

  2. geronimo says:

    Oh this woman changes her story every five minutes, she has no credibility and just craves constant publicity.

    It is interesting, this silence on whether or not Brit was officially diagnosed with a mental illness? Maybe it’s deliberate, this silence? Maybe her family and mgt feel what’s out there in the public mind (a ‘breakdown’) suits their purposes better than plain old habitual substance abuse, which many might see as self-inflicted, self-indulgence on Brit’s part? A ‘breakdown’ would be out of Brit’s control, as it were, and leave room for sympathy, whereas the other would point more to a spoilt, selfish brat who cared more for partying than her kids etc etc. For marketing/career purposes, a ‘breakdown’ is more user-friendly.

    Just speculating, of course, it’s so hard to know with this family, particularly since Lynne is the queen of sugar-coating.

  3. Roni says:

    She should blame herself! Sorry for those who don’t agree…but she is to blame for a lot of issues that have happened at least with her two daughters. There is never any negative press with the older brother, Bryan. Thank goodness, he seems to be the only one with sense and I guess their father…

  4. vale says:

    I don’t believe Britney has a mental illness at all. I remember there were periods in my adolescence where I would dress up, pretended to be someone or something else, in retrospect to test myself, to see what I could do, and see how others would react. It wasn’t mental illness, and neither is Britney’s. Her adolescence, I suppose, is happening now, or during her lowest points, but bring on the plight of being a mother, which I believe was probably another ‘experimental’ thing in her life and not a real desire -much like she herself said about marrying kevin federline- and the fact that she is LOADED with money and photographed all the time. More than an illness I would say its a late development, and her complaints in her documentary were very reminiscent of being a teenager trapped in the rules and disciplines of your parents.
    It’s wrong to label her ill, when she very likely isn’t.

  5. Syko says:

    Still a firm believer here in Britney being a spoiled brat who got into drugs and went nuts, instead of the “oh poor Britney she has a mental illness” thing.

    But as a parent of grown kids, none of whom turned out as I’d have planned (they’re okay, but I had grandiose plans), I can sympathize with Lynn on this one. Guilt and parenthood seem to go hand in hand. So many times I’ve had to fall back on what a counselor said at a parent’s meeting I attended when my youngest was a teen – “Nobody gives birth to a child and says to themselves, ‘I think I’ll fukc this one up.’ We all do the best we can with what we have, and we give them our love, and sometimes it just doesn’t seem to work for them.”

    I’m sure Lynn wasn’t the best mother in the world. But I’m also sure she wasn’t the worst.

  6. Syko says:

    Original post: in moderation
    Post announcing this fact: in moderation
    Post announcing that post announcing moderation was in moderation: in moderation
    Syko: giving up.

  7. geronimo says:

    Syko – lol! you should consider yourself lucky that your post announcing all those stolen posts actually bypassed the mods and appeared. Mine never do. Once I had 6 all in a row disappear, and had to give up and go to another thread to moan! I assume what happens is that it’s detected as spam so the more you moan, the more it looks like spamming!

  8. Syko says:

    I bet Lola’s posts never disappear!

    Such a shame when the priceless bits of wisdom dispensed by geronimo and me are swallowed by the vast mouth of the spam filter!

  9. Len says:

    Vale, I totally agree. From the documentary you could tell she is very immature for a 27 year old. She should never have had children. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. She’s not mentally ill, she’s behind in her development and on top op that extremely unintelligent. Very dumb is not the same as mentally ill. Americans always like to label someone sick when really they’re just stupid.

  10. Bodhi says:

    Very well said Syko.

    So was she a coke-head? Was that the substance being abused?

  11. Kaiser says:

    Bodhi, there might have been some cocaine in all that Cheeto dust she was snorting.

    Syko, we never see eye-to-eye on Brit, but I’m leaning your way on this one. I think Lynn probably sucked as a mother, but I won’t blame her for the f-cked up turn of events that was Brit’s adult life. Now, I’ll *totally* blame her for Jamie-Lynn. 😉

  12. GrnMtGirl says:

    I’m not really sure what to think about Lynne Spears. On one hand I can see her being neglectful in respect to disciplining, but I can also see how she just wanted to help Britney pursue her dreams.

    I had two kids in very costly activities – competitive dance and competitive gymnastics – and we all but spent their college money and our retirement money to provide lessons for them. I never had any dreams about them becoming stars; I was just hoping for a scholarship or two. I believe Lynne when she talks about not pursuing a career for Britney for her own personal gain.

    As far as her mothering skills – it is a difficult job that is for sure. When my oldest had to sit out of dance for a year it was one of the most miserable years. She was in 7th grade and since she wasn’t able to participate in her “outlet” she got into a lot of trouble. We were both very happy when she was able to start dancing again. It was a difficult time for me as a Mom because I wasn’t used to this kind of behavior. I just wonder what kind of trouble Britney would have cooked up had she not been so busy.

    Yes, Moms play a role in the outcome of their kids and we should all take responsibility for our mistakes. However, Britney is 27 and a mother herself – she needs to get her sh*t together and get over herself. This “I was pushed when I was young” and “the paparazzi won’t leave me alone” is getting old. Britney definitely needs to take responsibility for herself and grow up.

  13. california angel says:

    “I would have chosen a prince or a state governor for her..”

    What?

  14. Holly says:

    Ha, love the state governor bit. Anyone read the news this morning?

  15. Anne says:

    I think I was modded in the Oprah thread but Gina gets through every time!!! Man…

    It didn’t say I was modded but my post disappeared.

  16. MsTriste says:

    The stigma of having a mental illness is huge. Almost nobody is willing to go public with a diagnosis, so it’s no surprise that Britney hasn’t, despite it being obvious that she’s mentally ill – probably bipolar. If she would go public, it could help others with mental illness realize it’s not so horrible. I wish she would. It’s time for the stigma of mental illness to be lessened.

  17. MaiGirl says:

    I do think she is at least partially at fault for Britney’s issues, but I think her culpability starts waaaay earlier. Honestly, I never understood how a woman would allow her 15 year old daughter to embody every man’s jailbait schoolgirl fantasy in the way she was marketed around the Baby…One More Time era (and especially the lyrics to the song!). I’m no prude, but I was appalled at the purposeful nature of the innocent/sexy marketing of such a young girl. I would never allow that to be done to my daughter. I think she essentially pimped Britney out to the music industry.

  18. Anne says:

    Also, way to go Lynne. You wanted it look like you were complimenting your daughter and Kevin but instead you had to put in, ‘I would have chosen a prince or a state governor for her…’ Way.to.go. Go away now, thanks.

  19. Codzilla says:

    Syko: As always in regards to Britney, I’m in total agreement.

    I had a couple of posts disappear over the last week, and what’s odd is that they didn’t go to moderation. They showed up in the thread and then a bit later, they were gone. Only one of the posts was on the bitchy side, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the crap that gets to stay, so what’s up with that?

  20. geronimo says:

    Me too, codzilla. Very confusing, contained nothing offensive except your normal bog-standard snark and certainly not in comparison to other comments…. very annoying.

  21. Because I Say So says:

    …so, general consensus is that Lynne Spears wasn’t the best mother, could have done more to protect her daughter, but ultimately tried her best? I am confused. I don’t think she’s all to blame— that, I leave strictly to their genetics. Crazy is bound to come out, especially exacerbated by drug use. (IMO: meth/coke/speed– something to keep her manic, and alcohol to bring her down a bit)

  22. RAN says:

    Me too Codzilla, Anne, et al… I’ve had a couple posts disappear that were originally on the site and then gone. They were only responses to previous posters or something, not name calling or such. Caused me to drop off the site for a while because it annoyed me.

  23. Moderator says:

    Comments are moderated and sometimes deleted for various reasons, and the standard is applied across the board.

    I apologize if this annoys you.

    Lastly, making more comments about your comment being in moderation will not clear it faster. The moderated comments are addressed as soon as I am able to get to them. I know that sometimes takes a long time. Lately other things are taking me aways from the computer more often than would be convenient for you and I apologize.

    Moderation is important. You wouldn’t want a great many of the comments that go into moderation to post, trust me. It’s unfortunate that because of those kinds of comments some of your comments get caught up, too, but it’s the reality.

    Again, please, be patient and try to understand the situation as it is.

  24. Ron says:

    This is what happens when the parent becomes a star fucker with thie own kid. Then they want to be famous and write books etc etc.. It’s terrible. It’s the same thing with the Lohans. USING your CHILD for your own financial benefits, is not good parenting. There are so many child star success stories ie the Olsen twins –do you know thier parents names off the top of your head? Dakota Fanning? She has been the worst kind of parent, a user.

  25. Right on Syko, Vale, Geronimo. Brit is a product of her environment, and I’d be very surprised if she has a legit organic imbalance.

    She and her family are being very self-serving by pandering to the crowd with hushed allegations of Britney’s sanity. It hurts and demeans the entire psychiatric community to use mental illness as a cover for Brit’s drug use and irresponsibility. As a student of psychology, their behavior disgusts me.

    Brit and her family need to take responsibility for their actions in their own lives – not just when the camera is rolling.

  26. Because I Say So says:

    @Ron: I thought the Olsen’s had their own share of parental troubles? Maybe I made this up, but I thought they had filed early on to become emancipated and effectively cut ties with their parents at 16? I’m too lazy to Wiki it

  27. doodahs says:

    ‘It’s All My Fault’ would have been as big a hit as ‘If I Did It’… both snazzy titles for completely inappropriate material. Shame Lynne’s book actually made it to print.

  28. Tina says:

    Joe Simpson (Jessica Simpson’s dad), Lynn Spears, Dina Lohan… Awful parents all of them.

  29. Christina X says:

    I always thought she was at fault for the way Britney Spears turned out, even when I hated Britney Spears.

    Mothers like Spears’ are enablers who neglect their children to the point of abuse. Granting your child fame and materialistic possessions doesn’t negate the lack of discipline and support that every child needs to have.

    I understand that Britney Spears is an adult, and she’s made a lot of poor decisions in her life, but the lack of any system in a domestic unit results in entitled behavior if a child is raised thinking that they can get away with the same behavior in public because it’s how they were raised. I don’t know what happens behind closed doors with any of these famous people, but I don’t think that Lynn Spears was strict enough as a parent, but in the same vein, I’m under the impression that nothing was ever good enough either.

    Slapping a tiara 9 year old and putting her in front of a crowd of people with a microphone is abnormal, and it doesn’t matter how much *any* of these flaky stage peddling parents tell themselves that this is their “children’s” dream. Too young is too young. Aside from not really understanding their path at a premature age, no child should ever be forced to handle fame, especially since they are too young to understand the consequences.

    Guess what?

    When I was 9, I wanted to be a pop star too. It’s normal and healthy for children to pretend. For whatever reason, my mother didn’t take that to heart and sign me up for 800 different pageants either.

    Britney Spears doesn’t bother me, and I think she has flaws. I think she’s said and done some very stupid things within her own control, but the erradic behavior by her mid twenties was inevitable, whether it’s really a breakdown or whether she’s just priviledged.

    She’s said things in a clearer state of conscience that sounded bratty, especially at the height of her career, but I think that this is different. Fame definitely got to her head at some point or another, which is why I don’t believe her breakdown was an act. This is different from the tantrum prone diva in the early 2000s, I think.

    She had everything. Why would she need to pretend? Why would she attempt to lose everything she already had? It doesn’t make sense to me.

    Many of her fans (who you can’t really credit, being horny men) turned on her during the breakdown. I’ve actually witnessed more people being nasty about her than being sympathetic. I’ve always known that Britney Spears could put on an excellent show (despite the bad lip synching), and her body language for a while was…off.

    I think there’s a human being underneath it all. Did she kind of need to be put in her place? She did, but this is too much.

    I think my turning point happened after the coverage on the 2007 VMAs. Just then for the first time I didn’t find it funny anymore. I felt sympathetic, and personally, I find it positively disgusting how quickly the public turns its back on someone. She had so many people wrapped around her finger, and all it took was for her to screw up once, and they’re all gone.

    However…I also blame Madonna. Madonna’s a toxic influence on everyone and sucks the life out of them, and I think Madonna’s using her. After the VMAs incident where she kissed Madonna on stage just before she became party-animal-hooking-up-in-Vegas Britney Spears, Madonna disappeared for quite some time, and now she’s back into her life recently…why?

    Britney Spears is Madonna’s personal touring prop. Every time she needs to promote a tour, it’s hurry up and grab Britney.

  30. MaiGirl says:

    @ Christina X: Amen on the Madonna stuff. She practically invented soul-selling-anything-for-attention-famewhoredom.