Lynne Spears has really outdone herself. She got a lot of the blame for Britney being so messed up, and for a long time I thought that seemed unfair. But when you’ve got one daughter who’s gone into rehab three times in a little over a year, is on her second lockup in psych ward in two months AND a knocked up sixteen year old, you’re not exactly looking like a flawless parent. But for some reason I still can’t put my finger on, I really don’t think she’s the worst celeb parent out there. She’s not trying to look like she’s 25, nor does she go out clubbing and drugging, a la Dina Lohan. When you hear some of the other celeb mothers talk, you can’t help but notice how incredibly dumb they are. I don’t just mean in their choices, I mean that they are completely lacking intellect. Lynne Spears is nothing special, but she seems to be relatively intelligent, and likely in way over her head. Britney’s level of psychosis is far beyond what the average parent is equipped to deal with, at least without some help. And it’s important to remember that if nothing else, Britney is an adult. She has a ton of money and power. Lynne Spears is no longer in a situation where she can force Britney to get help. I’m not saying she’s a saint, I’m just saying her hands are probably a bit tied.

Luckily Britney is finally in a mental hospital again. I’d lock her up just for doing that asinine British accent. Whenever I see tapes of her being a moron and speaking that way, I really want to put her in a prison isolation cell. It’s incredibly annoying and stupid, and I’ve lost all sympathy for the wreck. She’s just fallen so far that it’s all she has left to get attention. Before Britney was hospitalized this morning, Lynne gave an interview to Life & Style, in which she said she was doing her best for her daughters.

“Britney’s on my mind day and night. She never leaves my thoughts.” Nor does Jamie Lynn, who’s 16 and nearly five months pregnant. “Jamie Lynn’s my baby,” Lynne confided. “I’m doing my best. I’m doing as well as can be expected.”
“I love Britney dearly,” Lynne tells Life & Style. “I want nothing more than to protect her and make everything all right for her.” Told that people still believe she’s a good mother, Lynne managed a smile and replied, “Thank you. That means a lot right now with everything that’s happening.”

[From Life & Style, Feb. 11, 2008, print edition]

I’m not saying Lynne Spears is a perfect mom or even a good mom, but I don’t think she’s nearly as evil as people like to portray her. What it all comes down to is that no one really knows. Not even friends and family of the Spears can really say, because everyone’s still a little biased, if by nothing else than what Lynne says about herself and her kids and what her kids say about her. Really the only people that can know if she did right by her children are Lynne and Britney, Jamie Lynn, and their older brother Brian. The rest of us are just speculating. And while a lot of blame is often piled onto Lynne, no one ever seems to ask where Britney’s father Jamie is. He was just as responsible for raising his kids properly as Lynne. Though they recently divorced, they were married for all of Britney’s formative years. If people are calling Lynne out for the way Britney was sexualized and objectified early on, then the same applies to Jamie Spears.

Picture Note by JayBird: Header of Jamie Lynn and Lynne Spears L.A.X. on 10.6.07