The first half of Lynne Spears’ interview on The Today Show
Britney’s mom Lynne Spears was on the Today Show this morning talking to Meredith Viera about her book Through The Storm. Lynne said that the book started out five years ago as a series of poems and memoirs but ended up being a “Set it straight” account responding to the tabloids. She said “I wanted people to see my family as they really are.”
Contrary to earlier stories, Lynn said she never intended the book to be about parenting or contain any kind of parenting advice. The first chapter is about Britney, and is called “From There To Here.” Lynn explains why she thinks Britney has had so many problems in her life to date.
Explains Britney’s problems were a response to early fame
Meredith: “Have you been able to figure that out?” [how Britney got from there to here]
Lynne: “I have sat for hours and hours thinking and thinking about everything that’s happened and I think it’s been a whirlwind, it’s been a wild ride for everybody. I think when you mix extreme heightened celebrityhood – I mean she is a superstar and everyone watches 17 paparazzi assigned to her 24-7 and then when you have heartache, I think the mixture is just not healthy.”
Says Britney was driving her own career and she had to stay home for Jamie Lynn
Meredith: “She starts out a little girl who loves to sing and dance, by 11 she’s on the Mouseketeers. What was your role there? People said ‘Oh, Lynne Spears, she must be a stage mother.'”
Lynne: [laughs] “You know what, Britney pushed me, because I was a teacher… In Louisiana I had a preschool for 15 years and then I went into the public school. Of course I tried to be with Britney as much as I could, but when she was 15, 16 years old that’s when Felicia, a very good family friend, she traveled with Britney. I had to stay home, because Jamie Lynn was in school. I had another daughter.
“Another misconception was that I was always with Britney when I really wasn’t.”
Meredith: “Do you regret now, maybe it would have been better?”
She couldn’t have been there for Britney, but she wanted to
Lynne: “You know what Meredith? You can say shoulda woulda coulda. It’s kind of like Britney was set out into the world a little bit prematurely. Like our kids go to college. You don’t really know what they’re doing in college, do you? Just like Britney set out years earlier to be a star. So, I think she’s out there, she’s with the crowds and she’s with her peer group and she’s doing things. She’s a celebrity, for heaven’s sake. Everybody’s watching every move she makes. Did I want to be there? Of course, but was it feasible? It wasn’t.”
On when she lost control of Britney
Meredith: “You talk about Britney, she’s 17 years old. The moment when you felt you lost control as a parent of your daughter. The Rolling Stone Interview and the picture of her.”
Lynne: “Well, actually the Rolling Stone interview we were so in awe… I’d never even bought one but we just heard ‘Wow, this is really a big deal.’ When she’s just beginning so you have no picture rights, you don’t have editorial rights… we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were kind of in shock at what was going on… and it was a two day shoot. Thank God Larry Rudolph came in when he did… he said ‘Stop, that’s enough.’ We didn’t have choice as to what pictures were printed and what was chosen. We had no one who could tell us what we were supposed to be doing.”
[Transcribed from Lynne Spears’ appearance on The Today Show, 9/17/08]
Lynne went on to talk about Britney’s fame and how exciting and fabulous it all was at first, calling it “a honeymoon period where it looked like she could do no wrong.” She added “Then there’s that ugly side of fame when it turns and we weren’t ready for that either.”
No one had time to process what was happening, they were just responding to the crisis
As for Britney’s downfall after her failed marriages and the head-shaving incident, Lynne explained that it all happened so fast and that “it was so crazy at that time, I don’t think anybody was even trying to sit and think of what was going on. We were just trying to do what we could do at that moment at that time, and we were praying very hard because it seemed like we had no control over anything that was happening. We were… doing everything we could to try and get through.”
Lynne joked that she told her friends she was going to climb the fence to get into Britney’s house to save her.
That’s just the first half of Lynne’s interview. I’m watching the second half now and will have more shortly.
Lynne really paints herself as this innocent mom who just let her daughter get famous and do her own thing, but couldn’t have anticipated that it would cause any problems for her. It’s like she just threw up her hands and Britney had to get incredibly messed up before anyone figured out that she really needed help. Maybe if she would have been there for her when she was just a teen things would have turned out differently for her. As it is, Lynne still refuses to admit that her inability to be a competent parent to Britney had anything to do with her daughter’s very serious problems.
Through the Storm is now available at Amazon and in bookstores.
Lynne Spears is shown outside STK Restaurant in LA on 8/26/08. Credit: WENN
That is BullS**t – no wonder Britney had problems taking responsibility for her actions. SHE LEARNED IT FROM HER MOTHER!
What a terrible mother. While Britney is responsible for some of what she has gone through in recent years, the lack of a strong parental force early in her life is also to blame. I mean, just look how well she is doing now that her father has conservatorship!
Its one thing to not admit responsibility for your child’s problems. It’s quite another to go on a campaign (book, TV appearances) of denial.
Is she for real?So everything was Britneys fault.Allowing her to have sex at 14 and taking drugs and smoke?Yeah right.She and Michael Lohan should get married.And now?How convinient she is back in Brits life.How great all these parents enjoy the fame and fortune brought by their kids but when its about faults they are blameless.
What kind of mother just sends her kid into the world-especially the vicious world of celebrity-without being there to guide and protect her? So, she had another kid at home…OK. So you tell Britney that sorry, you can’t do this or that because we are a family and that doesn’t work for the family. Plenty of time to become a star later, if it’s meant to be.
This woman is why I feel sorry for Britney. How could we expect her to have turned out any better than she did? We count on our mothers to protect us and teach us when we are children-not send us out in the world to fend for ourselves.
This woman is so stupid it borders on evil. 👿
Kate…you are right! She and Michael Lohan would be a perfect match.
Her kids are not as bad as they could be . This woman is a creepy,strange non person. She sounds the way people do when they’ve been doing hard drugs for a long time. Totally disengaged, avoiding the connection between her actions, or lack of them, and the results. Poor children.
Sorry but, remind us again who was the stage mum who dragged her not even ten year-old daughter from audition to audition, relocating whenever Britney got gigs? She took her two daughters to NYC the second Britney got a part in a Broadway musical.
This bullcrap makes me so angry. You’re the one responsible for your daughter getting so hurt and derailed because she was too young to start in showbiz and now you say it’s not your fault?
She’s the one who really needs to seek help. I hope Britney and Jamie Lynn cut all ties with that dragon of a woman.
See, then ok. Here’s the part I think she forgot about the whole thing.
If you were so busy with Jamie Lynn that you couldn’t keep a closer eye on Britney….HOW THE HELL DID JL GET KNOCKED UP BY A 19 YEAR OLD AT 17?!
The more they talk to the press and try and say how their family ‘really are’ (like Jolie/Pitt do all the time) the more the press won’t leave you alone.
The sad part is that now she and Brits father play it her saviour.Lets see what happens with Brit.Its still early.What i see now is a desperate try for more mopney gaining(so quicly she has a new album after her breakdonw)and Brit looks drugged all the time.Also where is her accent?Her voice doesnt feel the same. 😕
Annie! I was just thinking the same thing. She is such an epic failure as a mother! AND SHE STILL ISN’T TAKING RESPONSIBILITY!!
Her eyes look dead in that first photo.
F-ck it, she should have named the book “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” – at some point, I hope someone calls her on her bull$hit. 😯
what a horror-show this woman is.
Uh, Lynne? It’s your responsibility as a parent to protect and guide your children. It’s too little too effing late for you to make excuses for being a shitty parent now.
And as for her claims that “I wasn’t a stage mom; Britney pushed me”- Bullshit. YOU control your children, not the other way around. The way this woman continually shifts blame onto her children while at the same time proselytizing about being responsible and owning up to one’s mistakes is sickening. And then to put out a book and start shamelessly self-promoting off of your effed up family life?
Lynne Spears is seriously giving Dina Lohan a run for her money for title of “Mother of the Year”
You know what they say. Denial. Not just a river in Egypt.
When asked about her decision to write the book, Lynn states, “I wanted to be in the driver’s seat…” Perhaps she should have taken that approach with her parenting style!??! What a load of effing bullshite. 😆
Shame on her. She sold her both of daughters out for fame and money. Now she’s doing it a 2nd time.
To say that she isn’t responsible for what happened to Britney when she was a teen, we have a phrase for it “child neglect”.
And don’t get me started about pimping Britney out when she was a teen to a football player so she would be possible. Disgusting. I agree with what an earlier poster said; both daughters should cut her off. What an attention whore…
There is something so phony about Lynne. Lynne baby, we see right through you. hope people don;t buy tour book.When she didn’t even know Britney took racy pictures for Rollin Stone, but was in awe of the magazines’s popularity? C’mon
This woman disgusts me. I saw an excerpt of this interview where she claims it wasn’t her fault that Britney posed as a sex kitten on her first “Rolling Stone” cover because Lynne didn’t have any role models or predecessors in the business to tell her that wasn’t a good idea. WHAT??!!
Gee, Lynne, most parents know all by themselves not to let their children be EXPLOITED as SEX OBJECTS.
And of course she’s giving her grand defence of her parenting while selling a book to make money off one daughter’s nervous breakdown and the other’s teenage pregnancy. That’s the icing on the cake.
The one good thing to come out of this is while I’m annoyed and even offended by some of Britney’s behavior since becoming an adult, this book tour by her mother has actually made me feel some sympathy and compassion for her daughters and the absent mothering they’ve suffered.
since i was pretty little i wanted to act, and my mom said no each time i begged her, she said i could do it once i was an adult if i still wanted to, because she didn’t want me to end up like so many child stars.
i hated it at the time, but i definitely do see where she was coming from now… i think the entertainment business is an adult world, with adult stress and it can be bad when a kid grows up in that sort of environment.
my point being, i tried to push and push my mom into letting me try and i was never able to force her to.
ultimately it is the parents job to take care of their kid and guide them in the right direction and to give them the skills and coping skills to deal with things
Wow, that’s brilliant @lolalola.