Jamie Lynn Spears has a memoir coming out in January. The first title for the book was based on a lyric from “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” the hit by her sister. It was originally supposed to be called I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out. Jamie has since changed the title to Things I Should Have Said and has promoted it by saying she is “opening up about my own mental health” for the first time. Of course it’s Jamie Lynn’s story and she can write about anything she wants, but given everything her sister has gone through it seems insensitive at the very least to frame it that way. Britney has suggested that Jamie Lynn hasn’t supported her throughout her conservatorship battle and she’s also called out Jamie Lynn for performing her songs. It just seems like Jamie Lynn is being passive aggressive toward Britney, and this is not the first time.
Anyway Jamie Lynn tried to say that the profits from her book would go to a mental health charity called This is My Brave. I doubt she would have donated the full profits, but it doesn’t matter because This is My Brave has declined any potential donation from her. They issued a statement saying they heard the criticism, that they would not accept a donation from Jamie Lynn’s book and that they’re sorry. In response a source/Jamie Lynn told People Magazine that the charity is wrong, essentially, and that Jamie Lynn’s story is as valid as Britney’s!
A source tells PEOPLE that Spears, 30, was hurt by This Is My Brave’s decision to turn down any donations given to them by the actress, who announced her book Things I Should Have Said earlier this month.
“Jamie Lynn was totally blindsided by them publicly walking away. The organization was recommended and vetted and knew we were donating, but they’ve been overwhelmed,” the source says. “Unfortunately with them backing out, they are essentially saying that one person’s mental health struggles are more valid and important than another. They took a clear stand on whose story they thought had more value to them. Seems their actions don’t align with their mission of supporting all voices.”
The insider says that the incident has been “very upsetting” for Spears, who has long been associated with her sister in both her career and her personal life.
“Jamie Lynn has suffered abuses in her life as well and that’s what people aren’t understanding — she has her own things she’s gone through,” the source says. “She can’t help that she’s Britney’s little sister. Her life is only spoken about in relation to her family even though she has also been dealing with mental health issues for the better half of her life. This just reinforces the entire trauma — that her story doesn’t matter.”
Read what the source/Jamie Lynn said “they are essentially saying that one person’s mental health struggles are more valid and important than another. They took a clear stand on whose story they thought had more value to them.” Jamie Lynn is being super obvious that she’s competing with Britney by releasing this book. She’s saying “what about meeeee” and “this is damaging to me that people care about my sister.” It’s all so shady and shows you exactly what Jamie Lynn’s intentions were with this memoir.
Photos via Instagram
I feel bad for younger siblings when their sister/brother is a mega star. Its very hard to ‘follow that act’ no matter what you do. Jamie Lynn didnt make it anywhere near what Britney did and its possible after her teenage pregnancy she wanted to live a quiet life. However Jamie Lynn is VERY close to her daddy,i have no doubt she has benifited financially from Britneys situation. She is a failed singer/actress and her husband appears to be a salesman,but they live quite well as shown in a documentary she did.Her father has definitely been bankrolling them.
She has also been allowed to make her own life choices and decisions without the threat of a 72 hour hold until she complied.
It’s extremely distasteful and narcissistic even, to try to release a memoir using lyrics from your sister’s career when she isn’t allowed to write an instagram post without vetting by her conservatorship, let alone being allowed to write her own memoir, in her own words, or tell her own story.
So no, it’s not about the charity choosing a side and making the big sister’s mental health story ‘more important’. The big sister hasn’t been allowed to speak!
The charity is putting an end to yet another attempted abuse against Britney. They’re trying to stop the cycle of profiteering from a women who’s had her basic freedoms stripped from her so others can control her and use her power and money, while she herself has no power to do basic things.
The more Jamie Lynn speaks, the more she reveals her complicity.
Sometimes in those situations people will try to make one sister’s struggles the more famous sister’s fault too, because drama. Even when neither sister is actually accusing the other of anything and both were just kids when the fame started. Even with Chloe and Halle, who got fame at the same time, some of us are starting to see misogynists trying to pit them against each other.
Then other times one of the siblings really is causing drama, like Samantha Markle or, to some degree, Jamie Lynn. I still think Jamie Lynn should be able to tell her story, but it’s disappointing that she wasn’t there for her sister as an adult.
It’s not Britney’s fault Jamie Lynn didn’t measure up. (and she didn’t measure up even with the step stool Britney gave her)
JL is like the copy that is typed after the carbon paper has already made a few copies. While she *wants to be* exactly like the original, she doesn’t come close. This girl has ridden her sister’s coattails all the way. I seriously doubt she’d’ve had *any* career w/out her sister.
I also think that she’s been a BIG TIME recipient of “Britney’s generosity” with Daddy Dearest sticking his dirty fingers in Brit’s money (JL’s “family vacation home” in FL, and Pimp Mama Lynn’s mansion as prime examples).
Girl is trying to make bank for the last time while she feels she can. Ugh. I sure hope the truth comes out about all of them and Brit’s estate can recover what was taken.
I don’t feel sorry for Jamielynn she has always used Brittney for her own benefit, she bullied Alexa Nicolas on Zoe and manipulated her sister to scare that girl because she knew how much she loved her, and would do anything for her.
Good for the Charity.
She thinks she’s equal to Britney but she wouldn’t even have a book deal without being Britney’s sister, she is no one.
So whining about being Britney’s sister while cashing in on being Britney’s sister and then trying to use that limelight to shade her sister and defend herself from accusations that she helped abuse her sister while basically helping her family steal from Britney.
What a terrible person.
Agreed to all above but Jamie Lynn does have a story she isn’t writing about, and it would be major. She worked for Dan Schneider when she was a child and the Dan Schneider Nickelodeon sets were dangerous for kids. There were rumors when she got pregnant. Then she moved far away from Hollywood and stayed away, why was that?
Good question. If she wanted to make a splash, that would be how to do it.
Jamie Lynn is messy. It’s entirely possible that she is both a perpetrator of abuse towards her sister and a victim of her father’s abuse simultaneously. However, it’s not wise to try and profit off her sister’s conservatorship battle. It’s only going to make Jamie Lynn look worse. She needs to take a step back and reflect privately on her own role in her sister’s abuse.
And good on the charity for refusing the money. They didn’t want to be caught up in the image Jamie is selling, which is probably for the best.
Yep. The timing of this book release and the way it’s being framed is not good.
Exactly. I’m sure she has had her own issues and it’s good that she wants to let them out. but wrong time. Read the room, girl.
Looks like someone is rushing to get “her side” out before Britney starts talking…
I think you nailed it.
Exactly my thoughts.
I don’t know. When did charities become choosing beggers? I could see if she was a murderer/rapist or something. She is the younger sibling of someone extremely famous. Don’t we all have issues with relatives? What accusations are against her? I haven’t heard much so pardon my lack of knowledge on this. I thought the main issue was with the dad? Is she bashing Britney in her new book? Should charities be doing background checks on people before accepting their money now? That money would have helped people. Just my opinion.
Doesn’t sound like a real charity at all if they don’t accept a donation over gossip.
Well I hope Brit’s fans put their money where their mouths are and donated to that charity (or another mental health charity) to make up for the money lost. I’m guessing it would have been thousands of dollars.
Gossip? Britney herself said her relatives enabled this abuse and didnt speak up for her. Jamie was listed as a cosigner on a bank account for her under the conservatorship too
@Meg – yes. Britney said “her whole family” for a reason.
Agree. See below.
Charities also need positive PR. This turned out to be too negative for them, so here we are. That’s life.
Charities have always been choosing beggars. It’s clear that this charity has gotten so much pushback that they had to publicly apologize – it may be that there was behind the scenes push-back from existing donors.
It’s not gossip. Britney clearly said her whole family benefitted from her money and didn’t lift a finger to help her, including her sister, which she recently even implied about in some ig posts..
Charities accepting the support of someone who is part of the abuse of another just looks bad and untrustworthy to me.
The timing is also awful, it seems she just wants to steal her sister’s thunder or ride her coattail.. as she has always done -despite her saying otherwise.
I’m guessing it’s because Jamie Lynn was complicit in trapping her sister in an unnecessary and exploitative conservatorship which is hugely destructive.
EXACTLY. She’s not a criminal, she’s just slimy. They should accept the money….mental health care is absolite shit in this country and we can use all the help we can get
As someone who has spent the last 20 years working for non-profits I can confirm to you that we always pay attention to who is donating – ALWAYS. And yes, we turn down donations all the time, because of who the person/organisation is or what they have done in their lives. So good on them for saying no.
How much are they realistically turning down, though? This isn’t exactly going to be an Oprah pick and make gazillions. As @Snazzy says, charities have to weigh the benefit against the potential cost to their reputation.
There are documents proving that JL benefitted from Britney’s situation. She has been more than willing to reap the benefits of her sister’s situation. I have empathy for any abuse she was put through (and I can believe she went through some stuff with those parents). None of that changes the fact that she was part of the machine that exploited Britney for the last 13 years. The whole timing of this book has been designed to capitalize off of Britney’s situation and fame. She needs to go away quietly.
She does indeed. She’s also an accomplished liar.
Everyone in this story stinks. Jamie Lynn was probably trying to get validation and good will for her story by donating to a charity and associating their name with hers. But also, that charity, which I assume operates on donations, has now declined a donation because … Britney fans think Jamie Lynn is being a passive aggressive leach? That sucks. For the charity and those the charity tries to assist. I’m sure it also sucked growing up in Britney’s shadow. And I’m sure Jamie Lynn could have made better choices. Everyone stinks.
Agree. Not only that but everyone has a right to give their side of the story.
The charity isn’t preventing her book from being published so the idea she can’t tell her story makes no sense.
And everyone has the right to reject a donation from anyone they want to reject it from.
Maria, I agree. JL means that she won’t have the endorsement of a charity saying her story is true and valid. JL stinks.
@ Maria
I didn’t say the charity is preventing her from telling her side of the story by not taking the money. I am saying Brit’s fans don’t want Jamie Lynn to tell her side of the story.
@ AGirlCat
True, but that defeats the mission of a charity don’t you think? That money would have helped people.
I’m sure some don’t. But I think the larger portion are opposed to Jamie Lynn making more money off of Britney, because I very much doubt Jamie Lynn would write a book without mentioning her sister’s life and telling “her side” of the conservatorship (witness the original title). That donation would be money resulting from hurting Britney even more. And as Kaiser stated, I doubt she would have donated the full proceeds.
@ME At what price though? No charity worth their salt would accept blood money especially money that has come at the exploitation of another who has had their liberties removed and caused the mental downfall of that person. Also, (separate line of thinking) would you accept a donation from a white supremacist/KKK supporter? I would sincerely hope not.
Not only would accepting blood money that destroyed Britney’s mental health cause a massive pr disaster for the charity, but would cause them to lose a lot in donations and support from Britney supporters. The charity had absolutely no choice but to reject the donation unless they were into destroying themselves.
It looks like the charity made an arrangement with her in advance. She announced on Instagram that she was donating 30% of the book proceeds to them and talked about mental health. Then they got a lot of negative feedback on social media about it. So they decided to reject the donation.
I’m still not understanding why the charity felt compelled to turn down the donation, or who exactly was “offended” by the arrangement?
Yeah, I don’t think that was great.
The FreeBritney movement has quite a few followers at this point, some of them very high profile. I don’t know if that’s what caused this, but I would assume.
Britney supporters lobbied the charity to reject the donation because JL was a co-signer of the conservatorship and benefited from it. Because JL and their dad stole from Britney and helped keep her down so why should the charity take JL’s dirty money that she got from exploiting Britney.
It’s inappropriate for a mental health charity to take money from someone who’s been accused of abuse by someone with a serious mental health condition. It’s not gossip or stans complaining – Britney has been publicly calling her sister out, including in court testimony.
It would be like an anti-cyber bullying or online teen health charity taking money from Facebook. You loose more credibility than the money is worth. It looks like blood money where the wrong doer gets to buy positive press without ever acknowledging their behavior or making amends with the person or group that may have needed that charity’s support in the first place.
I don’t understand what’s hard to understand here.
THIS is the response I was looking for. Well said.
Exactly.
Am sure JL has had her own struggles with her MH but its clear that she is trying to cash in on her sister as now Daddy is no longer in charge the grave train has dried up and she needs the money. The charity is in a difficult situation, esp as there is proof that JL knew what as going on and did nothing but take the money. JL whining about it also proves that the book is a PR stunt and getting sympathy and validation.
As others have said JL benefitted financially from what happened to her sister – remember the trust that Brit had setup for her children that JL was put in charge of, and then removed when the money was transfered out. We know Brit funded her mother and brother – JL is running scared that she will be outed like the rest of them who enabled the abuse.
Also, the Britney cosplaying is on full display. She has always been jealous of her sisters success. She has always been ‘what about meeeeeeeeee’.
JL is a failed musician and bit part TV actress living a lifestyle beyond what she and her husband can afford.
This. All of this.
How many copies of this book will sell anyway? Is there a big audience who would actually buy it?
It’s true that JL may have her own mental health struggles, but it is bad PR and could be viewed as hypocritical for this charity to accept a donation from someone who participated in the abuse of someone with a possible mental illness (it would work against their mission and values and the people they serve). Charities are not obligated to accept “dirty” money.
There seems to be a misconception in the comments that Britney’s fans or the general public think JL doesn’t deserve to tell her story. That’s not really the case. The issue is using THIS MOMENT to speak out about herself. To capitalize off the heightened interest in her sisters fight for her life, after never having helped Britney, to talk about her own mental health.
Read the room. It’s just not a good time. And the charity did the right thing because her entire family was deeply involved with the conservatorship and TriStar. There’s a lot of hands in this pot. There’s a lot of money missing, shady business, and morally questionable if not outright illegal healthcare choices being made.
The publisher doesn’t want to release it in a year or two because they want $$ off the controversy. If JL truly cared for her sister, she’d set it aside. That People article reeks of gaslighting. This shows exactly what she thinks and where she stands.
If this were an AITA post on Reddit, this would be an ESH situation (Everybody Sucks Here).
Jamie Lynn sucks because she is clearly using her sister’s fame to make money off this book and also was bankrolled by Britney’s estate while Daddy Spears was in charge. However she is allowed to tell her story, talk about her mental health journey. It must have been hard growing up in Britney’s shadow. But the timing of this book coming out at the height of attention on the conservatorship is just bad. I understand the book’s publishing schedule is out of her hands but this is a situation where delaying it might have been the prudent thing to do.
The charity sucks because I’m sure Jamie was well-intentioned in giving proceeds to it. They could have warned her they were going to post on social media about declining her donation because Jamie Lynn had already announced her intention to donate proceeds to it. The charity is well within its rights to refuse her donation of course. But giving a heads up about your decision before announcing it publicly is common courtesy. Sounds like they didn’t warn her and JL is taken aback and angry about it. Her feelings are valid of course.
But running to the media to go about how she was “blindsided” was stupid. She should have shut up, taken a few days (or weeks) off social media to regroup, THEN issued a statement if she wanted to. Running to People Mag pretending to be a source only prolongs the public discussion about this.
We have no idea if she really was blindsided or not, honestly.
I don’t really think she was well-intentioned because their refusal is something she is painting as calling her a liar, which is a stretch. She seems to have invested this donation with some significance towards legitimizing herself more than anything.
Ultimately, between the sister who participated in benefiting from the abuse and the charity listening to clearly large pushback to refuse a donation which is within their rights to do, I know which entity I think sucks more. If she wants to tell her story and she’s being honest in that desire then she can go to Medium or something. She doesn’t have to publish something for profit.
The charity does not suck. They probably agreed to take the money before it was revealed Jamie co-signed the conservatorship trapping Britney in a prison and damaging her mental health. Why tf should they be pawns for Jamie’s poorly timed “look at me” PR campaign? Jamie and her parents suck.
The original title of the book was I Must Confess
The original subtitle was ‘Family, Fame and Figuring It Out’
When the publisher released the book details to all publishing sites (goodreads,Amazon, etc) there was a huge backlash and they immediately said that was inaccurate and incomplete info. Publishers don’t send out information that hasn’t been approved.
They changed the name of the book and the subtitle and summary to make it sound like JL book was about her life and mental health. They are likely editing the book as well.
100% JL was trying to capitalize off Britney, this moment, and preemptively write about her family. Britney has publicly talked about being hurt that JL sang her songs during an award ceremony for Britney. Then JL follows up by using a lyric as her book title? Then trying to reframe it as her own mental health journey when she gets called out- all while co-signing conservatorship abuse?
Yuck
I don’t know if she’s competing with Britney, but per usual, she’s using her. Like, it’s not a “what about me,” it’s “Brit’s getting attention so let me ride that wave for a few bucks of my own.” She has no regard for her sister in anyway but to make a buck.
How is she going to complain about people not knowing her outside of her family, and that she can’t help being Brit’s little sister when she had the original title as her sister’s song?
Britney’s whole family is trash.
Britney is surrounded by jackals and has been for the past 20 years. I really hope she can find some happiness.
This is a mental health charity. They have refused a donation of monies made from a book written by someone who participated in the abusive Conservatorship of her own sister. Britney’s larcenous father put the Conservatorship in place due to Britney’s mental illness and has taken her money. Jamie Lynn profited off that. It looks bad for a mental health charity to take money that was made by stealing from and abusing a mentally ill person.* That would look like that they are supporting Jamie Lynn who took her sister’s money and did nothing to help her. The Free Britney movement aside, taking that money would be a bad look for them.
*Yes, I know the money is from Jamie Lynn’s “look at me” book. There would be no book if Britney was not her sister. Few people care about Jamie Lynn. Most who read that book will read it for Britney info, not for Jamie Lynn. This book is one more abuse of Britney.
The issue here is not that anyone wants to silence or ignore Jamie Lynn.
The issue is that Jamie Lynn didn’t read the room.
It doesn’t make sense that she would ride her sister’s coattails to publish right now if her concern is that she’s always being placed in Britney’s shadow.
Also, the biggest factor in Jamie Lynn getting a publishing deal is her sister.
Maybe she should consider working with a mental health organization to raise money and awareness (of her story AND the stories of people who aren’t privileged) without going through the self-absorbed exercise of publishing a book about herself.
I think it is becoming increasingly obvious that “daddy” Spears is massively abusive, probably with at least one diagnosable personality disorder. I don’t think any child, even a “golden” child, comes out unscathed from that. So I do have empathy for Jamie Lynn even when she does dumb stuff. And it can be hard (for the charity and Jamie Lynn) to handle more rabid aspects of a fandom. All that said, yes to everyone who said not reading the room/considering the optics.
Exploiting her sister repeatedly and not saying a word in her defence or help her in any way -and Britney herself confirmed this – is not ‘dumb’ but abusive. Even now, during the most important time for Britney she tries to get attention to herself and her ‘mental health’.. as if she cared about her sister’s before.. like, girl, shut up. I have no sympathy for her.
I have to reiterate how awful she seems. The self pity card she always bring out when she is criticized. Especially now, after everything that has come out in the open she should shut her mouth, instead she just seems to bask in attention -of whatever kind and at whoever expenses. Just awful.
“Ugh, it’s so not fair, people WON’T STOP constantly talking about my sister every time they ask who I am! I’m a separate person! I don’t need her! Soooooo…Imma just use a quote from one of her songs as my book’s title…”
I try to give JL a bit of slack as she was one of the girls who was part of the very sketchy Dan Schneider machine at Nickelodeon.
Her publisher would have been wise to push back the publication date 6 months or longer.
I’m willing to make a donation to help make up for the tens of dollars they will lose from the book proceeds because I love that they not only declined, they flamed JL in the most public way.
If only she still had access to that “our condo” in Florida to which she used to retreat during difficult times. I appreciate that she may also have mental health issues, but I don’t think that’s reason enough for me to support her hustle for a paycheque. She could have been Britney’s voice at a time when Britney’s voice was taken from her. She could have helped. No one was threatening to take her kids away from her like they had done with Brit. She chose not to do so. That’s not due to her mental health, that was due to the fact that she is a garbage person like her parents. So if a charity doesn’t want to be associated with an a-hole, even one with genuine mental health issues, all the power to them.
That IG post reminded me of Crazy Ex Girlfriend’s “Face your fears”, and I’m dying 😂
She wouldn’t be anyone without Britney. And I watched zoey 101 #sorrynotsorry 🤷 ALSO all of these so called supports’ of Britney’s have been leeching off of her for years and payback is coming. Can’t feel bad for anyone here
So.
She certainly seems to be assuming sales will be so huge she can donate some profits. Or is that just me?
JL has said she supported her sister behind the scenes. According to Britney, this isn’t true. Britney’s whole family has benefited from her being trapped in a conservatorship. Her brother has called Britney’s fans, “our fans”, he’s also said the conservatorship has been good for their family. I wonder why$$$? Britney’s estate pays for the house and living expenses of her mother. JL was the beneficiary of Britney’s trust, and there’s so much shady stuff with that. She’s also received money from the estate for flights and you know it doesn’t end there. The biggest insult to me is the fact that JLs manager is still Lou Taylor…the woman that Britney called a stalker before she was placed under the CON. “Lord have mercy on my family’s souls if I ever do an interview!!!”- Britney