Britney Spears found out about Jamie Lynn's teenage pregnancy in the press
Britney Spears found out about her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears' teenage pregnancy in the press because it was considered "too risky" to tell the singer.
The former Zoey 101 star hit headlines in December 2007 when she revealed to OK! magazine that she was pregnant at the age of 16, news which caused significant controversy and media attention.
In her upcoming memoir, Things I Should Have Said, Jamie Lynn, now 30, revealed that she was advised against telling her older sister Britney because the Gimme More star was "in the midst of her own crisis" and couldn't be trusted with keeping it a secret.
"My team believed everyone outside of the inner circle was a potential threat. They went so far as hiding my pregnancy from my sister, claiming, 'It's too risky to tell Britney about the baby,'" she recalled, according to an extract obtained by People. "I needed her more than ever and she wasn't able to help me in my most vulnerable time. Britney's condition was spiralling into something more concerning. They were concerned her instability at that time made her untrustworthy.
"I went along with what my team told me to do because I was a minor and didn't want to create any more issues. Britney learned of the pregnancy when the article was released. To this day, the hurt of not being able to tell my sister myself lingers."
In the memoir, the actress also revealed that her team and parents tried to convince her that she should terminate her pregnancy and also suggested going to Mercy Ministries, a home for unwed mothers in Tennessee, to give the baby up for adoption, but she was determined to have her child, even though she only had the support from one person on her team.
Jamie Lynn gave birth to her daughter Maddie, who she shares with ex-boyfriend Casey Aldridge, in June 2008. She went on to have a second daughter named Ivey with her husband Jamie Watson in 2018.
Things I Should Have Said will be available to purchase from 18 January.
