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
