Jamie Lynn Spears broke her silence on big sister Britney Spears’ conservatorship battle, sharing an emotional series of videos on her Instagram Story about how proud she is of her sibling.
The 30-year-old posted on Monday after being widely criticized for not speaking out about her sister’s impassioned plea to a court last week. Britney Spears made horrific allegations of abuse in that hearing, and demanded that the court free her from the conservatorship that has given her father, Jamie Spears, control of her life and finances since 2008.
In her Instagram posts, made just days after she disabled comments on her account because of fan hostility, the younger Spears says she “wanted to take a second to address a few things.”
“The only reason I haven’t before is because I felt like, until my sister was able to speak for herself and say what she felt she needed to say publicly, that it wasn’t my place and that it wasn’t the right thing to do,” Jamie Lynn began. “But now that she’s very clearly spoken and said what she needed to say, I feel like I can follow her lead and say what I feel I need to say.”
The former “Zoey 101” star emphasized that for her whole life, she’s “only loved, adored, and supported” her sister.
“This is my freakin’ big sister before any of this bullshit. I don’t care if she wants to run away to the rainforest and have a zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has so many times before, because I have nothing to gain or lose either way,” she said. “This situation does not affect me either way, because I am only her sister who is only concerned about her happiness. I’ve made a very conscious choice in my life to only participate in her life as her sister, as an aunt to those boys” ― Britney’s sons, Sean and Jayden Federline.
Through tears, Jamie Lynn acknowledged that “maybe I didn’t support her the way the public would like me to, with a hashtag on a public platform.”
“But I can assure I have supported my sister long before there was a hashtag and I’ll support her long after,” she went on. “I’ve worked since I was 9 years old, I’ve paid my own freakin’ bills since I was 10 years old. Not that I owe the public anything, because my sister knows I love and support her. That’s the only person I owe anything to. I’m not my family. I am my own person. I’m speaking for myself. I’m so proud of her for using her voice. I am so proud of her for requesting new counsel ― like I told her to do many years ago. Not on a big public platform, but just in a personal conversation between two sisters.”
“If any of the conservatorship is flying to Mars or whatever the hell else she wants to do to be happy, I support that 100%, because I support my sister,” she said. “I love my sister, always have, always will, as long as she’s happy. So, let’s keep praying. That’s all.”
In a 20-minute address to a Los Angeles courtroom last week, Britney Spears described the abuse she’s allegedly endured for years, saying that “this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good.”
She said she’d been prescribed lithium against her will, and had been told she could not go to a doctor to remove a birth control device so she could get pregnant.
“I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life. I deserve to have a two- to three-year break and just, you know, do what I want to do,” the singer said at the end of her remarks. “I feel ganged up on, and I feel bullied, and I feel left out and alone. And I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does by having a child, a family, any of those things.”