Lynne Spears: In Her Own Words

The following italicized article is from www.etonline.com:

It was all across the tabloids over the last year: Britney Spears' life looked like it was spiraling out of control, and the paparazzi crush was capturing every moment of it. Then, it was announced that Britney's 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn was going to have a baby. Now, Lynne Spears is talking to ET's Jann Carl about her world-famous daughters -- and the nightmare of fame -- from the inside out!

"Is it human nature to want to build somebody up so very, very big, and then actually enjoy tearing them to pieces?" asks Lynne in her emotional interview, saying of Britney, "I want her to remember back when she was the happiest person she could be, and be that person. She's almost there now."

Lynne says her daughter Jamie Lynn broke the news to her that she was pregnant by writing her a note. "I blew it," she says about her reaction -- after first thinking it was a joke -- but then faced the challenge head-on: "We got the biggest blessing through the toughest time."

Lynne's new book, Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World, is on bookshelves now. It's a mother's story of keeping her faith and keeping her family together. Lynne also gets candid about both her successes and her failures. Did the whirlwind of fame distract her from listening to her mother's intuition?

"I didn't feel very strong," she says. "All I knew was at certain points I had to do what I had to do."

With the opening words, "If you're looking for parenting advice, you've opened the wrong book," Through the Storm is clearly not a collection of advice or a guide to making your kids famous. Instead, it tracks the incredible story of how a mother's encouragement for her children's dreams turned into a nightmare of paparazzi, tabloid exploitation and, for a heartbreaking stretch, a time where she lost the family she loved -- all written while it was all happening.

"I'm more or less a cheerleader," she says. "Did I ever manage my children? No. Did I ever take any percentages of anything they ever did? No, I did not. I really don't know how to do these things."

Ultimately, after all her family's been through, she says, "I just pray for smoother sailing."
Watch ET tonight for more with Lynne Spears!

Source: ET Online