The following italicized article is from www.dailymail.co.uk:Britney may be back - but her demons haven't gone away. And no one knows that better than her mother, Lynne, as she reveals in this frank interview.
There was a point, admits Lynne Spears, mother of Britney, when she toyed with the idea of calling her autobiography It's All My Fault. 'I can laugh about it now, but did I feel that way at the time? Yes, I did and, if I'm being totally honest, I still do,' she says.
Lynne is referring to her daughter's all-too-public meltdown last year, when she sank from America's sweetheart to public enemy number one, seemingly intent on destroying herself and everything around her.
'When her life was such a success, what did she need me for? And when things took a turn for the worse, I was out, because other people - dancers, managers - were closer to her, and with her day and night. Being a mother, you can't help but have regrets about what you did and didn't do for your kids, and I'm no different,' admits Lynne.
Certainly, there must have been times last year when those regrets seemed almost stifling.
For seven long months, during which time Britney lost custody of her two young sons and was ordered to submit to random drugs and alcohol tests, Lynne was banished from her daughter's life completely.
At the time, friends of the star were worried that she might try to kill herself - a fear shared by Lynne. 'Yes, I did worry that that might happen,' she confesses. 'I couldn't see Britney, and you worry more when you're looking at things from a distance.'
After the loss of her sons, Britney once again reached out to her mother and asked for her help regaining custody. 'When I started seeing her again, I felt more reassured,' says Lynne. 'She told me that, as bad as life can get, she still likes life too much to consider ending it.'
It must have been hard to see her daughter wrenched from her young children, but Lynne has nothing but praise for their father, Kevin Federline. 'He has been real good with Britney, and doesn't want to keep the kids from her at all,' she says, adding that Britney's access rights translate in real terms to 'getting to see the kids almost any time she wants'.
'He's not a bad guy and he has a good heart. I would have chosen a prince or a state governor for her, but Kevin's worked a lot to help out, and I can't say anything bad about him.'
Lynne, 53, has been painted over the years as the hard-nosed architect of Britney's fame, pushing her off to dancing and singing lessons as a young girl, desperate for superstardom. It's an image that clearly rankles.
'I was never a stage mum and never Britney's manager. What really gets me about that stage mum thing is that, in this business, it's customary for the mother to take five per cent, but I never did, even when times were bad and our family needed the money.
Jamie [Britney's father] and I both said that we never wanted to be her managers; we just wanted to be parents. I was never in the driver's seat as far as Britney's career goes.'
We meet in a hotel in New Orleans, where she has been publicising her book (she opted for the title Through The Storm in the end), and though she is wary, she is also very charming; all softly-spoken, immaculately-suited Southern bonhomie, sprinkling 'y'all's about her like confetti.
Following Britney's UK appearance on last week's X Factor, I ask Lynne if her daughter is happy now. I expect a saccharine answer and am taken aback when she gives the question some consideration before saying, 'I think Britney's happy in most ways - very happy with her kids and ecstatic about work, but there's something missing in her life.
That gut belief she had in herself when she was so young - that's what's missing, and she's got to get that back. She could set the world on fire in those days, and she knew exactly what she wanted. But the hardships she's been through have made her a little hesitant. She needs one big boost, one plug of energy and she'll be there.'
That 'gut belief' in herself was, more than anything, what propelled Britney from Smalltown, USA, to worldwide superstardom at the age of 17. Growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana (where Lynne still lives), the middle of three children (she has an older brother, Bryan, and younger sister Jamie Lynn), Britney Jean Spears was raised by Lynne, a schoolteacher, and Jamie, a building contractor.
From the age of three, she had jazz, ballet and tap lessons - not, Lynne insists, out of a mother's desire to nudge her daughter on to the stage, but 'because Britney loved it.
She just loved performing and no one could stop her.'
By the time Britney was 11, she was a star of Disney's popular Mickey Mouse Club TV series. Many claimed that Britney's escalating fame was a godsend to her parents, who were teetering financially, but Lynne is indignant at the suggestion.
'It cost a lot to send Britney to classes and competitions, and by the time she made it to the Mickey Mouse Club, what she made barely paid for the apartment we stayed in [in Florida], and with living expenses, too, it actually cost us money. But she really wanted to do it and we weren't going to stop her.'
In retrospect, does Lynne sometimes wish that she had said no to all the aspirations of her daughter? 'Well, that's unrealistic,' she says. 'You don't tell your child, "You can't play football because you might get into steroids one day", because you just don't foresee those problems. Even if I had said no to Britney, maybe worse things might have happened because she was frustrated and couldn't fulfil her dreams.'
And so her dreams came true, but a living nightmare quickly followed. The tale of Britney's fall from grace has been well-documented. A hugely successful international singing star, Britney dated singer Justin Timberlake for four years. When that relationship ended in 2002, she married twice in quick succession - the first to childhood friend Jason Alexander, which was annulled after just 55 hours, and the second to dancer Kevin Federline, with whom she had her two boys.
When the couple divorced two years later, Britney fell apart. A shocked world followed her fall from grace, courtesy of paparazzi shots that showed Britney shaving her head, driving while holding her eldest son on her lap and attacking a crowd of photographers with an umbrella. She was sectioned in a mental health clinic twice in the space of a month and, worst of all, lost custody of the boys - Sean Preston, three, and Jayden James, two.
At this point, at their wits' end, her parents stepped in. In January of this year, Jamie was awarded 'legal conservatorship' over his daughter, giving him control over Britney's personal and business affairs. Lynne and Jamie divorced six years ago after 27 years of marriage, but on this course of action they were united.
'I admire Jamie for making the effort and trying to do it well,' says Lynne. 'We decided he should be the one to do it, because he's the stronger figure. Mums always give in to their kids because we're softies, and what Britney needed at the time was the stronger person.'
But Jamie, too, has had his problems. He has battled with an addiction to alcohol, though he has now been sober for five years. 'We all had reservations at first,' admits Lynne, 'and we all worried that the stresses of such a major undertaking would affect them both. But Jamie's really doing well with Britney, and I must give him credit for that.'
By all accounts, Mr Spears is no slouch on the disciplining front, apparently drawing up a list of rules with which his 27-year-old daughter must comply, including no emailing or driving. And no exceeding the £750 a month allowance he gives her. 'She was spending a lot of money, so that would make sense,' says Lynne.
In the TV documentary For The Record, which was recently screened on Sky, Britney likened her current predicament to a jail sentence. 'I'm sure she does feel reined in too tight some days,' says her mother, 'but it was definitely necessary in the beginning.
'Jamie's real gruff sometimes, but he's been a disciplinarian when it was needed. He's always adored his children, but when they were younger, he was so distracted with work and was drinking heavily, so they maybe didn't bond like they should have done.'
Of Britney's recent liaison with British paparazzo Adnan Ghalib (who at one point reportedly sold semi-naked pictures of Britney for around £25,000), Lynne remains tightlipped. 'Did I think it seemed right that they were seeing each other? Oh, no. But when I met him, Sam Lufti [Britney's former manager] was also around, and Adnan was definitely the better of the two. But Adnan's out of her life now,' Lynne adds, with some relief.
As terrible as it must have been for Lynne to witness Britney's plight, the most difficult chapters for her to write in her book were those concerning her youngest daughter Jamie Lynn's pregnancy at the age of 16, and the birth of her baby daughter, who is now six months old.
Jamie Lynn followed Britney into showbusiness by starring in children's TV show Zoey 101, and when the story of her pregnancy broke, the critics were quick to blame Lynne.
'With Britney, everything had always been out there in the public domain,' she says. 'So, even if I wasn't used to the pain, I was still used to those things happening. But with Jamie Lynn it was so different. I couldn't believe that my studious, perfect little girl had got herself pregnant. I just went into shock. But she's doing great now, and is a wonderful mum to Maddie Briann.'
Have Jamie Lynn and her boyfriend Casey Aldridge set a wedding date? 'No, but Jamie Lynn will do the right thing at the right time.' Does that involve having more children? 'Oh, no, definitely not,' says Lynne, horrified. 'I think it took that one time to make her grow up and realise her responsibilities.'
Looking back, Lynne believes mistakes have been made. 'I think I was an enabler to Britney,' she says. 'I would over-compensate and I tried to make things seem happier when my kids were growing up, because I was aware of the deficit. Maybe I didn't give her the skills to handle the hard times. Maybe I sheltered her too much from the realities, and sometimes that's not a good thing.'
Children of an alcoholic parent are often over-achievers and Britney, who Lynne describes as being 'a beautiful girl, a wonderful singer and dancer and gymnast', achieved more than most.
When fame hit, it hit hard, 'and that's when everything started slipping away. She was a bird flying on her own, when what she most needed was to have good people around her.' And now, how does Lynne feel? 'I'm so proud of Britney. She's been through a tough time and look at her now,' she says. 'That's my baby - and she's back.'
Britney is certainly going through a period of rejuvenation, but, for all Lynne's brave words, there are signs that she still has some way to go. In an interview in last month's Rolling Stone magazine, she told how forgoing her partying ways and going to bed early have left her feeling like 'an old person', and in the documentary For The Record, she described how every day feels 'like Groundhog Day... it's really boring'.
Throughout the film, Britney seemed to be slightly disconnected, as if she was on autopilot - the vivacious singer of old was just a faint memory - and I can't help but think back to what her mother said, about there being 'something missing' in her life. Like Lynne, I sincerely hope she finds it again.
Source: Daily Mail
