Jamie Lynn Spears: From Child Star To Teen Mom To Country Singer, Britney’s Little Sis Sets The Record Straight In TLC Special [Video]


Jamie Lynn Spears is ready for the world to meet her as an adult. In an interview with Rolling Stone Country, the younger sister of Britney Spears says she cherishes her days as a Nickelodeon child star but reiterates that her adult aspirations involve country music.

Jamie Lynn will tell her full story on the upcoming TLC documentary Jamie Lynn Spears: When the Lights Go Out. In addition to updating fans on her latest career endeavors, the special will also address Spears’ headline-making pregnancy at age 16, which marked the end of her days as the star of the tween sitcom Zoey 101.

In the Rolling Stone Country interview, Jamie Lynn revealed that after she had her daughter, Maddie, in 2007, she decided it was time to figure out what she really wanted to do with the rest of her life.

“That’s when I started writing music, and I didn’t do anything for almost five years,” Spears said. “I was just writing, figuring out who I was as an artist.”

In a clip from the TLC special, Jamie Lynn says she wants to be known as more than just Britney’s little sister who got pregnant out of wedlock.

“I’m not just a child star,” Spears says. “And I’m not just someone’s sister. And I’m not just a teen mom. For the first time, this is the real story.”

Jamie Lynn Spears famously walked away from Zoey 101 in 2008 after she became pregnant by her high school sweetheart, Casey Aldridge. Spears has touched on her story in the past but never in this much depth.

When she turned 21, Jamie Lynn told Glamour that she was harshly judged for her “careless” teen pregnancy.

“I just wanted to go home to Louisiana and finish high school, be a cheerleader, all that,” Spears said. “Then I found out I was pregnant. I was 16. I’d had one boyfriend. It doesn’t make it perfect or all right. But I was judged for something that probably most everyone does. I was young. I was in love. I was like every other teenager, except I had this last name.”

Spears revealed that she had been too embarrassed to go to a doctor to ask for birth control because she was known as a star on the Nickelodeon show at the time. She and her parents then did an interview with OK! magazine to address her pregnancy, and she said she was accused of glamorizing teen pregnancy.

“I did feel responsible for the young girls and the mothers who I probably confused and let down. I apologize for that. But I wasn’t trying to glamorize teen pregnancy,” Spears said.

Jamie Lynn Spears and her boyfriend and daughter ultimately moved to Mississippi to get away from the spotlight, but Spears and Aldridge split up in 2009. While that relationship didn’t work out, Jamie Lynn married voice actor Jamie Watson in 2014. Spears also released her album The Journey that year, and two years later, she has now released the single “Sleepover.”

“I was a kid who did a kid show,” Jamie Lynn said. “Then I went away and raised my child, and the world has never met me as an adult. This is the first time anybody is really meeting me as a grown woman and grown mother making a decision about what to do with my life.”

Jamie Lynn Spears: When the Lights Go Out airs June 26 on TLC.

Take a look at the trailer for the Jamie Lynn Spears TLC special below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiO6Vm2E3E

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]

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