In her first interview on the topic, Jamie Lynn Spears has opened up about her role in Britney Spears’ 13-year court-ordered conservatorship.
The Zoey 101 star stopped by Good Morning America to discuss her new memoir, Things I Should Have Said, and explained how she “adored” her sister but noticed her behavior became more “erratic” and “paranoid” as the years went on. Asked how she felt when the conservatorship was terminated in November, Jamie Lynn admitted that she was “happy” but she did not understand the full extent of the conservatorship at first.
“When it was put into place I was 17 years old. I was about to have a baby, so I didn't understand what was happening," she explained. "Nor was I focused on that. I was focused on the fact that I was a 17-year-old about to have a baby. I understand just as little about it then as I do now." She went on to stress that she didn’t want to be involved with her sister’s estate or be part of the conservatorship, too.
“There was no like me overseeing funds or something like that," she said. "I've always been my sister's biggest supporter. So when she needed help, I set up ways to do so. Went out of my way to make sure that she had the contacts she needed to possibly go ahead and end this conservatorship and just end this all for our family. If it's going to cause this much discord, why continue it?"
At one point, she reached out to her sister’s legal team, but it “did not end well in my favor.” She added, “So I did take the steps to help, but how many times can I take the steps without, you know, she has to walk through the door.”
While their relationship is strained these days, she said there’s still a love between them. “I’ve only ever loved and supported her and done what’s right by her,” she said, “and she knows that, so I don’t know why we’re in this position right now.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jamie Lynn said that she, like her sister, faced intense media scrutiny when she announced her pregnancy at age 17. “I look back and I think, 'Wow, how is this acceptable?'" she explained. "Why are you here other than to shame me and to benefit off of a young girl who's going through something already so traumatic and so deep and personal? We say we do better, but now we just go into the comments on Instagram and do it."
It was previously reported that she said in her book that her parents wanted to make the “’issue’” of her pregnancy “disappear.”
