Jamie Lynn Spears has broken her silence, speaking in support of her sister Britney Spears, following the pop star’s explosive testimony, amid her conservatorship battle.
The younger Spears addressed the issue Monday in a series of videos on her Instagram stories, explaining why she had not spoken up until now — in recent days, after her older sister’s court hearing, social media users had been calling for her to speak up, questioning why she had not yet supported her sister.
The former Nickelodeon star said she is “so proud of her for using her voice.” She stated that she had previously told her famous sibling to request new counsel “many years ago” in a private conservation “between two sisters,” and is proud that she has taken steps in that direction.
In a firm and defensive tone throughout her videos, the actress made clear that she has never used her older sister for her fame or money, and separated herself from the rest of their family.
“I just want to take a second to address a few things,” the former “Zoey 101” starlet said on her Instagram stories. “The only reason I hadn’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 it wasn’t the right thing to do. 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 feeI I need to say.”
“I think it’s extremely clear that since the day I was born, I’ve only loved adored and supported my sister. I mean, this is my freaking big sister, before any of this bullshit,” she continued to say, in a somber and somewhat defensive tone. “I don’t care if she wants to run away to a rainforest and have zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has done so many times before, because I have nothing to gain or lose either way…This situation does not affect me either way because I’m only her sister who’s only concerned about her happiness.”
Wiping tears off her face, Spears said that her only role in the pop star’s life is to be a supportive sister and aunt to her children.
“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 you I’ve supported my sister long before there was a hashtag,” she said, referring to the #FreeBritney movement. “And I’ll support her long after.”
At the end of the message, Spears said, “If ending the conservatorship and flying to Mars or whatever the hell else she wants to do to be happy, I support that 100% because I support my sister. I love my sister. Always have, always will. As long as she’s happy. So let’s keep praying. That’s all.”
During her testimony last week, the elder Spears — who has been under a court-ordered conservatorship since 2008 with her father, Jamie Spears, at the head of her conservatorship — addressed the court publicly for the first time, requesting to end her conservatorship. While speaking to the judge, she said that she wanted to sue her family and believes that her conservators should be in jail. She never mentioned her younger sister, Jamie Lynn, when speaking of her family during the hearing.
“I would honestly like to sue my family, to be totally honest with you,” Spears told the judge last week. “I also would like to be able to share my story with the world, and what they did to me, instead of it being a hush-hush secret to benefit all of them. I want to be able to be heard on what they did to me by making me keep this in for so long, is not good for my heart. I’ve been so angry and I cry every day, it concerns me, I’m told I’m not allowed to expose the people who did this to me.”
Their father has controversially been at the head of the conservatorship since it began in 2008. His attorney has repeatedly said he loves his daughter, but Spears — who pays all of her father’s legal fees against her will, per the terms of the conservatorship — described her arrangement to the judge as “abusive.” Legal experts have questioned if her father is acting in her best interest, or whether his actions are self-serving, given that he receives a hefty fee, as his daughter’s conservator.
In her Instagram stories, the younger Spears, who currently stars in Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias,” seemed to address her sister’s court statement about their family, saying, “I have worked since I was nine years old. I’ve paid my freakin’ bills since I was 10 years old. Not that I owe the public anything, because my sister knows I love and support her…I’m not my family. I’m my own person. And I’m speaking for myself.”
