Lynne Spears' Book: Britney's Childhood, Addiction, Head Shaving

NEW YORK — The mother of Britney Spears says that the singer has overcome the tabloid nightmares of the past few years and believes that little by little, her daughter is regaining her "glorious voice."

Lynne Spears writes of her famous child and her other celebrity daughter, Jamie Lynn, in "Through the Storm," to be published Sept. 16 by Thomas Nelson, a leading Christian publisher. The Associated Press obtained an early copy.

The 211-page book, which includes several pages of family photographs, tracks Britney Spears' life through her precocious early years _ she was singing and dancing by the time she was 3 _ through her explosive rise to her pill-addicted, near-tragic fall.

Lynne Spears describes young Britney as a confident, outgoing girl whose talents were so obvious that family friends would insist she would one day be on Broadway. Spears rejects the image that she pushed Britney into show business, and writes that the singer was always focused on achievement and would constantly practice to the music of Madonna, Whitney Houston and others.

In "Through the Storm," Lynne Spears presents herself as a loving, selfless (she gave up her job as a school teacher for her daughter's sake) but increasingly powerless parent. After the jolting, but pleasant surprise of Britney Spears' debut smash, " ... Baby One More Time," Lynne Spears says she felt she was losing control when a 1999 Rolling Stone magazine story featured a racy cover of the singer in panties and a bra.

Lynne Spears recalls feeling "shock and dismay" at seeing her daughter shave her head, at her brief marriages to childhood friend Jason Alexander and dancer-rapper Kevin Federline, and her highly publicized custody battles over her two children. She also recalls feeling she had been "punched in the stomach" when she learned that Jamie Lynn Spears was pregnant at age 16.

She praises Federline as a "caring daddy" and says Britney Spears is "an amazing mother," but only when at her best. Lynne Spears also writes warmly of her daughter's former boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, but says the willful nature of the young couple helped break them up.

The bottom came in the past two years with Britney Spears' increasingly disturbing public behavior and her drugged private life in her Malibu, Calif., house. Lynne Spears writes that she was distraught as then-manager Sam Lutfi told her he was grinding pills and putting them in Britney's food, hoping to induce a coma that would enable doctors to cure her of all addictions.

Britney Spears was hospitalized twice this year, the second time in February, when paramedics took her to the psychiatric ward of the UCLA Medical Center, where her mother says she finally received the care she needed.

It was, Lynne Spears writes, a "turning point" for the entire family.

On Sunday night, Britney Spears had clearly recovered from last year's fiasco at the MTV Video Music Awards, when she bumbled her way through a performance of "Gimme More." This time, Spears nabbed three VMAs, including video of the year.

"Wow, thank you, I'm in shock right now. I was not expecting this," Spears, looking spectacular in a shimmering silver dress, said as she accepted her third trophy of the evening for "Piece of Me."

Mother and daughter are close again, Lynne Spears writes, and Britney remains a "brave little girl who sang to the skies" so long ago.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of 'Lutfi')

Comments

[batmanindy]

Who is Lynne Spears?

[Ave-Gabrielle]

Lynne, still profitting and capitalizing and making money off of Britney. Wonder why she shut you out? She knew that at age 16 when you left her on a tour bus with strangers (managers) that she was on her own. I know Mom's have it hard, and, I've pained my own mother but leaving a 16 year old on a tour bus with strangers and handlers? Yet accepting the money and mansion Britney bought you, cars and money. Her Dad an alcoholic, older brother in her NY apartment, and, baby sister at home--Britney was the breadmaker at age 16. Any wonder she jumped at slick K-Fed. But she married and already had you shut out. Then, she had her meltdowns, breakdowns, and, her sister ends up pregnant and YOU are writing a book about YOUR mistakes. How about just send Britney a thank you card. Jamie read your book, why would Britney when she LIVED it.

[KCFreedom]

Do we really need to know? There's like all kinds of like problems in the world and, like well, you know, uh, like, uh, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[BlueandGreen]

Lynne Spears is such a leech. Ever the stage mother; I guess that's what women do when they have no talent beyond exploiting their unfortunate children. And, Britney's "glorious voice?" Please. She sings like one of the Chipmunks. Not wishing her any hard luck, but I think the big fuss being made over her is just a consolation prize for surviving the last couple of years. When push comes to shove, she's still a Pop Tart (Gawd, what a term), not a versatile performer.

[Triangle1]

Can you imagine selling out your own children for a fast buck? She's living in some twisted fantasy world, so it's not surprising Britney lost her mind in front of the entire world. We now know who to blame. http://mespace.wordpress.com

[crazyworldwelivein]

Leave Britney alone. She's a human! Ha ha just gets worse and worse. We know her way too well. It's sad that I got every single question on this quiz about Spears right http://www.mydailymoment.com/app/quiz/userquiz/takequiz/81. What is the world coming to?

[StacyJ]

It's not surprising that she would write a book about her daughter.
Britney once told the story on t.v. about the time she was singing casually at home as a little girl. Her mother heard her and realized for the first time that she was pretty good. She got so excited . "My daughter can sing ! My daughter can SING ! " The next thing you know Britney was in the Mickey Mouse club.

[Lucille]

Uh, so Lynn Spears takes no responsibility for how her children have turned out? Don't get me wrong, I love Britney, I've always felt great empathy for her because she seems like such a sweet if misguided girl.

I've read some of the excerpts from this book else where and have concluded that Lynn Spears should women up and admit that she allowed managers and the like to distort her children’s childhood, and that she was to blame for much of her girl's current predicaments especially in Britney’s case. Lynn also admits that she allowed Brit and Justin to carry on and that Brit lost her virginity, and not to Justin at 14 years old. C'mon, how about guarding Brit's privacy for once?

Ultimately, this is a how to book on what NOT to do as a parent. It’s obvious that Lynn loves her children and I'm sure she takes excellent care of very young children, AND I’m sure she is a wonderful, God fearing person whose been blessed in so many ways, BUT when dealing with adolescents, well sorry, Lynn sucks.

[hypnotoad72]

Wow. Even her mother wants to cash in. The ultimate paparazzi.