Jamie Lynn Spears opens up about stepping away from the spotlight at 16: ‘Whole world crashed on me.’
Britney Spears’ sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, Defends Her Decision to Step Away from the Spotlight
At the age of 16, Jamie Lynn Spears faced intense scrutiny when she made the brave choice to step away from the spotlight after becoming pregnant. In a recent appearance on the Hannah Brown’s SiriusXM podcast “Better Tomorrow,” the 32-year-old singer/actress opened up about the backlash she received for leaving her hit Nickelodeon show “Zoey 101.” However, she firmly believes that it was the best decision she could have made for herself.
“When I was not much older than my daughter is now … I became pregnant, and yes, that was something that I took responsibility for the way that made sense for me,” Jamie Lynn said.
“That doesn’t make sense for everyone else, but it made sense for me and the whole world came down and told me I was the worst human alive for doing so and that every young girl who ever watched my show was going to be ruined because of me and my personal decision,” she added.
Instead of succumbing to the pressure, Spears saw her pregnancy as an opportunity for a fresh start. She made the bold choice to relocate to a small Mississippi town, leaving behind her Nickelodeon show, disconnecting from her cell phone, and urging people not to contact her.
“I was like, ‘No one call me,’ [and] I put myself on a budget,” the actress said. “I had a budget for, like, 10 years that I lived very strictly by and I just wanted to be normal and I just really wanted to be away.”
This escape from the spotlight and paparazzi allowed Spears to gain a new perspective on what truly matters. She found meaning in her interactions with the people in the small town, who didn’t care about her fame but were focused on their own lives and families.
“I think being in a small town and going into a store [where the clerk] who’s checking you out doesn’t care about who you are, what you’re doing, or who’s taking your picture, she’s trying to get home to her kids,” Spears said.
“Interacting with people like that on a daily basis makes you have a much different outlook whenever a newspaper writes a bad headline about you that’s not true,” she added. “Like, you know what, that doesn’t matter. These are the people that matter.”
Spears went on to embrace motherhood, welcoming her first child, daughter Maddie, with ex-boyfriend Casey Aldridge. In 2014, she married Jamie Watson, and the couple welcomed their daughter Ivey Joan in 2018.
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