After learning of her pregnancy at 16, Jamie Lynn Spears tucked out of the limelight to raise her daughter. Now she is finally ready to begin opening up about her teenage pregnancy. She plans to do so by jumping back into the spotlight and advancing her music career. However, despite her plans for her music career, Maddie, her 3-year-old daughter will remain her top priority.
“These days, the only thing I’m afraid of is not being a good mom. As long as Maddie is healthy and she loves me, the rest doesn’t matter.”
The life that comes along with being pregnant at 16 is no doubt a road of difficulties. Spears plans to speak out on this subject through her music.
“That’s been the coolest thing – realizing that it’s okay to just be myself and really tell my story. I expect the scrutiny. The last time anyone heard anything of me, I was 16 and pregnant. All I can do is be my best – there will always be people who will never like me.”
Regarding her teenage pregnancy, Spears told Glamour that she was far too embarrassed to go to the doctor to seek out proper birth control to guard against it.
“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. And I made a decision that is forever my decision.”
In an effort to make sure her fans heard the news from her instead of another source, she tried to get ahead of it. She turned to OK! Magazine upon first leaning of the pregnancy. In that, tabloids ran with it saying that she was trying to glamorize teen pregnancy to other teenage fans.
“I hated when the tabloids said that. Everybody is dealt a hand of cards. It was my choices to play them the way I played them. But the hateful comments hurt.”
Spears has big plans for her music career, and is very excited for the opportunity to show people the matured, adult version of the girl they once knew.
“I was a kid who did a kid show. The I went away and raised by 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 a grown mother making a decision about what to do with my life. Do people have an idea of who they think I am? Yes, and that’s fine with me. My music will speak for itself.”