Why did I’m A Celeb’s Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears fall out?
I’m A Celeb 2023: Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn Spears joins line-up. (Getty/John Shearer/Allen Berezovsky)
The line-up for the 2023 edition of ITV’s notorious reality series I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! has been revealed, and it includes Britney Spears’ estranged sister, Jamie Lynn Spears.
Jamie Lynn Spears will enter the celebrity jungle alongside the likes of far-right politician Nigel Farage, former EastEnders actress Danielle Harold, and TV host Marvin Humes.
In the campmates’ introductory videos, released yesterday (13 November), Jamie Lynn says she is “best known for being an actress and a singer”, though most people will know her for being the sister of beloved pop icon Britney Spears.
The 32-year-old Zoey 101 star is entering the jungle just one month after she was eliminated in the second week of US dance competition, Dancing with the Stars.
Britney fans were upset at the inclusion of Jamie Lynn on the Dancing with the Stars line-up, owing to the pair’s strained relationship in the wake of the termination of Britney’s conservatorship.
Now that it’s been confirmed that Jamie Lynn will be entering the jungle, those fans are once again rallying around Britney.
Why did Jamie Lynn Spears do to upset Britney Spears?
The feud between Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears is predominantly linked to Britney’s conservatorship, which saw the “Toxic” singer’s finances, health and physical whereabouts controlled by the sisters’ father, Jamie Spears.
Britney’s conservatorship was in place from 2008 and terminated by a judge at the end of 2021, following a years-long “Free Britney” campaign, led by fans of the “Toxic” singer.
Since breaking her silence on the conservatorship in 2021, Britney has continually been critical of sister Jamie Lynn, accusing her of “exploiting” her for monetary gain.
Fans have long been angered by Jamie Lynn’s decision to remain silent about the conservatorship. In June 2021, amid Britney’s battle for the conservatorship to end, Jamie Lynn took to social media to say it “wasn’t [her] place” to speak out for her sister.
In an Instagram post in July 2021, Britney hit out at Jamie Lynn for performing a medley of Britney’s hits at the 2017 Radio Disney Awards – at a time where Britney didn’t have control over her own career.
“My so-called support system hurt me deeply,” Britney wrote in a scathing Instagram post, adding: “This conservatorship killed my dreams.”
Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn have shared details of their relationship in their memoirs
Later that year, Jamie Lynn announced that she would be releasing a memoir entitled I Must Confess, named after Britney’s hit, “…Baby One More Time”.
After fan backlash, the memoir was renamed Things I Should Have Said, but the controversy didn’t end there – mental health charity This Is My Brave later declined Jamie Lynn’s offer of donating a portion of the proceeds of the memoir to the organisation.
While promoting the memoir in January 2022, Jamie Lynn claimed that she “went out of [her] way” to try and end Britney’s conservatorship, but admitted that her relationship with her sister had gotten “complicated”.
Jamie Lynn also went on to state that Britney had displayed “erratic, paranoid and spiralling” behaviour over the years, to which Britney accused her sister of profiting from her pain.
“The two things that did bother me that my sister said was how my behaviour was out of control,” Britney wrote in a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.
“She was never around me much 15 years ago at the time… so why are they even talking about that unless she wants to sell a book at my expense???:”
Jamie Lynn then declared that Britney’s accusation was “absolutely not the truth”.
When Jamie Lynn’s book became a national bestseller in the US, Britney referred to her sister as “scum”, writing in a social media post: “The timing of your book was unbelievable Jamie Lynn… especially knowing the whole world had no clue what was really done to me!!!!”
Britney’s lawyers then sent Jamie Lynn a cease and desist letter over the “ill-timed book and its misleading or outrageous claims”.
Will Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn repair their relationship?
In recent months, though, it appears that the sisters are finally attempting to patch things up.
While Britney did refer to her sister as a “total b*tch” in her recent memoir The Woman In Me, she also wrote that she was attempting to feel “compassion” for her.
“She will always be my sister, and I love her and her beautiful family,” she wrote in the book. “I’m working to feel more compassion than anger toward her and toward everyone who I feel has wronged me. It’s not easy.”
In June this year, Britney also revealed that she had met Jamie Lynn on set of her film Zoey 102.
“I’ve missed you guys so much !!! Loyal girls stay home but it’s so nice to visit family,” she shared.
