Jamie Lynn Spears Is Being Roasted After She Avoided Mentioning Britney Spears When She Was Directly Asked About Her “Musical Family”
Several people labeled Jamie Lynn “rude” and “bitter” when she awkwardly avoided mentioning her famous sister, but others have theorized that she may be contractually obligated not to speak about Britney.
Months later, in September, she appeared on Dancing With the Stars — but ended up getting eliminated during the second week of competition.
And now she’s starring in the UK reality show I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which sees a group of celebs battling it out to be crowned king or queen of the jungle.
In one of the show’s teaser videos, which was released earlier this month, Jamie Lynn introduced herself to viewers by stating that she’s “best known” for her acting and singing career.
“I’m Jamie Lynn Spears, and I’m best known for being an actress and singer,” she said. “I have been doing it since I could basically walk.”
Several fans were left puzzled, given that Jamie Lynn made no mention of the very obvious fact that her older sister, Britney Spears, has massively influenced her career.
Jamie Lynn, now 32, made her acting debut at the age of 10 when she played the younger version of Britney in the movie Crossroads, in which Britney starred as the main character. She also famously performed a medley of Britney’s biggest hits at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards — something that left the “Toxic” singer upset.
For some context, Britney and Jamie Lynn have a notoriously complicated relationship. When Britney was forced to live under a strict conservatorship for almost 14 years, she accused Jamie Lynn of doing “nothing” to help her while she suffered.
Jamie Lynn denied Britney’s claim and instead insisted that she had nothing but love and support for her sister. However, she went on to say that Britney has displayed “erratic, paranoid, and spiraling” behavior during a series of interviews about their strained relationship — something Britney made clear that she didn’t want Jamie Lynn commenting on in the public eye.
What's more, Jamie Lynn was directly called out by Britney when she previously mentioned her during reality TV appearances. When Jamie Lynn was on Special Forces earlier this year, she broke down in tears as she opened up about struggling with living in Britney's shadow.
“Growing up, my sister became famous — worldwide famous — when I was very young,” she said. “I’m so proud of her, love her to death, but I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I don’t really have anything for myself. It just feels like every time I work really hard to get something on my own, it’s not really worth it.”
With all this in mind, fans were eager to see if Jamie Lynn would mention Britney at all on I’m a Celeb. But if Sunday night’s premiere episode is anything to go by, it doesn’t look as if she will.
When Jamie Lynn was asked about her musical background by her campmate Josie Gibson, who is a TV presenter, she awkwardly made sure not to mention Britney’s name.
“Who got you into music, then?” Josie asked. Jamie Lynn replied, “Um, I’ve always kinda been into music, you know what I mean?”
Josie then followed up and said, “You’re a very musical family, ain’t you?” But Jamie Lynn once again ignored the prompt, responding, “My mom played the piano a lot.”
Jamie Lynn then redirected the conversation altogether, asking Josie, “What about you, what do you do?”
As Josie began speaking about her career in TV presenting, Jamie Lynn initially said, “Oh, that’s awesome!” However, she went on to very obviously yawn while Josie was mid-sentence.
Between her making no mention of Britney whatsoever and yawning at her campmate’s remarks about her life, several viewers at home labeled Jamie Lynn “rude” and “bitter.”
“it’s funny how much she’s tryna avoid mentioning britney,” one person tweeted. “Jamie lynn is using all her force not to mention Britney Spears,” another viewer wrote.
Her “avoiding talking about britney makes me cackle,” someone said. “Jamie Lynn trying so hard to not mention Britney is sending me,” another person added.
The show’s hosts, Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, even joined in by mocking the fact that Jamie Lynn didn’t mention Britney at all.
However, some people speculated that Jamie Lynn was contractually obligated not to mention Britney — especially given that she was previously sent a cease and desist letter from Britney’s lawyer when she released a memoir last year and made several public appearances discussing their relationship.
“Do we think Jamie Lynn is ever going to mention Britney or has she had it written in her contract that no one can ask her anything about her or the situation??” one person questioned. “I wonder if Jamie Lynn has made Britney conversations off limits in her contract?” someone else wrote.
Interestingly, and perhaps expectedly, the other campmates referred to Jamie Lynn as “Britney Spears’s sister” at several points throughout the episode — so who knows if she’ll end up mentioning the pop star herself. We’ll be sure to keep you posted if she does!
