The question is asked of every star before they enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle: What are your phobias? Jamie Lynn Spears’ reply quivered with vulnerability.
Simply, she said: “I am scared of everything.” Anyone who watched her scamper up a 100ft tower lurking with nasties on Wednesday night, before stepping off the top into the arms of her tenth star, now realises she clearly isn’t. So why the quaking lack of self-belief?
The 32-year-old has unravelled before our eyes each night on the show, sobbing for her two children, Maddie, 15 and Ivey Joan, five, talking with touching fragility about her teenage pregnancy aged 16, her parents’ response to it and her subsequent emancipation from them.
She has threatened “y’all” with quitting at every turn. “I’m just not made for this,” she cried, her slightly chiselled yet familiar Britney face melting into hot tears.
Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears during Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards back in 2003 (Getty Images)
Jamie Lynn Spears has cried a number of times so far during her time inside the camp (ITV)Her sheer lack of any emotional armour perhaps doesn’t really surprise us, having observed her big sister’s painful struggles for years. That head shave in 2007, her psychiatric breakdowns and the custody battles and controversial conservatorship fight with her father which ensued, ending amid a #FreeBritney campaign, have all been well-documented, not least by the child star herself, who even now worries fans with erratic social media posts.
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On the surface, Britney, 41, and her little sister, who was also a child performer, starring in Nickelodeon teen sitcom, Zoey 101, by 14, appear to have it all. But barely below it, for both women despite the 10-year age gap, appear to lie pits of nasties no gold star can banish.
Jamie, inside the suit, competing with Danielle Harold on the popular reality TV show (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The Spears sisters have known their share of ups and downs (britneyspears/Instagram)Even Jamie Lynn seems to be grasping for answers, asking campmates: “I don’t know how I’m so emotionally weak. Why am I crying so much?” Certainly, both sisters have spoken about the instability of their childhood home life in the small Bible Belt town of Kentwood, Louisiana, USA.
Their parents, Lynne and Jamie Spears, were teen sweethearts who eloped and started married life in a trailer. Relations soured quickly. The sisters and their mum have all alleged Jamie was a heavy drinker, Lynne in her memoir, Through The Storm, explaining managing his drinking consumed them.
Jamie Spears, Bryan Spears, Jamie-Lynn Spears, Britney Spears and Lynne Spears (WireImage)“We worked harder at controlling his alcohol consumption than we did maintaining our marriage,” she said. After the birth of their eldest, the girls’ curiously private brother, Bryan, now 46 and a producer, the situation spiralled, and Lynne filed for divorce in 1980. She alleged cheating, and also filed for a restraining order.
But the divorce was dropped, Britney was born the next year, and the pair remained together until their split in 2002. Britney claimed in her memoir, The Woman In Me, that home life could be tough though. She wrote: "My dad was reckless, cold, and mean with me, but he was even harder on Bryan."
When the Nickelodeon child star entered the jungle she admitted she was scared of 'everything' (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)A former manager of Britney’s once surmised: "She is the product of some very, very bad genetics." So concerned was Britney about her parents’ marriage, when she turned 18 she pleaded with mum Lynne to end it, offering to buy her her own home. But the fallout appears to have caused more pain, especially for a still-young Jamie Lynn, who has admitted she was confused by Britney’s instigation.
“It seems like a weird thing, like, ‘I’ll give you a house if you divorce Dad’. Why would your kid be able to tell you that,” she said. Against this backdrop there was also, of course, the abnormal rise of Britney’s star, so mega it had adverse impacts on both she and Jamie Lynn.
Jamie Lynn insists she always felt second best, struggled to cope with what she calls Britney’s "erratic" behaviour, and developed anxiety and depression, too. She recalled: "Growing up, my sister became famous, worldwide famous, when I was very young. I guess I just wanna like [prove] I’m just like worth something.”
Jamie competing in the Power Shower challenge on I'm a Celeb (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)It is telling in response to that admission her big sister decided to post this: "You ain’t alone... if anybody knows what that feels like... I get it."
The sisters both appear to be searching for love and acceptance. Jamie Lynn seems to be finding that in camp. But will it ever be enough?
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