The actress got pregnant with her first daughter when she was 16.
Jamie Lynn Spears is opening up about a challenging time in her life. In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, Things I Should Have Said, the 30-year-old writes that she had to hide her first pregnancy from her older sister, Britney Spears.
The younger Spears got pregnant in 2007 at age 16. She welcomed her first child, Maddie, who's now 13, the following year, and is now mom to a second daughter, 3-year-old Ivey.
In the memoir excerpt, which was obtained by People, Jamie Lynn writes about the chaos that ensued when her family and team learned of her pregnancy, which came when she was starring on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 and when Britney was publicly going through a challenging time.
"There was a whole lot of fighting going on between everyone involved. The entire Spears team was already caught up in my sister's PR difficulties, and everyone around me just wanted to make this 'issue' disappear," Jamie Lynn writes. "My family and management pulled me out of school until they could figure out what to do next. They took my smartphone away, fearing the news would get out, and insisted that no one share any information with anyone, especially the press."
Amid the ongoing discussions, Jamie Lynn hid out in her bedroom while a stream of people tried "to convince me that having a baby at this point in my life was a terrible idea."
"There was lots of chatter, but none of it felt right to me," she writes. "It will kill your career. You are just too young. You don't know what you're doing. There are pills you can take. We can help you take care of this problem. Think about what you're doing to your family. Doesn't the family have enough to deal with? I know a doctor. There are procedures that remedy mistakes like this. You don't have to do this."
When one person told her that she'd "regret" having her child, Jamie Lynn writes that "it reinforced my decision to have my baby." Though her mind was made up, her family wasn't as convinced and wanted the then-teen to continue to hide her pregnancy, even from her sister.
"My team believed everyone outside of the inner circle was a potential threat. They went so far as hiding my pregnancy from my sister, claiming, 'It's too risky to tell Britney about the baby,'" Jamie Lynn writes. "I needed her more than ever and she wasn't able help me in my most vulnerable time. Britney's condition was spiraling into something more concerning. They were concerned her instability at that time made her untrustworthy."
"I went along with what my team told me to do because I was a minor and didn't want to create any more issues," she continues. "Britney learned of the pregnancy when the article was released. To this day, the hurt of not being able to tell my sister myself lingers."
Jamie Lynn writes that she was "banished and basically hidden away" before news of her pregnancy became public knowledge, and that, even when it did, "the isolation continued." Eventually, she decided that she should "move out from underneath my parents' roof" with the father of her child, Casper Aldridge.
"Britney was in the midst of her own crisis, and because we were isolated from each other, our communication was nonexistent," Jamie Lynn writes. "... Momma contacted the team to discuss the issues. They had real concerns about me marrying my boyfriend and giving him access to all of my earnings. Simultaneously, my sister was experiencing her own breakdown, and media speculation about her wellness and our family already had the paparazzi swarming."
When Jamie Lynn announced her memoir in October, she said that a portion of the proceeds from the book's sales would be donated to This Is My Brave, an organization that encourages open conversations and storytelling about mental health struggles to end the stigma surrounding them. Shortly thereafter, though, a source told ET that the organization would no longer be accepting Jamie Lynn's donation, after they were inundated with negative comments amid Britney's conservatorship battle.
"Jamie Lynn has been forced to stay silent for years and now she’s being attacked for finally speaking her truth. People fail to realize that Jamie Lynn has suffered some of the same trauma that Britney has," the source said. "This isn’t Britney OR Jamie Lynn. This is about a family trauma and how it affects each person differently. There is a bigger conversation to be had about supporting every voice."
The source added, "People are making assumptions about her book when this is not a Britney Spears tell-all. This is about her life and what she’s had to live and endure."
The memoir has been the subject of controversy before, when, in July, Jamie Lynn's publisher had to shoot down rumors surrounding her upcoming memoir's title.
Worthy Publishing's website, as well as Barnes and Noble's, had information that Jamie Lynn's book would be titled I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring It Out. The alleged original title was a reference to Britney's single "…Baby One More Time." The information was later removed and Worthy Publishing released a statement clarifying that "incorrect and incomplete information" was shared about the "as-yet-untitled memoir."
The Things I Should Have Said is due out Jan. 18.
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