Jamie Lynn Spears claims her parents wanted her to have an abortion when she fell pregnant at the age of 16 in 2007.
The ‘Zoey 101’ star was still a teenager when she told her parents and managers that she was expecting a baby, and has claimed in excerpts from her upcoming memoir that her parents – Jamie and Lynn Spears – were “certain” she should “terminate” her pregnancy.
Jamie Lynn – who carried her baby to term and is now mother to 13-year-old daughter Maddie – wrote in a passage from 'Things I Should Have Said' obtained by TMZ: "[My team] came to my room trying to convince me that having a baby at this point in my life was a terrible idea.
“[They said] '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 … I know a doctor.’
“Everyone around me just wanted to make this 'issue' disappear.
“Everyone was certain that termination would be the best course of action."
Jamie Lynn – who has Maddie with her ex-fiancé Casey Aldridge, and is also mother to three-year-old Ivey, whom she has with her husband Jamie Watson – also alleges she wasn’t even allowed to tell her sister and popstar Britney Spears that she was pregnant.
She added: "I needed her more than ever and she wasn’t able to help me in my most vulnerable time … To this day, the hurt of not being able to tell my sister myself still lingers.”
The 30-year-old actress claims her father also tried to push the idea of adoption once it became clear Jamie Lynn wasn’t going to terminate her pregnancy.
Eventually, her team made an exclusive agreement with OK! magazine to break the pregnancy story and give them the first images of her daughter Maddie.
But Jamie Lynn says her family weren’t happy with her decision, as she said her mother “wore her disappointment like her favourite jacket” after the article came out.
Jamie Lynn’s book, 'Things I Should Have Said', is due to be released on January 18.
Tagged in Britney Spears Jamie Lynn Spears Jamie Spears