Months later in September, she appeared on Dancing With The Stars — though 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 called out by Britney directly when she previously mentioned her during reality TV appearances. When she was on Special Forces earlier this year, she broke down in tears as she opened up about struggling 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 like she will.
When Jamie Lynn was asked about her musical background by her fellow 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 diverted 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.
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!
