by guest contributor Jacqui Pini

As an avid magazine reader, I have witnessed Britney Spears’ career since the beginning … how could I not? She’s everywhere. Between her custody battle, head shaving and hospitalizations, it is hard to deny these past few years have been extremely difficult for Brit. Who knows what the future holds for her, but these days it seems she is on a much better path. While I am not exactly a fan of her or her music, I was curious what her mother had to say for herself about all of this.

I just finished Through the Storm, Lynne Spears’ book about the family’s life with Britney, Jamie-Lynn and their brother, Bryan. This book is a very easy read. At times I skipped entire pages while Lynne rambled about her faith and various relationships. There were points in the beginning where Lynne was a little too focused on sharing what was happening in Louisiana. Sorry to say, but that is not really why people are reading the book. On the other hand, I felt Lynne was true to herself in the Southern-manner in which she told the story. She seems to be an endearing woman, naïve at times, but always in fierce defense of her children.

While I do not necessarily see Lynne as a stage-mom, it is apparent she enabled her daughters by allowing them to travel and audition at very young ages. She has positioned Britney as the one who was so “driven” that Lynne could not help but take her to auditions. When I was 10 or so I was driven too… driven by my mom’s Volvo to elementary school like I think Lynne should have been doing with her young kids. Despite the fact Lynne was a teacher, there are few references to school for the girls, and that never really seemed to be a priority.

Lynne touches upon Britney’s unstable behavior, basically blaming it on a man named Sam Lufti. Lynne says he weaseled his way into Britney’s life and was crushing up drugs and putting them in her food last year – around the time Britney was acting erratically and speaking in accents. She also says Sam controlled all of Britney’s staff and would kick her family out as he pleased. They eventually got a retraining order against him … and got Britney back on the right path.

I would have liked to hear this story through Britney as there were so many things that Lynne fluffed right over. It is almost like she is giving us a timeline of Britney’s career through her perch in Louisiana. This has potential to be a very interesting story, but we need to hear it from Britney herself.

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