As I continue to ask question after question about what is going on currently and what the future looks like for Britney Spears, I can’t help but take a look in the past. In the last year, I have learned a lot about Britney Spears and, to be honest – I thought I knew everything there is to know! But I found out a ton, including the existence of a Britney Spears Museum in her hometown that was built in an old Funeral Parlor, the uncomfortably close connections to a famous “K” Monogrammed Family, and the more incriminating details surrounding Britney’s conservatorship (her being bullied into signing contracts by her management and the very sad photo-op on Easter 2019 come to mind) but I think, at the risk of minimizing the responsibility of the Music industry and specific people that exploited and abused Britney (L. The Red Nose Reindeer & Jamie’s former lover) understanding some of the Generational Trauma that is present in Britney’s life, is worth mentioning. Especially since this is, hopefully, the beginning of an ongoing conversation about how to support and advocate for Britney Spears.
We can cover the brush strokes of her family life; She is the middle of three children, grew up Southern Baptist, had lots of cousins nearby as a kid and she was always close with her mother. But digging a little deeper shows a history of alcohol abuse, mental health struggles, violence and a pattern of the Spears men controlling the women in their family.
Britney’s middle name, Jean, was to honor her paternal grandmother, Emma Jean. There is speculation the reports of her taking her own life could be wrong. Some have even questioned if Emma Jean’s husband, Britney’s Grandfather, June Austin, could have murdered his wife. But before we talk about her Grandmother, check out what I found on eviemagazine.com about what June Austin did to his second wife:
“He apparently also abused his second wife Jo Ann, reportedly beating her and berating her—and even institutionalizing her against her will. After he left her at a “nut house,” he moved to another state and brought his children with him. Soon after, he divorced Jo Ann and married his own stepsister.”
So, to recap: Put his second wife in a psychiatric institution, after beating her, left the state with their kids… and married his sister. Cool. Cool….
Needless to say, no matter what the truth of the tragic death of his first wife Emma Jean, or how unfair and twisted it was to abuse and then commit his second wife Jo Ann, the moral character seen in the Patriarch of the Spears family is about as dark as it gets. If this were a disney movie, he would have a curly beard and a wise cracking bird on his shoulder.
Jamie Spears was only 8 years old when his mother died, the grim details can be found in a Vulture article giving an in depth account of their family history, but for me the takeaways are that she tragically lost a baby, she died on that child’s grave, allegedly using her foot to set off the gun. The whole story seems suspicious, and no matter how that trigger was pulled, Emma Jean had been only 16 years old when she married June Austin. She gave birth to 5 of his children his 9 or 10 children (9 of his children are known, but before his death in 2012 – in court he referred to himself as the father of 10 children.) The full extent of the abuse caused by June Austin may never be publicly known, but what we do know is that, according to Britney’s Uncle John Mark and Aunt Leigh Ann, June Austin sent Emma Jean and Jo Ann to Mandeville Mental Institution, an asylum which closed it’s doors in 2012.
One can only assume Jamie, having seen this kind of abuse as a child became desensitized to some degree, which in no way excuses or justifies his behavior. (My Mom – Magoo – always says “knowing why someone does something hurtful doesn’t make it okay; but understanding can help us heal”) Complete lack of respect and basic human rights for women could have been normalized to Jamie, and Britney had to suffer because of Jamie’s inability to do better than his father before him had done. “My mom was like a debutante, she came from a good family and was considered a catch,” Britney’s Aunt Leigh Ann told The New Yorker. Leigh Ann also said. “But Daddy – I hate even calling him that – drove her crazy. He institutionalized her at Mandeville a few times and put her on lithium. When I heard that Britney was put on lithium for a while I almost couldn’t believe it but it made sense. Typical for this family and how they treat their women.” Leigh Ann has spoken openly and candidly about the extreme abuse that caused her to leave home in her teens, being rescued by the mother of a friend. After years of therapy, Leigh Ann was finally ready to speak her truth, and while stationed in San Diego during her Navy enlistment, she decided to call her siblings to tell them what their father had done to her. “You know who believed me?” she said. “Only Lynne Spears. I got nothing bad to say about Lynne.” You can find Leigh Ann’s blog here. I found this excerpt particularly interesting:
It’s all about control – June Austin wanted to control me – I was not allowed to be a normal teenager. Fast forward years, after I ran away from home, I went to visit Lynne and Jamie. Me and him got into a heated discussion:
Him – just come back home and you can work for me. And even though most, if not all, of my sibling on the Spears’ side did work for him, I didn’t want to.
Me – I don’t want to stay in Kentwood and work for you.
Him – No, you just want to continue to be promiscuous (not the word he used and I was).
Me – I slapped him.
I was then manhandled by Jamie to the gravel road and told that I was not welcome there. June Austin picked me up. Great, from one nightmare to the next. Jamie was pissed because I spoke my mind and tried to hold my ground. I wouldn’t let him control my life and I knew that I had to stay away and regroup. Even though these are to different types of abuse (mine was sexual – not Brits) the bottom line is that these two men will try, or have tried, to break us-to control us-to destroy us! June Austin has since passed away, he can’t hurt anyone anymore.
I am afraid of the repercussions of these posts. Know that I have only spoken my truth and I deserve to be heard, just like Britney.
The Spears family will always be surrounded in mystery, and intense generational trauma that will require generational healing, without a doubt. But it must be asked, was this the matter of a family that brought it’s abusive history along to Hollywood? Or was this a matter of the right opportunity for those that took advantage of Britney?
If I had to guess, I think it was a little of both. Jamie was not present in Britney’s life, until his opportunity to take complete control of it presented itself. So, it’s easy to blame Jamie, and call it a day.
But I think it’s important to know the folks that, at the very least, benefited from the abuse Britney endured from her father and his and co-conspirators could have just used Jamie as a pawn, in a cruel, abusive game that we’ve seen in Hollywood over and over again. That still doesn’t change, Jamie is undoubtedly the worst Father in modern day history.
BRITNEY ARMY 