Lynne Spears has been making the rounds promoting her new sorta tell-all book, “Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World,” and she actually has made a few good points in recent interviews. Lynne’s pointed out some of the hypocrisy in dealing with the media and discussed some of the challenges the Spears family has had to face with them.

For example, Jamie Lynn got a ton of heat for getting pregnant at 16. Yet Lynne claims that Sarah Palin has been “celebrated” for her daughter Bristol’s teenage pregnancy.

Newsweek: You and Jamie Lynn got some negative press when she got pregnant so young. But more recently, 17-year-old Bristol Palin, and her mother, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, found themselves in a similar situation. And the public reaction has been different.

Lynne Spears: It’s a totally different reaction. It’s as if [Sarah Palin] became celebrated. I mean, the mother, Palin, was celebrated for this. Every woman in the world has applauded her strength and her convictions and poor little old Jamie Lynn—you saw how she was crucified. Everybody did, firsthand … I just feel like it’s been a very hypocritical situation.

[From Newsweek]

One important distinction is that the pregnant teenager in the Palin family is the daughter of someone who’s a public figure; whereas the pregnant teenager in the Spears family IS a public figure. Bristol Palin has a bit more of an expectation of privacy since she’s only famous because of her mom’s choices; Jaime Lynn is famous because of her family but is also an actress and a celebrity. So Palin’s pregnancy isn’t scrutinized in the same way Spears’ was. But I do see Lynne Spears’ point.

I think a big part of it was that Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy came first, so she took the brunt of the media attention. More of the hypothetical questions about what role teenage pregnancy plays in our larger society were leveled at Jamie Lynn and had already been debated to death by the time Bristol Palin became pregnant.

Lynn also complains to Newsweek that women are having babies when they’re too old and should have them in their twenties. I was willing to empathize with the previous complaint, but don’t really care for this one.

Newsweek:What’s it like to hear so many people trying to figure out what role your daughter’s pregnancy plays in society?

Lynne Spears: If you look back in history … We’re [in] a much more technical age, much more educated in some ways. But I think our generation is having babies so old … I think 20s, that’s a good age … [when women get older] their bodies are tearing down. When they start having babies it makes it so much more difficult and then they can’t get pregnant, because all the stuff is kinda set in … I don’t think people are looking at it that way. I think your 20s is a good time to have babies…

[From Newsweek]

That’s funny, because I think thirties is a good time to have babies. Maybe your body is “tearing down” but you probably also know better than to drive with your baby on your lap and a few other notoriously stupid decisions a famous mother in her twenties has made. I’m pretty sure Lynne has heard of her (cough Britney). This comment only bugged me as much as it did because Lynne makes a point of saying that she wouldn’t tell anybody else how to parent. But apparently telling them when to parent is fine.
http://www.celeb*tchy.com/14357/lynne_spears_calls_media_on_hypocritical...