Humble Beginnings
These days, Britney may not care much what we think of her, but it was all she cared about when she was younger. It started when her mother, Lynne, encouraged Britney to enter the beauty pageant circuit when she was just a little girl. Lynne was the daughter of a strict Baptist milkman and a British war bride who had big dreams of escaping the small-town life.
Britney and Lynne Spears. Photo by Paul Skipper / Shutterstock
Lynne was raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, along with Britney’s dad, Jamie—a young guy who popped wheelies on his motorcycle and divorced his first wife just two weeks before he married Lynne. Like the other 2,200 people in Kentwood, Britney’s parents had a hard time making ends meet.