Jamie Lynn Spears denies she wanted a piece of her estranged sister Britney Spears.
The former “Zoey 101” star claimed in a new interview that she was never going to name her memoir after one of Britney Spears’ most famous lyrics, explaining that “I Must Confess” was more of a placeholder to avoid the real title, “Things I Should Have Said,” leaking online.
“That was never the title,” Jamie Lynn, 30, said on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast Tuesday. “That was a mishap that happened where that was just something they put for no one to really grab reference of my book.”
Page Six reported in July 2021 that Worthy Publishing, a Christian-based imprint of Hachette Book Group, prematurely posted the details of Jamie Lynn’s book on its website, including the title “I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring It Out,” which used a line from Britney’s 1998 hit, “…Baby One More Time.”
Hours later, Worthy admitted it had “erroneously released” some “incorrect and incomplete information” and promptly scrubbed the page from its site.
By the time Jamie Lynn Spears officially announced in October that she had written a book, Worthy tweaked its online listing to “Things I Should Have Said,” the final title.
The actress insisted Tuesday that “I Must Confess” was “never going to be” the name of her memoir, though she did admit to having trouble coming up with one.
“I did kind of wait until late in the game to name the book, so perhaps it was frustrating [for Worthy], but this has been the title of my book,” she told host Alex Cooper.
There has been a great deal of drama surrounding “Things I Should Have Said,” which hit stores Tuesday.
When Jamie Lynn’s book went up for preorder in the fall, she pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds to This Is My Brave, a mental health-focused organization.
However, after receiving backlash for teaming up with Jamie Lynn in the wake of Britney’s June 2021 conservatorship testimony against her family, the nonprofit announced that it was “deeply sorry” and declined donations from the sales.
Britney, 40, then made headlines for seemingly shading the rechristening of her younger sister’s memoir, joking on Instagram that she was “thinking of releasing a book” of her own but “having issues coming up with a title.”
The siblings have both since called for their public feud to end.