LeAnn Rimes is sticking up for Britney Spears amid the pop star's ongoing mental health troubles.
In a new interview with The Independent, Rimes admitted she could relate to Britney, saying that they shared "a lot of similarities."
Like Britney, the "How Do I" singer rose to fame in the '90s, while still a teenager. And like Britney, she was embroiled in a legal feud with her family. In 2000, Rimes filed a lawsuit against her father, Wilbur C. Rimes and her former manager, Lyle Walker, claiming that, over the previous five years, they had cheated her out of around $7 million worth of earnings.
"When you're in the public eye, everybody wants to make money off of that at the end of the day," Rimes told The Independent.
She also discussed comments Britney's 16-year-old son Jayden made during an interview with ITV. Jayden discussed his strained relationship with Britney while also defending his grandfather, Jamie, who until late last year served as Britney's conservator, overseeing all her personal and financial decisions for several years.
"Leave this poor woman alone! She's been through enough!" Rimes said.
During Jayden's interview, he touched upon numerous topics including Britney's wedding to Sam Asghari in June, which he and his 17-year-old brother Sean Preston skipped. Jayden explained that they did not attend the event because Britney had not invited any other family members.
"At the time it just wasn't a good time to go," Jayden explained during a new interview with "60 Minutes Australia" on Sunday, according to the Mail on Sunday. "I'm not saying that I'm not happy for her. I'm really happy for them, but she didn't invite the whole family, and then if it was just going to be me and Preston, I just don't see how that situation would have ended on good terms."
Elsewhere in the interview, Jayden said that Jamie "doesn't deserve all the hatred he is getting in the media."
"I love him, with all my heart. He was just trying to be a father," he said.
Britney took to Instagram to respond to Jayden's interview saying that she was "deeply saddened" by his remarks.
"Finally at 40 without the restraints of what my family did to me … I say to my son Jayden that I send all the love in the world to you every day for the rest of my life!!!!" she wrote in a statement.
"My love for my children has boundaries and it deeply saddens me to know his outcry of saying I wasn't up to his expectations of a mother … and maybe one day we can meet face to face and talk about this openly!!!!" she added. "Maybe dear child YOU can explain why our family would do that to anyone!!!"
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.