17 year-old Jamie-Lynn Spears, little sister to Britney and star of Nickelodeon’s Zooey 101, gave birth to her first child, daughter Maddie Briann, on June 19, 2008, at Mississippi Southwest Regional Medical Center. The father is longtime boyfriend/fiancé Casey Aldridge,
Maddie Briann joins her cousins Sean Preston and Jayden James as the littlest members of the Spears clan. One hopes these sisters don’t stop producing offspring until the two have enough kids to populate a baseball team. Or a baby pop supergroup.
Jamie-Lynn has stated that the father of her unborn child was Aldridge, 19. Because Spears was under the legal age of consent in California, questions came up regarding their age difference, and whether Aldridge would or could be charged with statutory rape. However, The Department of Motor Vehicles of Mississippi confirmed that Aldridge was born on April 29, 1989, making him slightly less than two years older than Spears. In California, it is illegal for an adult to have intercourse with a person under the age of 18, but it is only a misdemeanor if the child is less than three years younger than the adult. It still isn’t known where Aldridge had sexual intercourse with Spears. Depending on the location, this may or may not have been illegal. Neither California nor Mississippi have pursued charges against Aldridge so far.
Another Spears family offering set to “drop” at some point in the near future is a book written by their mother, Lynne Spears. It’s a memoir of parenting, or something. Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World will be released on September 16, according to book publisher Thomas Nelson, which publishes inspirational books and Bibles. The book is not intended to give advice to parents.
Critics have questioned the validity of such a book penned by Brit-Brit and Jamie-Lynn’s mom. According to the tabloids (which aren’t always incorrect, just exceedingly cruel) her daughters have tenuous relationships with their mother, and clearly make questionable, non-traditional choices in their own lives (see Britney shaving her head and attacking a car, or driving down the Pacific Coastal Highway with her baby on her lap). We will consider the book to be great entertainment, though you can’t dance to it.