Britney Spears has definitely had a roller coaster of a 2023 so far, with the summer months being particularly hectic, thanks in large part to her impending divorce from ex-hubby Sam Asghari. That said, she’s got her tell-all memoir on the way, and plans to jump back into making music, so the future is looking somewhat bright all the same. So when it was announced that her sister and occasional feud target Jamie Lynn Spears was tapped as a contestant for the new season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, it wasn’t so surprising when initial reports claimed the pop star was upset by the news. But now it seems those claims may not have been entirely on the mark.
It now appears as if Britney Spears wasn’t surprised at all by the news of her sibling’s dance skills being put to the test for Season 32 of Dancing with the Stars. On the contrary, TMZ reports the “Toxic” singer was given the heads up prior to the casting press release and announcement going public. And what’s more? It’s claimed she had a positive reaction and took the update pretty positively, all things considered.
Details are rather scarce as far as exactly how she found out about it, but it’s more than possible that the messenger reached out early specifically to see how Jamie Lynn Spears jumping into the network TV spotlight would affect her older sister’s mental state. After all, though the pair weren’t at complete odds with each other as it’s been in the past, and were allegedly at peace throughout the year, with the Zoey 101 vet vowing only love for her family over the summer.
Of course, that was partially in response to the aftermath of the tumultuous time in which Britney Spears was released from her 13-year conservatorship in November 2021, and also partially in response to her own 2022 memoir that kicked up some family dust. So it wasn’t so hard to believe that the "Slave 4 U" vocalist might have had a thorn in her paw over the whole thing.
But while an earlier rumor pointed to the elder musician being taken aback by Jamie Lynn’s return to reality TV so soon after taking part in the first season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, it seems familial strife of this variety isn’t at the forefront of Britney’s mindset. And one can only hope that to be true, because if things are perfectly pleasant between them, it makes it that much easier to buy into the idea of the Grammy winner making a surprise DWTS visit to root her sis on. Not the likeliest possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.
Of course, it’s not exactly clear at this point if Dancing with the Stars is moving forward as planned with its new season, or if strike-related walkouts from Matt Walsh and others will force the unscripted series into delaying new episodes until the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are resolved. The series is currently still set to return on September 26 for ABC viewers and those with Disney+ subscriptions, but time will tell if we’re waiting a little longer to see Jamie Lynn Spears showing off her dancing skills on TV.
