Something Missing from Britney's Life?

Just how many sides to Britney Spears' crash, burn and so-called phoenix-like rise are we going to be subjected to? The popster has said her piece in the pages of Glamour and Rolling Stone, and on camera in her MTV documentary "For the Record," while ex-husband Kevin Federline broke "his silence" with a cover story in the latest People.
Now, seemingly just ahead of the long-missing Bit Bit's dog's-eye view of Britney's meltdown and ostensible comeback, the "Circus" warbler's mom, Lynne, is offering her take on the situation as she promotes her book, "Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World."
"I think Britney's happy in most ways: very happy with her kids and ecstatic about work, but there's something missing in her life," Mama Spears tells the London Daily Mail. "That gut belief she had in herself when she was so young -- that's what's missing, and she's got to get that back."
(Also missing: Britney's ability to make any decisions for herself, a responsibility that's being handled by her dad -- and Lynne's ex-husband -- Jamie, at least until the court says otherwise.)
Sighs Lynne, "She could set the world on fire in those days, and she knew exactly what she wanted. But the hardships she's been through have made her a little hesitant. She needs one big boost, one plug of energy and she'll be there."
Britney's mom also reveals how she considered calling her tome "It's All My Fault," although perhaps a more apt, if less catchy, title would have been, "It's All My Fault, But Only to a Certain Point, and That Won't Stop Me From Capitalizing on My Famous Daughter."
"I can laugh about it now," she says, "but did I feel that way at the time? Yes, I did, and, if I'm being totally honest, I still do."
Continues Lynne, "When her life was such a success, what did she need me for? And when things took a turn for the worse, I was out, because other people -- dancers, managers -- were closer to her, and with her day and night. Being a mother, you can't help but have regrets about what you did and didn't do for your kids, and I'm no different."
Those regrets include being "an enabler": "Maybe I didn't give her the skills to handle the hard times. Maybe I sheltered her too much from the realities, and sometimes that's not a good thing."
But she bristles at being labeled a stage mother, pointing out that Brit's rise to fame "actually cost us money," and noting, "In this business, it's customary for the mother to take 5 percent, but I never did, even when times were bad and our family needed the money. Jamie and I both said that we never wanted to be her managers; we just wanted to be parents. I was never in the driver's seat as far as Britney's career goes."
Lynne also sidesteps second-guessing her decision to support Britney's pursuit of stardom.
"Well, that's unrealistic," she says. "You don't tell your child, 'You can't play football because you might get into steroids one day,' because you just don't foresee those problems. Even if I had said no to Britney, maybe worse things might have happened because she was frustrated and couldn't fulfill her dreams."
Still, she acknowledges that at a certain low point she joined with the rest of the world in wondering whether Britney, who cut off contact with her as her life began to unravel, would survive her downward spiral.
"Yes, I did worry that that might happen. I couldn't see Britney, and you worry more when you're looking at things from a distance," explains Lynne, who says that when they reconciled after she lost custody of sons Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden James, 2, "I felt more reassured. She told me that, as bad as life can get, she still likes life too much to consider ending it."
Enthuses Spears, "I'm so proud of Britney. She's been through a tough time and look at her now. That's my baby -- and she's back."
Lynne also weighs in on the other players in her daughter's tabloid-fueled drama, including her custody-winning former son-in-law, for whom she's full of compliments, although some are of the backhanded variety.
"He's not a bad guy and he has a good heart. I would have chosen a prince or a state governor for her, but Kevin's worked a lot to help out, and I can't say anything bad about him," allows Lynne. "He has been real good with Britney and doesn't want to keep the kids from her at all."
She also sort of praises her ex-husband, who took over Britney's train wreck of a life in February.
"I admire Jamie for making the effort and trying to do it well," says Lynne. "We decided he should be the one to do it, because he's the stronger figure. Moms always give in to their kids because we're softies, and what Britney needed at the time was the stronger person."
While she admits Jamie can be "real gruff sometimes," she concedes, "He's been a disciplinarian when it was needed. He's always adored his children, but when they were younger, he was so distracted with work and was drinking heavily, so they maybe didn't bond like they should have done."
And despite Britney comparing her closely monitored life to jail and "Groundhog Day" ("There's no excitement," she gripes in her documentary. "There's no passion ... I think it's too in control"), Lynne believes the arrangement is a success: "Jamie's really doing well with Britney, and I must give him credit for that."
One rule reportedly laid down by Brit's dad is that she's to have no contact with former flame Adnan Ghalib, the chin-strip festooned paparazzo she hooked up with just ahead of her two trips to the psych ward.
"Did I think it seemed right that they were seeing each other? Oh, no," shares Lynne. "But when I met him, Sam Lutfi [Britney's shifty onetime hanger-on] was also around, and Adnan was definitely the better of the two. But Adnan's out of her life now."
As for youngest child Jamie Lynn, 17, who gave birth to a daughter in June (she announced her knocked-up status with an OK! cover story that reportedly netted her a million bucks), Lynne says, "I couldn't believe that my studious, perfect little girl had got herself pregnant. I just went into shock. But she's doing great now, and is a wonderful mom to Maddie Briann."
When asked if there are any more Casey Aldridge-spawned offspring in the future, a "horrified" Grandma Spears responds, "Oh, no, definitely not. I think it took that one time to make her grow up and realize her responsibilities."

Source // MSN Entertainment