Lynne Spears might have lost out on a lucrative parenting book deal after her supposedly pious 16-year-old daughter, Jamie Lynn, got knocked up, but she can rest easy knowing that her daughter's unfortunate predicament is being put to good use. Young Jamie Lynn, it seems, has become the go-to excuse for parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of teen pregnancy. It's a silver lining!
"I can't tell you how many parents have told us that because of Spears they now feel comfortable starting a dialogue with their children about sex, pregnancy, and family formulation," says Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "It's obviously a very sad development for Jamie, but it's really helped to jump start discussion about these issues. That's critical."
Spears, for her part, is being duly compensated for her newfound role as a national cautionary tale: matriarch Lynne supposedly sold OK! magazine exclusive rights to the story for $1 million. "Hopefully, there aren't a lot of 16-year-old girls out there thinking that they can get rich by getting pregnant now," adds Albert. "OK! has to sleep with themselves at night, so of course they can make their own decisions. We're just glad that people were able to make lemonade out of these lemons."