Britney Spears issues cease and desist letter to sister Jamie Lynn

The public conflict between Britney Spears and her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, has now officially reached the “nasty letters from lawyers” stage of escalation. This is per Rolling Stone, which reports that Britney Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, has now issued a missive to Jamie Lynn’s people, demanding that she cease and desist from talking about her sister “derogatorily” during the promotion of her new memoir Things I Should Have Said.

“We write with some hesitation because the last thing Britney wants is to bring more attention to your ill-timed book and its misleading or outrageous claims about her,” the letter states, taking some swings right from the jump. “Although Britney has not read and does not intend to read your book, she and millions of her fans were shocked to see how you have exploited her for monetary gain.”

Which is, in so far as we can parse a conflict boiling over in public spaces between members of a family whose battles have become international news in recent years, at the crux of all of this conflict: Britney Spears’ assertion that her little sister is attempting to profit off of portraying Britney as mentally ill in order to push sales of her book.

And, not to profess to know the mind of one of the most famous people on the planet, but that presumably stings even worse than it otherwise might, given the very high-profile ways accusations of poor mental health have been weaponized against the elder Spears sister, most obviously in the 13-year conservatorship she only recently escaped from. This latest round of conflict kicked off when Jamie Lynn Spears was asked by Good Morning America about an incident recounted in the book, in which Britney Spears allegedly grabbed a knife and locked the two of them in a room because she felt unsafe.

Since then, the two women have traded insults and accusations on social media, both attempting to paint the other as a liar. And now we’re in lawyer town: Nobody’s filed any suits yet, but the threats are in the air. Here’s more from Rosengart:

As I have previously stated, having endured a 13-year conservatorship that stripped her of civil rights and fundamental liberties, Britney will no longer be bullied by her father or anyone else. Britney was the family’s breadwinner and she also otherwise supported you. Publicly airing false or fantastical grievances is wrong, especially when designed to sell books. It is also potentially unlawful and defamatory.

You recently reportedly stated that the book was “not about her.” She takes you at your word and we, therefore, demand that you cease and desist from referencing Britney derogatorily during your promotional campaign. If you fail to do so or defame her, Britney will be forced to consider and take all appropriate legal action.