In the upcoming issue of Us Weekly, sources paint a not-so-pretty picture of Britney Spears’ family history. In the Friday issue, Us claimed Britney lost her virginity at the age of 14 to her then-boyfriend Reg Jones, and she and Justin Timberlake were gettin’ it on from the very beginning of their relationship.

Perhaps even more sad, her family has a long history of mental illness and addiction.

Us has learned that Spears’ paternal grandmother, Emma Jean Spears, in June 1966 committed suicide at age 31. Britney’s grandmother, who suffered from depression, shot herself in the chest with a shotgun at the grave of her infant son who had died eight years earlier just three days after being born.

A local newspaper article obtained by Us reported at the time: “The shotgun had been pressed against the woman’s chest and she apparently pulled the trigger with a toe of the right foot from which a shoe had been removed.” The newspaper reported that Emma Jean had attempted suicide three times before.

Emma Jean Spears left behind four other children, including Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, then an eighth grader. Two of Jamie Spears’ brothers ended up with criminal records and homeless.

Gah, now I feel bad for bagging on Britney for all these years.

Source

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am and is filed under Britney Spears. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.