Just when you think you’ve heard enough Spears pregnancy rumors for a given year (how many babies did Britney have this year? Five?), now we’ve got the previously-sane-seeming Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears in OK! Magazine addressing rumors about her pregnancy. It’s true. And Kevin Federline is not the father (because that would be weird). And she’s keeping her baby.
Don’t worry, though. She’s thought about it, and determined that this is the right move for her. She’s known the father, her “longtime boyfriend” Casey Aldridge, for years, and “started dating him in high school.” By the way, she’s 16. He’s 19. And they met when she was 13 and a half. And they met in church.
Now about 12 weeks along, she’s looking forward to raising the child in Louisiana, where it has a shot at a normal life. And her message for teens about premarital sex is “don’t do it.”

“I definitely don’t think it’s something you should do; it’s better to wait,” she told the magazine. “But I can’t be judgmental because it’s a position I put myself in.” After she found out from a doctor that she was pregnant, she said, “I took two weeks to myself where I didn’t tell anybody.”
“Only one of my friends knew because I needed to work out what I would do for myself before I let anyone’s opinion affect my decision. Then I told my parents and my friends. I was scared, but I had to do what was right for me,” she said.

My temptation is to say that the story is a fabrication. This is because I just find it so hard to believe that with the tough year Britney’s had,–emotionally, in the media, and in court over custody and child neglect issues–that her sister wouldn’t know better, learn from missteps and be more careful. I can’t believe that the star of a Nickelodeon series, who knows how harsh the media spotlight can be, wouldn’t take every precaution to not become a clone of her sister.
But there is a source. It’s not the Wall Street Journal, but it’s a source. (And even as I write, the same story is popping up at Reuters and the AP, with no new news, but at least if it is a joke, everyone’s falling for it, which makes me feel better as a journalist of sorts.)
When I see these stories, I just sigh deeply and repeat my mantra, “Fame, money, success…they can’t buy you wisdom.” But they can buy you very fine child-care. Which is a really good thing for fertile celebrity teenagers.