Britney Spears skipped a rare family reunion on Saturday, as relatives gathered to celebrate sister Jamie Lynn’s daughter Maddie graduating from high school.
The pop superstar, 44, has been riding a rollercoaster of chaos lately, pleading guilty to her DUI on Monday, two months after the arrest.
Just days before the guilty plea, she left a substance abuse rehab facility where she had spent only three weeks.
The antics don’t stop there: Spears was recently seen tottering out of a bar with a full champagne flute, sharing endless topless Instagram shots, wild dance clips, and even videos of herself brandishing knives.
Amid all the whirlwind drama, the singer missed out on her sister’s milestone celebration.
Exclusive Daily Mail photos show the rest of the Spears clan turning it into a family affair, with her son Preston, mom Lynne, and amputee dad Jamie taking center stage as they celebrated Maddie’s graduation.
Britney Spears skipped a rare family reunion on Saturday, as relatives gathered to celebrate sister Jamie Lynn’s daughter Maddie graduating from high school; (pictured mom Lynne, sister Jamie Lynn, and dad Jamie)
Sean Preston, 20, showed plenty of cousin love, beaming alongside the family and even holding up an adorable photo of the day’s big star, Maddie
Patriarch Jamie, who lost his right leg in 2023 after a bacterial infection, made a stylish appearance in a sharp suit
In one snap, Jamie Lynn, 35, could be seen with tears streaming down her face while cheering from the auditorium seats.
Sean Preston, 20, showed plenty of cousin love, beaming alongside the family and even holding up an adorable photo of the day’s big star, Maddie.
Mom Lynne, who has recently reunited with Britney after years of estrangement, stayed close to her other daughter, offering support and smiles from the audience.
Patriarch Jamie, who lost his right leg in 2023 after a bacterial infection, made a stylish appearance in a sharp suit, navigating the celebration from his wheelchair.
Jamie Lynn’s youngest, Ivey, 8, melted hearts as she helped her grandfather, gently pushing him through the crowd and making sure he could enjoy the ceremony without a hitch.
The graduation comes after Spears’ family members were reportedly among the first people to check in with her following her shocking DUI arrest on in March.
Family sources said that Spears’s mother Lynne gave her a call as soon as she learned of the arrest, at which point Spears had already been released from custody.
Sources also said that singer also spoke with her sons Sean Preston and Jayden, 19, both of whom moved to Hawaii with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline , in 2023, after she returned home.
The pop superstar, 44, has been riding a rollercoaster of chaos lately, pleading guilty to her DUI on Monday, two months after the arrest, leaving little room for family celebrations like her niece’s graduation; (pictured 2019)
In one snap, Jamie Lynn, 35, could be seen with tears streaming down her face while cheering from the auditorium seats
Maddie hugged her grandfather after the ceremony
Spears’s mother allegedly wanted to let the singer know that she had her support, and she was said to have offered to assist Britney with any of her needs.
Despite their infamous ups and downs in the four years since Spears’s conservatorship was ended, the two were said to be on good terms.
Spears has long had a ‘complicated’ relationship with her mother, with a source claiming to Page Six in September of last year that ‘Their relationship is very fragile.’
They said at the time that ‘[Lynne] reaches out to Britney for the most part,’ and the two ‘talk and text every few weeks.’
The source claimed in September that there were no imminent plans for her and Britney to have a face-to-face reunion.
Their relationship appeared to reach its nadir around 2021, when Spears claimed that, even though her father Jamie Spears had overseen her restrictive conservatorship for years, it was allegedly her mother who had suggested the idea of creating the arrangement.
‘I will never get those years back,’ Spears said in 2021, before claiming that her mother ‘secretly ruined my life.’
However, their relationship appears to be on stronger footing now, as Britney and Lynne are now planning to spend time together soon after Lynne offered to visit in the wake of the arrest.
Spears and her sons’ father, Kevin Federline, were married in 2004, but they divorced in 2007
Jamie Lynn’s husband Jamie Watson also attended
TMZ’s family sources contradicted earlier reporting and claimed that Britney and Lynne have been on good terms ever since they reunited for the first time in years in May 2023.
The sources added that Spears and her mother talk regularly on the phone despite not having had a face-to-face meeting in more than two years.
The family sources added that Spears had spoken to her two adult sons after she returned home on Thursday, but it’s unclear who initiated the alleged call.
Spears has had a more publicly positive relationship with Sean and Jayden over the years.
In December, she revealed that Jayden had come to visit her for Christmas in a series of jubilant Instagram posts.
A source told People that month that ‘Britney had a fun time celebrating Christmas with Jayden,’ adding that it had ‘been such a special holiday’ for her.
Spears wasn’t able to reunite with her other son, Sean, as he was reportedly forced to stay in Louisiana due to a work obligation, though he was reportedly able to celebrate Christmas with his aunt Jamie Lynn Spears and grandmother Lynne.
Spears and her sons’ father, Kevin Federline, were married in 2004, but they divorced in 2007.
Maddie was the spitting image of her famous mom
It was a rare sight as the Spears family came together to celebrate and share in the special day
They agreed at the time to share custody of their two sons, but just months later, Federline was granted sole physical custody of the children amid Spears’s mental breakdown, and he retained custody for most of their childhood.
Jayden and Sean allegedly became estranged from Spears in 2022, and they moved to Hawaii with their father the following year.
Last year, Federline released the memoir You Thought You Knew, in which he spoke about how his sons developed a strained relationship with their mother after she allegedly ’emotionally traumatiz[ed]’ them.
However, Spears reportedly reconciled with Jayden in 2024, prior to her loving posts about him.
On February 12, she was photographed taking a spin around Los Angeles while she appeared to be talking on the phone, which is illegal in California under the ‘No Touch’ law (Vehicle Code 23123.5).
She was not charged in relation to the incident.
It was, however, not an isolated incident for Spears, who, in recent months, was filmed swerving into the wrong lane on a highway after a night out. At the time, sources feared she was ‘spiraling’ amid the release of her ex-husband Federline‘s memoir.
Her history with the police also includes being cited for a hit-and-run (misdemeanor) after hitting a parked car in 2007. This was dismissed after Spears paid an undisclosed sum to the owner, it was reported at the time.
Jamie Lynn’s youngest, Ivey, 8, melted hearts as she helped her grandfather
The family couldn’t contain their excitement
She was also cited for driving without a valid California driver’s license in 2008, which was later dismissed by a judge.
In 2023, law enforcement visited Spears’s home regarding a video involving knives, but no charges were filed.
Spears has had very public personal struggles for nearly two decades.
In 2007, the star famously suffered a harrowing breakdown after exhibiting worrying behavior in the months leading up to her infamous psychiatric hold.
The then 25-year-old had fans concerned after she shaved her head and attacked a paparazzi’s car with a green umbrella, before she checked into a rehab facility.
The Toxic singer suffered another setback after a disastrous performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, when her performance of Gimme More was heavily criticized by both fans and critics alike.
Then, in January 2008, she was put under lockdown at a facility after refusing to hand over her young son to her ex-husband Federline.
More recently, Spears has been open about issues with her family, as in early February, when she claimed she is ‘scared’ of them and ‘lucky to be alive’ in a bombshell social media post.
With her father Jamie, brother Bryan, sister Jamie-Lynn and mom Lynne
Britney and Jamie Lynn are pictured in 2017 in LA
Spears has had a contentious relationship with her family members for years following her 13-year conservatorship that ended in November 2021
In 2024, Britney reconciled with Jayden and has since shared social media posts of their reunions on multiple occasions in the past year. In September, a source revealed that Britney and her eldest son Sean Preston are also ‘slowly rebuilding’ their relationship; (pictured in April 2013)
The pop superstar had lashed out at her family once again, four years after she was liberated from her 13-year conservatorship.
The hitmaker claimed that her relatives will ‘never take responsibility’ as she criticized them for ‘isolating’ her.
‘I’m incredibly lucky to even be alive with how my family treated me once in my life and now I’m scared of them,’ the singer wrote in a lengthy caption.
‘They will never take responsibility for what they did,’ she wrote, adding, ‘We can forgive as people but u don’t ever forget.’
Spears has had a contentious relationship with her family members for years following her 13-year conservatorship that ended in November 2021.
The pop star and her father have remained at odds since finally settling their long-running legal battle over the infamous conservatorship that controlled nearly every aspect of her life for more than a decade.
Spears’ conservatorship officially ended in 2021, following an outcry from fans and the explosive #FreeBritney movement.
She has previously described her father as ‘controlling,’ insisting she still struggles with trust around him.
Family insiders say the tension remains, making rare milestones like Saturday’s graduation all the more complicated.
Even with the rest of the Spears clan celebrating, it seems old wounds are far from healed between father and daughter.
