Britney's Mother Sets The Spears Family Record Straight With ‘Through The Storm'

In her new memoir, “Through The Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World,” Lynne Spears, mother of Britney and Jamie Lynn, tells her side of the story that was played out on the covers of gossip magazines and under the flash of the paparazzo’s cameras.

“I think there was the tabloid version of our lives,” she told “Today’s” Meredith Vieira Wednesday of her decision to write the book. “I wanted people to see our family as we really are.”

The book, which was intended to be a collection of poems and memories, took on more significance when her daughter’s lives began to unravel.

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Lynne said Britney’s troubles began back in 1999 with the infamous Rolling Stone magazine cover of the pop star in her bra holding a Teletubby.

“We didn’t really know what we were doing, we were kind of in shock at what was going on, and in awe at the same time,” she told Meredith of the photo shot. “Thank God Larry Rudolph came in when he did because he said, ‘Stop! That’s enough. We’re not gonna do anymore.’”

Larry Rudolph managed Britney prior to her breakdown, and has since returned to the pop star’s life, helping to orchestrate her comeback, but the Rolling Stone cover was just the beginning of the Spears family storm.

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Following Britney’s two marriages, a divorce and annulment --life only got worse when Sam Lutfi came into Britney’s life.

In her book, Lynne claims that Lutfi, who acted as the pop star’s manager, exercised a massive amount of control over Britney and her life. He allegedly drugged her, hide her cell phones and pets, disabled her cars, cut phone lines to the house and made all the decisions in the pop star’s life.

Lynne claims that Lutfi said to her, “You better learn that I control everything. I control Howard Grossman, Britney’s business manager. I control her attorneys and the security guards as the gate. They don’t listen to Britney, they listen to me.”

During the midst of Britney’s troubles, Lynne was blindsided when Jamie Lynn handed her a note telling her she was going to be a mother.

“It said she was pregnant and everything was going to be OK. She was going to raise it … I thought it was a joke. I was waiting for the punch line,” Lynne told Vieira. “I was in shock. I think I was just truly in shock, and then I started to cry. And she started consoling me at that point.”

Lynne told Vieira it was impossible not to blame herself for daughters’ troubles.

“As a mother, don’t we always blame ourselves?” she said. “I took a lot of the blame. I took all the blame. The personality I have, it’s always my fault.”

As the title of her book suggests, Lynne says the skies for the Spears family are beginning to clear.

“[Britney’s] strong,” Lynne said. “She’s resilient. She’s had some big bumps in the road, but Britney’s fine. Britney is headed to the top once again. I have no fears about Britney.”

Lynne said the road ahead might be uncertain, but worst is behind her family.

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