Who’s the last person in the world of entertainment you would expect to lend support (publicly) to a pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears?
If you guessed Blair Warner you’d be very close.
Actually, the answer is Lisa Whelchel, the actress who played the preppy boarding school student on the 1980’s hit “Facts of Life.”
The 16-year-old Nickelodeon star hasn’t had a ton of support thrown her way (at least not publicly) since she made her big announcement a few days ago. Then, virtually out of left field comes 44-year-old Whelchel who contacted ABC News so she could comment on Brit’s baby sister’s current situation.
“I’m very passionate about wanting to speak out on behalf of this young girl,” Whelchel, told ABC News. “She is a role model, but it’s not her responsibility to be a role model. That’s so much pressure on a 16-year-old.”
Whelchel, who like Britney Spears, is a former Mouseketeer was Jamie Lynn’s age when she started on “The Facts of Life” in 1979. The actress is now the mother of two teen daughters and is the author of 12 Christian family books, including 2006’s Taking Care of the Me in Mommy. She says she is coming to Spears’s defense because she feels Jamie Lynn should be commended for her decision to keep her baby.
“I’m so proud of her for stepping up and being courageous and taking responsibility for her choices, and I believe she’s being a good role model – a good role model in that situation, to choose to have the baby, and I am supportive of her in that situation,” said Whelchel.
And the 80’s star didn’t stop there. Whelchel went public with her support of Spears’s mom, Lynne.
“We are doing the best we can as moms,” Whelchel told ABC News. “We really are. I know that she’s doing the best she can as a mom as well.”
The former teen star revealed that she spoke to her two teenage daughters (ages 16 and 15) shortly after the news broke regarding Spears’s pregnancy. Whelchel said both girls had the same response: “This is a wake-up call, not for the kids, for the parents. This is happening everywhere, every day.”
What do you make of Jamie Lynn getting support from this unlikely source?