LeAnn Rimes And Britney Spears Share Similar Dark Pasts In The Music Industry

Picture it: a blonde, all-American sweetheart who went from singing talent shows in her Southern hometown to becoming an internationally renowned musical icon just to have it gravely jeopardized by overbearing parent slash managers. No, we're not talking about Britney Spears. We're talking about LeAnn Rimes. 

Despite both skyrocketing to fame in the late '90s, Spears and Rimes aren't often associated with one another. Perhaps it's because while Spears was cementing her divisive place in the pop culture canon in the early aughts, Rimes was transitioning to a less scandalous career in country music. Regardless, the two singers share more in common than one might think.

Rimes discussed the similarities between her and Spears in a November 2023 interview with The Times (via People), describing how Spears' memoir, "The Woman in Me," resonated with her as she reflected on her own tumultuous industry upbringing. From impossible workloads to chart-topping hits to legal battles with parents, Rimes and Spears shared many of the same career highs and lows as teen superstars.

Singers LeAnn Rimes and Britney Spears were both managed by their fathers from the onset of their careers and unfortunately, neither child-slash-client made it out of this unique dynamic unscathed. Rimes sued her father, Wilbur C. Rimes, in 2000 for allegedly stealing a whopping $7 million from LeAnn over five years. The teen star also accused her father and co-manager, Lyle Walker, of exploiting her namesake company, LeAnn Rimes Entertainment Inc. 

LeAnn and Wilbur Rimes settled their lawsuit ahead of the "Blue" singer's wedding to her first husband, Dean Sheremet, in 2002 in an attempt to reconcile their father-daughter relationship, per Entertainment Weekly. "Looking back, I think my dad did the best that he could," Rimes told The Times. "Parents managing a child is always a recipe for disaster. For me, it became a business, and I ended up not having parents."

Rimes' warning against parents managing their performer children certainly rings true for Spear's experience, who was placed under a conservatorship by her father, Jamie Spears, in 2008. Spears recounts the dehumanizing and demoralizing treatment she endured by her father and staff in her memoir "The Woman In Me." After years of having her bodily and professional autonomy stripped from her, Spears successfully fought to end her conservatorship in 2021.

In 1997, LeAnn Rimes earned her first Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Country Performance at 14 years old, making her the youngest recipient of the prestigious accolades. Meanwhile, Spears would become the best-selling teen artist of all time two years later with her debut and sophomore albums, "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again." Consequently, both young girls were subjected to rigorous and demanding schedules. 

Rimes described balancing schoolwork and international stardom as a teen in her Times interview, saying, "Good thing I was a teenager and had so much energy. Now, I'd be curled up on the bed, not moving for days. Sometimes, when I have busy days, I get so triggered. It takes me right back to not being able to say no, not having control." Spears faced the same balancing act, being forced to overextend herself for the sake of higher profits. In her memoir, the "Toxic" singer recalled working for hours on end ever since her days on "The Mickey Mouse Club."

The "Coyote Ugly" star told The Times that hearing Spears' story was "soul-sucking," adding, "That poor girl. That poor woman, really." Luckily, Spears and Rimes have both taken control over their independence and womanhood since the strenuous days of their youth, setting boundaries and reclaiming the power and confidence that made them international superstars in the first place.