It’s no secret that Britney Spears has faced many difficulties throughout her life – but the heartbreak and devastation that she’s endured may have been foreshadowed decades earlier by her grandmother’s own tragic story.

With her warm smile and bright blonde locks, Emma Jean Spears – the mother of Britney’s dad – shares a striking resemblance to the popstar, but their stunning looks aren’t the only thing that they have in common.

From being forced into a mental asylum and facing an onslaught of abuse, Britney’s gruesome journey has many harrowing similarities to her late grandmother’s – who tragically took her own life at age 31.

The singer, now 41, recently reflected on how much their lives have mirrored one another in her new memoir, The Woman In Me.

It’s no secret that Britney Spears has faced many difficulties – but the  devastation that she’s endured may have been foreshadowed decades earlier by her grandmother’s own tragic story

‘Tragedy runs in my family,’ she states in the tome, before diving into the horrendous tale of how her grandmother – who was known to everyone as Jean and inspired Britney’s middle name – endured years of trauma and loss before ultimately shooting herself on top of her infant son’s grave.

From being forced into a mental asylum and facing an onslaught of abuse, Britney’s gruesome journey has many harrowing similarities to her late grandmother, Emma Jean Spears’ (seen)

Jean was married to a police officer named June Spears Sr. – Britney’s paternal grandfather – a ‘viscous’ man who fathered 10 children from three different wives, and has been accused of sexually assaulting his daughter when she was only 11.

After losing her baby when he was only three days old, June put Jean into an institution, where she was involuntarily put on the drug lithium – something Britney herself has claimed she had to take.

On a humid spring day in 1966, Jean walked into the cemetery where her baby boy had been buried and pointed a 12-gauge shotgun up at her head and pulled the trigger.

As Britney lays bare the sordid details of her family’s past in her new book – FEMAIL went ahead and broke down everything her grandmother went through, as well as the eerie closeness that it has to what Britney has experienced.

Jean was abused by her husband, while Britney has spoken out about the harrowing abuse she has had to endure at the hands of her father’s conservatorship 

Jean was married to a police officer named June Spears Sr. (seen)- a ‘viscous’ man who fathered 10 children from three wives, and has been accused of abusing her

Britney (seen with June) also claimed in her memoir that June sexually assaulted one of his daughters starting when she was only 11, until she eventually ‘ran away’ at age 16

According to the singer, her ‘vicious’ grandfather was not only ‘abusive’ to his wife, Jean, but also to his kids.

She claimed in her memoir that June sexually assaulted one of his daughters starting when she was only 11, until she eventually ‘ran away’ at age 16.

‘One of my father’s half sisters has said that June sexually abused her starting when she was 11, until she ran away at sixteen,’ she wrote.

Back in 2022, Britney’s aunt Leigh Ann Spears Wrather spoke out about being molested by June during an interview with New York Magazine.

She claimed he would make her perform sex acts on him while they were on the way home from church, where he worked part time as the Deacon.

‘I hope he’s burning in hell,’ she told the publication at the time.

June’s third wife – who he married just eight months after Jean died – also told the outlet that he beat her and ‘committed numerous acts of cruelty’ against her during their marriage.

In her book, Britney also revealed how June would force her father, Jamie Spears, to practice basketball for hours on end as a kid, even if he was ‘exhausted.’

‘A sports fanatic, June made my father exercise long past exhaustion,’ she continued.

‘Each day, when my father finished basketball practice, no matter how tired and hungry he was, he still had to shoot 100 more baskets before he could come inside.

Britney claimed that June would force her father, Jamie Spears, to practice basketball for hours as a kid, even if he was ‘exhausted.’ Britney is seen with her parents, siblings, and June

She added that she believes the ‘trauma’ that her dad was put through as a child impacted the way that he treated her and her siblings. She’s pictured as a kid with her parents

‘As far as I can tell, no one has one good word to say about the first 50 years of his life.

‘Even in my family, it was said that the Spears men tend to be bad news, especially in terms of how they treated women.’

The Hit Me Baby One More Time songstress (seen in the Mickey Mouse Club as a kid) has described her dad as ‘really abusive’ in the past, and said that he ‘loved to control everything’ she did through his controversial conservatorship

Britney explained that the man she got to know, however, was very different, since he had ‘softened’ in his old age.

‘June softened as he got older. I didn’t experience the vicious man who had abused my father and his siblings, but rather, a grandfather who seemed patient and sweet,’ she said.

She added that she believes the ‘trauma’ that her dad was put through as a child impacted the way that he treated her and her siblings.

‘I know that trauma is part of why my father was how he was with my siblings and me,’ she added. ‘Why, for him, nothing was ever good enough.

‘My father pushed my brother to excel in sports. He drank until he couldn’t think anymore.

‘He’d disappear for days at a time. When my father drank, he was extremely mean.’

Britney spent decades desperately trying to get out of her father’s conservatorship, which began in 2008 but finally ended after a long legal battle in 2021.

The Hit Me Baby One More Time songstress has described her dad as ‘really abusive’ in the past, and said that he ‘loved to control everything’ she did.

Jean suffered from the loss of her baby days after he was born, while Britney went through a ‘devastating’ miscarriage last year

In her book, Britney revealed that her grandmother lost her baby boy when he was only three days old, while Britney went through a ‘devastating’ miscarriage last year with Sam Asghari

In her book, Britney revealed that her grandmother lost her baby boy when he was only three days old.

‘I can’t imagine the grief that she must have felt,’ Britney said.

‘It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that we have lost our miracle baby early in the pregnancy,’ the couple said in a statement at the time, adding that they would continue in their attempts to have another child

While the singer never lost a child, she suffered from a ‘devastating’ miscarriage last year – just one month after she announced that she and her then-fiancé, Sam Asghari, were expecting their first baby together.

‘It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that we have lost our miracle baby early in the pregnancy,’ the couple said in a statement at the time.

‘This is a devastating time for any parent. Perhaps we should have waited to announce until we were further along, however we were overly excited to share the good news.’

At the time, the pair said they would continue in their attempts to have another child.

‘Our love for each other is our strength. We will continue trying to expand our beautiful family,’ they concluded.

‘We are grateful for all your support. We kindly ask for privacy during this difficult moment.’

The musician also revealed in her memoir she secretly got an abortion when she was 19, after she found out she was expecting her boyfriend Justin Timberlake’s baby. They’re seen in 2000

In her memoir, the musician also revealed that she secretly got an abortion when she was 19, after she found out she was expecting her boyfriend Justin Timberlake’s baby.

She said she did not go through with the pregnancy because the NSYNC star ‘wasn’t ready’ for the responsibilities of parenthood.

She recalled ‘crying and sobbing’ during the procedure, which she chose to do at home in a desperate bid to keep the abortion completely secret from the public and her own family.

‘It was important that no one find out about the pregnancy or the abortion, which meant doing everything at home,’ she wrote.

‘I kept crying and sobbing until it was all over. It took hours, and I don’t remember how it ended, but I do, 20 years later, remember the pain of it, and the fear.’

Jean was forced into a mental hospital and put on lithium – the same drug that Britney has said she had to take

Britney said Jean was forced into a mental hospital and put on lithium – the same drug that she said she had to take after refusing to do her Vegas show. She’s seen promoting the residency

In her memoir, Britney claimed that June ‘sent Jean’ to Southeast Louisiana Hospital after she struggled to cope with the loss of their son, which she described as a ‘horrible asylum.’

She said doctors forced Jean to take lithium there – the same drug that the singer has claimed that she had to take.

She previously claimed that her psychiatrist prescribed the medication to her ‘out of nowhere’ after she refused to perform in Las Vegas in 2021.

‘He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium out of nowhere. He took me off my normal meds I’ve been on for five years,’ she said during a trial about her conservatorship.

‘Lithium is a very, very strong and completely different medication compared to what I was used to.

She claimed that her psychiatrist prescribed the medication to her ‘out of nowhere’ and that her dad was ‘all for it’ despite it making her feel ‘drunk.’ She’s pictured with her dad

‘You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months.

‘But he put me on that, and I felt drunk. I couldn’t even have a conversation with my mom or dad really about anything.’

She added that ‘anything that happened to her had to be approved by her dad’ but that he was ‘all for it.’

She has also spoken out about being forced to stay in a mental health facility in 2019, just like Jean.

‘My father said if I didn’t go, then I’d have to go to court. He said, “Trust me, you will not win,”‘ she recalled in her memoir.

‘I honestly felt like they were trying to kill me. They kept me locked up against my will for months.’

Jean tragically took her own life at age 31 – and Britney admitted that she ‘came close’ to suicide after she was put in a mental institution

Eight years after the death of her infant son, Jean took her own life. She was only 31 years old.

Eight years after the death of her infant son, Jean took her own life. In her book, Britney said she battled her own suicidal thoughts in 2019. She’s seen in 2019

‘In 1966, when she was 31, my grandmother Jean shot herself with a shotgun on her infant son’s grave, just over eight years after his death,’ Britney wrote in her book.

According to reports, June told coroners that Jean had already attempted suicide three times, and the death was ruled as a suicide.

But some of Britney’s family members alleged to New York Magazine that June – who passed away in 2012 – had a hand in Jean’s death.

‘No one knows what happened because no one was there,’ his daughter Leigh Ann told the publication.

‘But you can bet my daddy pulled the trigger one way or the other even if he wasn’t there.’

Another person from the Spears’ clan, who asked to remain anonymous, said, ‘He drove her to death.’

In her book, Britney said she battled her own suicidal thoughts while she was spending time in the mental institution.

‘How had I managed not to kill myself in that place? Almost anyone else in my situation would have,’ she said.

‘Thinking about how close I came to doing just that, I wept.’