Jamie Lynn Spears defends teen pregnancy

Jamie Lynn Spears wasn't trying to "glamourise teen pregnancy" when she fell pregnant aged 16, and she has apologised for "letting down" young girls who looked up to her at the time.

Jamie Lynn Spears wasn't trying to "glamourise teen pregnancy" when she fell pregnant aged 16.

The 20-year-old actress - whose sister is Britney Spears - has hit out at her critics four years after having her daughter, Maddie, with then-boyfriend Casey Aldridge, and she has apologised for "letting down" young girls who looked up to her at the time.

The former 'Zoey 101' star told Glamour magazine: "I was on a Nickelodeon show, and it felt especially embarrassing to ask someone to put me on birth control.

"I did feel responsible for the young girls and the mothers who I probably confused and let down. I apologise for that. But I wasn't trying to glamorize teen pregnancy."

But the blonde beauty has found it useful to lean on her 30-year-old sister - who has sons Sean Preston, six, and five-year-old Jayden James from her marriage to second husband Kevin Federline - for support while bringing up Maddie.