Lynne Spears got this week's cover of USWeekly, and she breaks her silence about her estrangement with daughter Britney following the downward spiral the star took in February.

"You go into a time in your life with the world watching and you are just trying to figure yourself out," Lynne Spears tells Us in an exclusive interview that is featured in the latest issue of the magazine. "It's sad that the whole world had to watch her make mistakes that all of us have made at one time or another.

"The estrangement was especially hard on the pop star's mother.

"Lynne was like Britney's best friend, so when Britney started partying and her mom tried to control her, she got mad," a family source explains.

Happily, the two reconciled on June 10, speaking for the first time in months and quietly taking their first steps back to a peaceful relationship.

And now Lynne tells Us Weekly how she and her daughter are coping.

"Britney Jean Spears is the sweetest and the most sensitive and loving of all my children," the mother of three tells Us. "She's just figuring things out."

Jamie Lee Curtis wrote an interesting blog criticizing the mothers of today's paparazzi princesses, and it makes the point that mothers who try to be friends can't control their children. I think for a long time Lynne tried to be Britney's friend, but after the shaving/rehab stint, she realized that Britney was out of control and needed a mother, not a partner-in-crime. Dina Lohan has yet to realize this fact. She's also more of a publicity whore than Lynne Spears is. Either way, to gloss over a daughter's problems does more harm than good.