Jamie Lynn Spears was told her “life was over” when she got pregnant at 16 but she was determined to create a “good, stable life” for herself and her daughter.
Jamie Lynn Spears was told her “life was over” when she got pregnant at 16.
The 35-year-old actress has recalled the intense media scrutiny she received when it emerged she was expecting a baby with then-boyfriend Casey Aldridge, which caused her to leave Hollywood to set up home in “the middle of nowhere” in Mississippi with daughter Maddie, now 18.
She recalled to People magazine: “I was called the biggest letdown in the world. “I was told my life was over. It was really, really tough not to believe those things.
“It really was just me and her. I had to be like, ‘Look, this little girl needs you. You better figure it out.’ I wanted to create a good, stable life for my daughter.”
Jamie Lynn and Maddie stressed the actress’ pregnancy wasn’t the reason why her beloved teen show Zoey 101 came to an end.
Maddie said: “My TikTok is all like, ‘You’re the reason Zoey 101 is over. I can’t believe you made my show end.’ I’m not the one that ended Zoey 101, I promise.”
Her mom added: “Jamie Lynn makes clear that she got pregnant months after the series had already wrapped. “I’ll repeat it until I’m blue in the face: We were wrapped!” The contract ended Zoey.”
As Maddie grew up, the Sweet Magnolias star – who eventually split from Casey and returned to her native Louisiana, where she now lives with husband Jamie Watson and their daughter Ivey, eight – wanted her “to have a mom she could be proud of.”
She said: “I wanted to make sure [she knew] that it wasn’t her fault that she got a mom who was 16 and pregnant.
“So, I wanted to make sure I did everything right. I think I was a bit of a helicopter parent.”
Maddie added: “She was definitely strict but with good reason. She just wants me to be safe. We just had fun together because she did have me so young.”
The teenager praised her mom for doing a “really good job of giving me a normal childhood”, despite her family’s fame.
She added: “I never felt different.”
Jamie Lynn said: “She was born with everyone knowing who her family is, so there wasn’t anything odd about it because it’s pretty much all she’s ever known.”
However, when Maddie was younger, because of her experiences with aunt Britney Spears, she went through a period where she thought “all pop stars were her aunt.”
Jamie Lynn recalled: “She was like, ‘Aunt Gaga! Aunt RiRi!’
“I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. That’s not how this works.’ I don’t even think you ever met those people. You just assumed that they were all your aunts.”
Maddie recalled feeling baffled when Rihanna once passed her backstage at an event and didn’t acknowledge her presence.
She remembered thinking: “Why didn’t she talk to me? That’s my aunt!”
Jamie Lynn laughed: “I’m sure she was offended with every pop star not stopping by to see their niece.
“I’m like, ‘You don’t know those people!'”
Jamie Lynn warned ‘life was over’ following teen pregnancy
