Jamie Lynn Spears has reflected on being “told her life was over” after she got pregnant at 16.
The Zoey 101 star, who is now 35, thought her career was over when she discovered she was having a baby.
“I was called the biggest letdown in the world,” she told People magazine. “I was told my life was over. It was really, really tough not to believe those things.”
After having her daughter Maddie, they moved away from Hollywood to “the middle of nowhere” in Mississippi.
“It really was just me and her,” she said, talking about how she split with her boyfriend, Casey Aldridge soon after their daughter was born. “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 recalled how she was determined to give Maddie “a mom she could be proud of,” saying, “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.”
She married businessman Jamie Watson in 2014, and the pair share daughter Ivey, eight. She’s currently starring in season 5 of Netflix show Sweet Magnolias.
Maddie will go to college in August. “I’m so proud of her and everything she’s done, but I also cry in the car because I’m not going to have my baby home every day,” she said. “She’s always going to be my baby.”
