Actress and singer Jamie Lynn Spears turned from a young girl to a mom instantly when she found out she was expecting a daughter (who we now know as Maddie Spears) with her then-fiancé, Casey Aldridge. They were both not even 20 yet – she was 17, and he was 19. She was so young, almost like a baby herself.
After announcing her pregnancy, Spears moved to Mississippi to escape the limelight. She tried to, but the paparazzi still found her. She couldn’t really escape public opinion which bullied her for months, telling her that she was a slut and that her career was now over, and that wasn’t the end of it. “Everybody told me I was going to be a horrible mom, so I was like, ‘I gotta raise my baby by myself.’ And so I did.”
Maddie arrived in 2008 with only a few members of the family present. Her aunt Britney Spears and uncle Bryan even flew in to meet her. After her birth, Spears and Aldridge decided to stay in Mississippi to start a life with their daughter. Unfortunately, their young love didn’t stand the test of time, and they split in 2010. Maddie was just 19 months old at the time.
Luckily, she found a father figure in businessman James Watson, whom her mom met when they relocated to her home state, Louisiana. The two married in 2014, and five-year-old Maddie served as their bridesmaid. She even wore a white dress that matched her mom’s wedding gown.
Maddie is now grown up and is a big sister to Ivey, whom she welcomed in 2018. Let’s get to know her.
Infancy
JAIME LYNN SPEARS AND BABY MADDIE pic.twitter.com/k9uDpSwnz1
— DAVID LEIJA FROM UNITED STATES (@Leija214) June 11, 2016
Spears and Aldridge welcomed their daughter, Maddie, in 2008. And just three weeks later, she graced the cover of OK! Magazine for her mom’s cover story. She was bundled in an all-white outfit, and her mom cuddled her with a smile.
In the singer’s interview with the outlet, she talked about how flawlessly everything went for her and Maddie.
She was right on schedule and ready to have her daughter in three to four hours in an otherwise predicted eight to twelve hours of labor. There were no emergencies, and she didn’t have to go through a c-section. Most important of all, Maddie came out perfectly healthy.
However, there was one very brief moment when Spears thought something was wrong. That is because Maddie took a second before she started crying and screaming, and when she did, Spears said it was the best feeling in the world.
As for her name, Spears said it was Aldridge’s pick (and she liked it, too). In contrast, her second name, Briann, was a tribute to Aldridge’s cousin and close friend, who passed away in a car accident. It was also a nod to Spears’s older brother.
Maddie wasn’t fuzzy as a little baby, and they immediately clicked into a routine. At first, Spears admitted that she didn’t know what to do and when to do what, but she quickly learned, and everything fell into place after that.
They’d get up in the morning, enjoy some bath time, and then start their day. Spears loved their routine, and they were happy and satisfied with their little life.
Spears’ mother and Maddie’s grandmother shared with Nylon that even though the singer was only 17, she fully and immediately grasped motherhood. She focused on making the best decisions for Maddie and herself – in that order.
Childhood
RELATED: Britney Spears’ Iconic “Baby One More Time” Outfit Stages a Comeback
When Maddie was 8, she got into a terrifying ATV accident. On February 5, 2017, she was riding at her family’s home when the vehicle flipped over into a pond. First responders immediately attended the scene, and she was submerged underwater for what felt like a very long time before she was freed from her seat belt.
In her 2022 memoir Things I Should Have Said, Maddie was “eerily blue” when she was pulled out from the water. Thankfully, Maddie survived, didn’t suffer from any brain damage, and was discharged from the hospital a week after her accident.
While Spears still hasn’t fully opened up about the traumatic event, she described it as a turning point. She felt everything anyone could feel at that moment, and her mind was running the worst case.
She really thought she had lost her daughter then. As a parent, nothing was worse than looking at your child and feeling that you’ve failed them.
“And I didn’t want her to think that I couldn’t save her,” she said.
According to the singer, experiencing the worst thing you can think of in your life definitely made her look at everything else differently. There was a lot more gratitude. Maddie’s survival was a miracle, and that kind of wonderful thing should be shared in a world filled with dark things.
A year after her accident, Maddie officially became a big sister. On April 11, 2018, Spears and Watson’s first child, Ivey Joan Watson, finally arrived. Spears said Maddie was Ivey’s first visitor and was so peaceful when her big sister held her. The singer felt so complete in her life, seeing her girls fall in love with each other.
In 2021, Spears posted a photo series of her two girls on National Daughter Day. One was an adorable photo of Maddie and Ivey’s first meeting when Maddie lovingly held her little sister. Another one was a very cute photo of the two sleeping face-to-face.
Teen Life
Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter Maddie, 14, attends homecoming dance https://t.co/3ZgKt2JDnn pic.twitter.com/bir2haRCTZ
— Page Six (@PageSix) September 12, 2022
RELATED: How does Matthew Underwood from ‘Zoey 101’ Look Now?
Maddie is definitely a very well-rounded individual. She excels in academics and sports, gaining a 4.0 GPA all year round while playing four different sports! In an Instagram post last May 2022, Spears bragged about her oldest’s achievements. She also said she was proud of her work ethic and ability to balance her student and athlete life.
Of the four, Maddie loved playing softball and was very skilled in the sport. In 2020, even when she was fresh off a wrist injury, she was still named her team’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) during one of their tournaments.
Two years later, in July, Maddie and her team won the World Series championship. Of course, her mom didn’t miss the opportunity to show her off. She posted a photo of Maddie with Ivey (whom she’s carrying) and her stepdad standing behind the team’s trophy.
Along with it was a life lesson someone once told her: “Some of life’s best lessons are learned on a ball field, bc working hard with others to achieve something bigger than oneself will teach you how to be a good teammate in sports AND in life????♀️.“
A month after that, she officially started ninth grade. As a high schooler, her mom pulled off a surprise for her first homecoming dance. She had an extra day off work, so she loaded up Ivey into the car and drove seven hours to attend the Homecoming weekend.
She also went all out in taking pictures, which included a snap of Maddie in her purple mini dress and tall white heels and a photo of Maddie and her date (who adorably matched her with a lavender shirt underneath his shiny gray suit).
Later that year, Maddie played in her high school state tournament, which her mom sadly couldn’t attend in person due to a work schedule. Spears ensured she was still tuned in via live stream to support her daughter.
What’s next for Maddie?
Jamie Lynn Spears celebrates daughter Maddie's middle school graduation https://t.co/AMtG8O5OcQ pic.twitter.com/PaN4p9A494
— Page Six (@PageSix) May 20, 2022
Maddie Spears, as her mom liked to call her, “her saving grace since the day she was born,” has been the best daughter Jamie Lynn Spears could ever ask for. And now that she’s approaching her late teens, we’d probably see her do more, even a bit of acting. She and Ivey debuted with their cameo in their mom’s Paramount+ film, “Zoey 102.”