All About Jamie Lynn Spears' Daughter Maddie

Jamie Lynn Spears and ex Casey Aldridge welcomed their daughter Maddie in 2008

Jamie Lynn Spears has gone through a lot with her older daughter.

Spears was just 17 years old when she welcomed her first baby, Maddie Briann, 15, on June 19, 2008, with her 19-year-old fiancé Casey Aldridge.

The Zoey 101 star decided to step away from acting and focus on her pregnancy after learning she was expecting at 16.

"You have your first love, or what you call love, in high school. You think it's forever, and then oh my gosh, I'm pregnant," she told Nylon in October 2020. "I am mortified to have to tell my parents this and my family this. I do not care what TMZ thinks about it. That was all I was thinking about: 'These are the people I love that I have to tell, and also, I'm pregnant. There's a human being growing inside of me, and I'm so young, I'm almost a baby myself.' "

After announcing her pregnancy news, Spears decided to "hide away for a little bit" and moved to Mississippi to avoid the spotlight. "But of course, the paparazzi still found me. It's not like I was in L.A. walking down the middle of the most popular boulevard; I was in the-middle-of-nowhere Mississippi," she recalled.

Spears stayed in the state for the duration of her pregnancy and privately welcomed Maddie with only her family members present, including her sister Britney and brother Bryan, who flew in to meet their new niece.

Maddie spent her early days in Mississippi with her two parents until their split in 2010, when she was 19 months old. Spears and Maddie then relocated to the Spears' home state of Louisana, where she met businessman James Watson. Spears and Watson later married in 2014 in New Orleans. Maddie, who was 5 years old at the time, served as a bridesmaid in a white dress that matched her mom's gown.

Now, Maddie lives in Tennessee with her mom, stepdad and sister Ivey, whom Spears welcomed with Watson in 2018.

From her "miracle" recovery after a scary ATV accident in 2017 to her current life as a high school student, here's everything to know about Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter Maddie.

Her mom faced severe backlash as a teen mom

While appearing on I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Spears opened up about the months leading up to Maddie's birth.

"I decided to keep the baby. The whole world was like, 'You're a slut. You're horrible. Your life's over,' " she shared while trying to hold back tears. "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."

She graced a magazine cover as an infant

Maddie was just three weeks old when her mom introduced her to the world in her first cover story for OK! Magazine, published in July 2008. On the cover, a tiny Maddie is dressed in white as she cuddles against her smiling mom.

"I was right on schedule," Spears told the outlet about Maddie's birth. "They'd told me it would be an eight- to 12-hour labor, and I was ready to have the baby in three to four hours. I had a perfect pregnancy and a perfect delivery. There was no c-section. There were no emergencies. She was perfectly healthy. I had a normal, natural birth. I was very blessed."

However, Maddie gave her mom a brief scare when she didn't cry immediately. "She just looked at me, and she didn't really cry at first," Jamie Lynn told OK! "I was scared, and then she started screaming. It is the best feeling in the whole world."

Her name is meaningful to both her parents

Spears told the outlet that Aldridge came up with their daughter's first name. "Maddie is a name that Casey thought of, and I really liked it," she told OK!. She also explained that Maddie's middle name, Briann, honors Aldridge's cousin and close friend, Brian, who was killed in a car accident in early June 2008. It's also a nod to Spears' older brother Bryan.

She was a "very good" baby

Spears and Maddie, whom the proud mom described as a "very good" baby, quickly fell into a routine after her birth.

"At first, I didn't know how I was going to know when to do what, but it all just falls into place," Spears told OK!. "We get up in the morning, and she gets her little bath. Then I get my bath. We have a routine, and I love routines. I've worked one out with her, and we're happy going about our little life."

And though Spears was only 17, she "grasped motherhood immediately and fully," as her mother Lynne later explained to Nylon. "She focused only on trying to make the best decisions for her baby and herself, and in that order," Lynne said of Spears.

She experienced a scary ATV accident in 2017

On Feb. 5, 2017, Maddie, then 8, experienced a freak ATV accident when the vehicle she was riding flipped over into a pond at the family's home. Maddie was submerged underwater for several minutes before she was freed from her seat belt by first responders. As Spears later recalled in her 2022 memoir, Things I Should Have Said, her daughter was unconscious and "eerily blue" when she was pulled out from the water.

Miraculously, Maddie suffered no brain damage and survived. She was released from the hospital after a week, though it would be years before Spears was able to open up about the traumatic event, which she described as a turning point in her life.

Spears later shared details about the incident on a May 2020 episode of Better Together with Maria Menounos. "We dove in and we were able to rescue her," she said. "When we were finally able to get her out of the water ... and the first responders took her from me, we thought she was gone. We thought we lost our daughter."

"That moment, I felt everything that you can feel, I think, as far as the worst," Spears continued. "There's nothing worse than looking at your child and just feeling that you've failed her. And I didn't want her to think that I couldn't save her."

Ahead of the release of her memoir, where she further discussed the accident and its aftermath, Spears spoke to PEOPLE in January 2022 about what she learned after the incident.

"When you have the worst thing you can think of in your life happen to you, it makes you look at everything else differently. You have a lot more gratitude," Spears said. "That was a miracle. That should be heard. There's a lot of dark things in this world today, and I think that putting something out there like that, that is so wonderful, is something that should be shared, especially when it made so many changes in a lot of lives for the better."

She's an older sister

Maddie became a big sister on April 11, 2018, when Spears and Watson welcomed their first child together, daughter Ivey Joan Watson.

"Maddie was the first one to meet her after she was born," the Sweet Magnolias actress told PEOPLE shortly after Ivey's birth. She added that Ivey "was so peaceful the moment her sister held her."

"I have never felt more complete in my life," Spears continued, adding, "It's pure joy watching my girls fall in love."

For National Daughter Day in 2021, the actress posted a series of photos of her two girls, including an adorable snap of a young Maddie holding newborn Ivey in her arms and a sweet photo of the duo sleeping face-to-face.

She's an athlete

In addition to being a great student, Maddie is a skilled softball player, which her mom Jamie Lynn bragged about in May 2022.

"Sorryyyy, but I have to do a quick proud parent post for my 4 sport athlete who also kept a 4.0 GPA all year🏃🏼‍♀️👩🏼‍🏫🏅," she wrote alongside a photo of Maddie holding her little sister at school.

Jamie Lynn added, "So proud of her work ethic as an athlete and as a student👏🏻."

Even when she had a broken wrist, Maddie was still named Most Valuable Player for her team, according to an Instagram post by Watson.

"Fresh off a broke wrist, our team got 2nd in the tournament and she got the MVP," he wrote on Instagram in March 2020, alongside a picture of him, Maddie and Spears.

In July 2022, Spears celebrated Maddie's team winning a World Series championship on Instagram.

"WORLD SERIES CHAMPS🏆🥎," she wrote along with a photo of Maddie holding Ivey in one hand and the trophy in the other. "I was once told that some of life's best lessons are learned on a ball field, bc working hard with others to achieve something bigger then oneself will teach you how to be a good teammate in sports AND in life👯‍♀️."

Maddie played in her high school state tournament in October 2022, which her mom watched via live stream as she was away working.

"You're watching the LIVESTREAM of your daughter playing in her high school STATE tournament, & you're a nervous wreck, plus filled with guilt for not being there, but ya can't help it bc you gotta work, but then you watch your girl do hard things in big moments without you right there," Spears wrote on Instagram. "So ya take a deep breath, and realize she's growing up, and you feel so proud of her."

She's in high school

After celebrating her middle school graduation in May 2022, Maddie is officially a high schooler!

She started ninth grade in August 2022, and Spears marked the occasion on Instagram with a sweet throwback photo of her daughter.

"Anddd just like that, my baby's in high school👩🏼‍🏫📚✏️😭," she wrote. "*swipe to see how time literally flies by.....don't take a second of it for granted."

The following month, Maddie attended her first high school homecoming dance, where her mom pulled off a surprise visit to join her daughter for the occasion.

"When ya find out ya have an extra day off work, so ya load up the toddler, drive 7 hours, & get to surprise your oldest for Homecoming weekend🥵" the Zoey 101 alum captioned a series of photos of the teen before the dance, including a snap of Maddie posing with her date. The then-14-year-old wore a purple mini dress with tall white heels, with her date matching in a shiny gray suit with a lavender shirt.

She once tried to be the mediator between her mom and Britney Spears

Amid Spears' fractured relationship with her older sister Britney, her daughter tried to serve as a peacemaker, mediating between the two sisters during an incident.

In a January 2022 interview with Juju Chang, Spears recalled how Britney "cursed" at her and "got in her face" while the family was all quarantining together during the pandemic, which led to a then-12-year-older Maddie trying to step in.

"I just walked out of the rooms. I was like, we're just all family under one roof. I'm not trying to argue," Spears said. "And when I try to remove myself from the situation, that's when I guess she just got really angry and my oldest daughter tried to, you know, mediate the situation."

"I hated that, like, that's not what you're supposed to do. You're 12," the Sweet Magnolias star said of Maddie.

She makes her mama proud

For Maddie's 14th birthday on June 19, 2022, Spears posted a sweet birthday tribute to her older daughter on Instagram along with several photos of her throughout the years.

"I can't believe it. My baby is 14 today, and I'm so thankful for each and every day I get to be her mama, even during these teenage years lol," she wrote, calling Maddie her "saving grace, since the day she was born."

"Seeing how hard she works, how much she cares, and the example she sets for her sister is what makes me so proud to be her mom. I love you, Maddie🤍," Spears added.

Spears celebrated Maddie's birthday on Instagram again the following year, writing alongside a carousel of photos of the mother-daughter duo: "Happy 15th Birthday to my miracle angel baby girl 🤍🤍🤍 thank you, God for making me her mama."

She has a cameo in Zoey 102

Spears confirmed that Maddie and Ivey have roles in her Paramount+ film Zoey 102.

"Having my two girls be a part of this film and get to make their little debut cameo, if you will, it was so special because they got to do it together," she told Entertainment Tonight.

She added: "Just seeing those two worlds collide, it was a really proud moment for me as a mom."

She watched her mom perform on Dancing with the Stars

In September 2023, Maddie, along with her sister Ivey, traveled to Los Angeles to watch her mom's first performance on Dancing with the Stars. Spears shared photos from the family affair on Instagram.

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