When Jamie Lynn Spears looks back on the darkest moment of her life, she doesn’t just remember fear—she remembers what she believes was a miracle.
The former “Zoey 101” star is opening up about her daughter Maddie’s devastating 2017 ATV accident, revealing that a Catholic priest was called to administer last rites after the then-8-year-old slipped into a coma following the near-fatal crash.
Speaking with People, Spears recalled the terrifying hours after Maddie drove a Polaris ATV into a pond at her stepfather Jamie Watson’s family home in Fluker, Louisiana. Authorities said Maddie had attempted to avoid a drainage ditch before the vehicle plunged into the water. Spears, her husband, and her father-in-law rushed into the pond to rescue her, but Maddie was trapped beneath the ATV.
“We were watching her, and we still don’t quite know if she was dodging a dog or what it was,” Spears said. “She went in the water and me, my father-in-law and my husband ran as fast as we could to go jump in to get her out, but she was stuck under the ATV.”
After being rescued, Maddie remained in a coma for two days. As doctors fought to save her life, Spears said a priest was brought in to perform last rites, a sacred Catholic tradition typically reserved for those believed to be nearing death.
Then everything changed.
“Following much prayer,” Spears recalled hearing a firefighter suddenly shout that Maddie had a pulse. What happened next left everyone in the room stunned.
“He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes,” Spears told People. “I’m screaming for the doctors, like, ‘Come in here now!’ Even the priest was like, ‘I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening.’ I knew she was in there and felt all of us praying. We were given a miracle, and I don’t take it for granted.”
She added, “Against all odds, this baby girl fought to be here.”
For Spears, the experience permanently changed her perspective on faith. Although Maddie, now 18, has no memory of the accident, her mother says the ordeal strengthened their family’s trust in God.
“I feel like our faith got a lot stronger,” Spears said. “In the end, I think such a negative experience affected us positively.”
The frightening episode also influenced a major family decision. Spears shared that Maddie had long wanted a younger sibling, and while her daughter lay unconscious, the actress found herself desperately bargaining with God.
“‘Take my arm, take my leg. I don’t care. Just give me my baby back,” she remembered praying. “‘I’ll have a baby. I’ll have whatever you want.'”
After Maddie awoke from the coma, she had one unforgettable question for her mother: “You going to give me that baby?”
Spears kept that promise. In 2018, she and Watson welcomed daughter Ivey Joan, giving Maddie the little sister she had hoped for.
Stories like Maddie’s remind believers why faith often grows strongest in life’s most difficult moments. While doctors and first responders played a critical role in her recovery, Spears remains convinced that countless prayers carried her daughter through a situation that once seemed impossible.