Jamie Lynn Spears wants Zoey 101 fans to come follow her to the truth.
Nearly two decades after the Nickelodeon show’s series finale, the actress set the record straight on the longtime rumor that her getting pregnant with her now 18-year-old daughter Maddie at 16 was the reason why Zoey 101 ended.
“If we’re talking about a concrete misconception, it would be that everybody thinks Zoey ended because I got pregnant,” Spears shared on the Aug. 18 episode of the Momarchy podcast. “And that is not true.”
As the 35-year-old emphasized, production on the fourth and final season of Zoey 101—which ran from 2004 to 2008—had already been completed before she got pregnant with Maddie, whom she shares with ex Casey Aldridge. However, it didn’t air until May 2008, months after she announced her pregnancy.
“That’s how it is in entertainment. A lot of people who aren’t in the business don’t understand,” Spears explained. “They think we shoot it, it comes out. No, you shoot it and it comes out maybe the next year or something.”
“That’s where people are confused,” she continued. “But we were wrapped, we were always wrapped, and there was never going to be another season.”
Spears—who welcomed Maddie in June 2008—stressed that her daughter is not to blame, sharing with a smile, “My beautiful Maddie is not the reason the show ended.”
And despite the many years of confusion, the Sweet Magnolias actress—also mom to daughter Ivey, 8, with husband Jamie Watson—and Maddie are able to find humor in the whole situation.
As Spears explained, Maddie—who recently graduated high school—receives comments on TikTok from fans accusing her of being the reason behind Zoey 101's cancelation.
“[Her] top comments are always, ‘You’re the reason Zoey’s over!’” Spears shared. “We laugh about it. You got to laugh at these things, because it’s pretty funny some of the things they say to her. But it’s just not the truth.”
And when Spears reprised her role as Zoey, reuniting with her former costars Erin Sanders, Sean Flynn, Matthew Underwood, Christopher Massey, Abby Wilde and Jack Salvatore, in the 2023 follow-up TV movie Zoey 102, she was given the opportunity to do it with her daughters by her side. After all, both Maddie and Ivey made cameos in the film, which she described as a “special moment.”
"Just seeing those two worlds collide, it was a really proud moment for me as a mom," Spears told Entertainment Tonight in a July 2023 interview. "[Maddie] told me she liked what she saw—the set and saw the production and what it was. She was like, 'Mom, I can't believe that they're all here because this is the movie that you've created.’”
For a look back at Spears’ sweet family moments with her daughters over the years, keep reading…
In November 2024, Jamie Lynn Spears announced that Maddie Watson—who she shares with ex Casey Aldridge—has committed to playing college softball with the University of Southern Mississippi. She shared a photo of herself and Maddie visiting the campus with husband Jamie Watson, with whom she shares daughter Ivey Watson.
"I can remember it like it was just yesterday, as the whole world watched and judged as I made the choice to have my baby at 16 years old," Jamie Lynn—who became pregnant with Maddie when she was a teenager—wrote in a November 2024 Instagram post. "Fast fwd to today, and that same little baby girl is now 16 years old herself announcing that she will be going to play D1 ball for an amazing college."
Jamie Lynn perfectly coordinated with daughters Maddie and Ivey during homecoming in September 2024.
The actress was joined by her daughters on the set of Zoey 102 in 2023.
Jamie Lynn and Maddie celebrated Ivey's kindergarten graduation in May 2024.
Maddie looked all grown up posing next to her mom and her date before her junior prom in April 2024.
"I know motherhood is one of the hardest job at times, and how the mother/child relationships can be really complicated as well," Jamie Lynn captioned this throwback photo on Mother's Day 2023. "I really try to not take any of it for granted though, even when the kids or my mom are making me lose my mind."
Jamie Lynn celebrated Easter 2023 with her husband and two daughters.
The Sweet Magnolias actress said she drove seven hours to surprise Maddie at her homecoming in 2022, writing on Instagram, "Nothing else I’d rather do & Nowhere else I’d rather be."
Jamie Lynn proved that a mom's job is never done in this 2020 snap, which she captioned: "Been making hotels and buses all around the world feel like home since I can remember, and now I get to make those same kind of memories with my girls."
In October 2016, Jamie Lynn brought Maddie to witness her receive an award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International for her work on the Jana Kramer smash hit "I Got the Boy."
The family celebrates Maddie and her softball team's 2019 SEAA World Series win in July 2019.