Jamie Lynn Spears gets emotional detailing her daughter's near-fatal ATV accident: 'Everything changed'
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Jamie Lynn Spears got emotional while recalling her daughter’s near-fatal ATV accident.
Spears’ daughter, Maddie Briann Aldridge, was 8 when she was riding an ATV in 2017 and it flipped over into a nearby pond. The impact knocked her unconscious, putting her underwater for several minutes before first responders arrived. She was airlifted to a local hospital and treated for the better part of a week before making a full recovery.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former "Zoey 101" star appeared on Thursday’s episode of "Better Together with Maria Menounos," where she teared up recalling the harrowing experience and how it changed the way she views herself as a parent forever.
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"I’ve never really talked about it publicly," Spears said of the ATV accident. "So, without going into too much detail, we were sitting there watching her with every safety measure that could be taken when she somehow or another, drove into the water."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She explained that she and her husband dove into the water but were unable to bring Maddie up at first.
"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," Spears said, holding back tears. "We thought we lost our daughter."
Spears, who is also mother to 2-year-old daughter Ivey Joan, noted that she’ll always remember the overwhelming feeling of failure that came over her at that moment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There’s nothing worse than looking at your child and just feeling like you’ve failed her," she said. "And I didn’t want her to think that I couldn’t save her, that I didn’t try to save her. That’s my biggest worry."
Jamie Lynn Spears got emotional recalling her daughter's near-fatal 2017 accident. (Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty Images)
Fortunately, a firefighter was able to find a pulse, but Maddie’s situation was still dire. She was airlifted to the hospital and, after a very tense car ride with her husband, Spears arrived and began thinking about the worst-case scenario.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 29-year-old mom of two explained that she suddenly found it very important to get a priest into the ICU to conduct last rites. Doctors eventually allowed her to do so when it looked like her daughter was not going to recover. That’s when everyone in the room got the surprise of their lives.
"It wasn’t looking good. She wasn't responding to anything and so it was not looking good for us," she explained. "He went to, you know, put the oil on her and read the rites and she sat up and started kicking, and her hands started grabbing at all the things. They came and they tied her down. Then she went back into complete.. Whatever. That was our first sign that she was there."
Spears’ daughter went on to make a full recovery, but the mom says that the experience completely changed her life.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"In that moment I just…spiritually, mentally, everything changed," she said. "I’ve faced my worst fear now. What else can I mess up or do wrong that will be as horrible as that? Nothing. There's nothing. God gave me the blessing of giving me my daughter back. I lost her and I got her back."
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She concluded: "So I don't get to make any excuses. I've been given the best, the biggest blessing you can be given. I'm not allowed to waste a day on this earth complaining or being ungrateful."