- Jamie Lynn Spears spoke about the criticism she received when she became pregnant at 16 years old.
- Spears, who was starring on "Zoey 101," was told that she "ruined" the show for young girls.
Jamie Lynn Spears said that she was called "the worst human alive" for getting pregnant at 16 while starring on "Zoey 101," and was blamed for ruining the Nickelodeon show for young girls.
"I didn't want to let anybody down, but I had to do what was right for me," Spears said on the latest episode of the podcast "Better Tomorrow With Hannah Brown," released on Wednesday.
Spears, who grew up in the spotlight thanks to the career of her older sister Britney Spears, achieved fame of her own when she landed the role of Zoey Brooks on the sitcom "Zoey 101," which lasted for four seasons between 2005 and 2008. Spears said that the public perception of her swiftly changed when she announced her pregnancy in December 2007.
The cancellation of "Zoey 101" was believed to be because of Spears' pregnancy, but the star told People TV in 2016 that she wasn't under contract at the time.
Spears, who welcomed a daughter named Maddie in 2008 with then-boyfriend Casey Aldridge, told Brown that she "took responsibility" for her actions in a way that "made sense for me."
"That doesn't make sense for everyone else, but it made sense for me and the whole world came down and told me I was the worst human alive for doing so and that every young girl who ever watched my show was going to be ruined because of me and my personal decision," she said.
"The whole world turned on me when I was just 16 because I decided to make a choice about my body as a young girl and what I wanted to do," Spears added.
Spears stopped acting when she became pregnant and relocated to a city in the "middle of nowhere" in Mississippi. She didn't have a cell phone and lived on a strict budget for several years.
She said that for the first eight to 10 years of Maddie's life, she was "obsessive" about being a good mother so that haters wouldn't get satisfaction.
"Even if it was the hardest thing in the whole entire world at times, I was determined to not fail or not be the mom that they said I was gonna be," she said.
The "Sweet Magnolias" star said that living a normal life was important, especially during a time when she "was being shamed as a woman for making a choice about my own life, and on a public scale."
Spears returned to acting in 2020, starring on the Netflix series "Sweet Magnolias." Most recently, she reprised her role as Zoey for "Zoey 102," a film sequel for Paramount+.
Spears and her husband Jamie Watson, who have been married since 2014, welcomed a second daughter named Ivey in 2018. The star said that she's "thankful" that her kids can "see their mom working and succeeding when I was told I wasn't going to."
Spears also said that she believes that nowadays, the media wouldn't be as harsh about teen pregnancy as they were toward her 15 years ago.
"In these times, there would never be a news cover story in every magazine in the world telling you that you are a slut and your life is ruined and you're never going to be anything because of the fact that you had a baby," she said. "They wouldn't allow that in today's world, but that's the times we were in. I am just so thankful that my 15-year-old gets to see her mother working, doing what she loves."