Jamie Lynn Spears Recalls Daughter’s Harrowing ATV Accident: ‘We Thought We Lost Our Daughter’
Jamie Lynn Spears is opening up about the frightening details of her daughter Maddie's ATV accident in 2017.
In a recent episode of the video series Better Together With Maria Menounos, the actress and country singer emotionally recalls her eldest daughter's near-death experience. In February 2017, 9-year-old Maddie was driving an ATV on the family's property in Kentwood, La., when it flipped and submerged under water in a nearby pond.
In the interview, Spears reveals that she and her husband, Jamie Watson, had utilized "every safety measure that could be taken" when the accident occured, and though first responders were able to remove Maddie from the water, she was expecting the worst outcome.
"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," she explains (quote via People). "That moment, I felt everything that you can feel, I think, as far as the worst. 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."
Maddie was immediately airlifted to a nearby hospital. Spears says the situation was "not looking good for us," prompting her to ask a priest to come to Maddie's room in the ICU to read her the last rites. But in the middle of the ritual, Maddie began making sudden movements.
"He went to 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. That was our first sign that she was there," Spears recalls.
Maddie, who is now 11, has since made a full recovery, and the terrifying experience has instilled a new sense of gratitude in Spears.
"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," she reflects. "So I don't get to make any excuses. I've been given the best, biggest blessing you can be given. I'm not allowed to waste a day on this earth complaining or being ungrateful."
Spears commemorated the three-year anniversary of the accident with an Instagram post in February 2020.
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