Jamie Lynn Spears is shutting down the infamous rumors that Zoey 101 ended because of her pregnancy at age 16.
“If we’re talking about a concrete misconception, it would be that everybody thinks Zoey 101 ended because I got pregnant. And that is not true,” Spears, 35, said during her Tuesday, August 18, appearance on the “Momarchy” podcast.
Spears added that her eldest daughter, Maddie, 18, often gets comments on TikTok from fans of the Nickelodeon sitcom claiming that she’s the reason it was canceled after four seasons.
“We laugh about it,” the Sweet Magnolias star continued. “But it’s just not the truth.”
Spears explained that Zoey 101 had already finished filming by the time she got pregnant, but the final season had not yet aired on TV.
“That’s how it is in entertainment. A lot of people who aren’t in the business don’t understand. They think we shoot it, it comes out,” she said. “No, you shoot it and it comes out maybe the next year or something. So I think that’s where people are confused. But we were wrapped, we were always wrapped, and there was never going to be another season.”
Spears concluded, “My beautiful Maddie is not the reason the show ended.”
Zoey 101 starred Spears as the titular Zoey Brooks, a student at Pacific Coast Academy, a prestigious Southern California boarding school that previously allowed only boys to attend. The series also starred Paul Butcher, Sean Flynn, Kristin Herrera, Christopher Massey, Alexa Nikolas, Erin Sanders, Matthew Underwood, Victoria Justice and Austin Butler.
Zoey 101 premiered on Nickelodeon in January 2005 and ran until May 2008. The fourth and final season ended production in August 2007 — two months before the show’s staff learned about Spears’ pregnancy with Maddie, whom she shares with ex Casey Aldridge. (The cast later reunited for a follow-up film called Zoey 102 in 2023.)
Spears announced her pregnancy in a December 2007 interview with OK! Magazine.
“I can’t say it was something I was planning to do right now,” she told the outlet at the time. “But now that it’s in my lap and that it’s something I have to deal with, I’m looking forward to being the best mom I can be.”
Spears was 17 years old at the time of Maddie’s birth in June 2008, while Aldridge was 19.
Following her split from then-fiancé Aldridge, Spears moved on with husband Jamie Watson. The pair tied the knot in 2014 and welcomed daughter Ivey in 2018.
Earlier this year, Spears paid tribute to Maddie as she graduated from high school and reflected on watching her daughters grow up.
“Having the privilege of watching your children grow up is one of the most beautiful & fulfilling things we can experience as humans, and I am so grateful for each every up & down moment throughout the journey of motherhood this far,” she wrote via Instagram in April. “It’s bittersweet, bc you’re so proud of everything they have accomplished this far, and so excited to watch everything that their future will bring, while also longing for them to stay your baby forever.”
