The “Zoey 101” star’s daughter was 8 when she crashed the vehicle into a pond, leading her to spend two days in a coma.

Jamie Lynn Spears recalls witnessing a ‘miracle’ when priest read her daughter’s ‘last rites’ after ATV accident

The "Zoey 101" star's daughter was 8 when she crashed the vehicle into a pond, leading her to spend two days in a coma.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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June 18, 2026 3:04 p.m. ET

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Jamie Lynn Spears and her daughter, Maddie. Credit:

Jamie Lynn Spears/Instagram

- Jamie Lynn Spears is recalling her daughter's "miracle" recovery from a near-fatal 2017 accident.

- Her daughter, Maddie, was 8 when she crashed her ATV into a pond outside their family home.

- She then spent two days in a coma, during which a priest came to read her "last rites."

Jamie Lynn Spears is unpacking the terror of her daughter's near-fatal 2017 ATV accident.

In a joint interview, Spears and her daughter Maddie, now 18, detailed one of the darkest periods in their lives and how it brought their family closer together. The incident occurred when Maddie was just 8 years old and steering her ATV around the family's Fluker, La., home. After a sharp turn, she crashed the vehicle into a pond.

"She went in the water and me, my father-in-law, my husband [Jamie Watson] ran as fast as we could to go jump in to get her out," Spears recounted to PEOPLE in the interview published Wednesday. "But she was stuck under the ATV."

The* Zoey 101* alum could feel her daughter's arm but was unable to pull her from the water. An ambulance arrived within minutes but when they got Maddie out, Spears said she was "not breathing."

She added, "We thought that she had passed."

Maddie and Jamie Lynn Spears.

Jamie Lynn Spears/Instagram

But the family returned home when a firefighter announced that he had found a pulse. Maddie was then airlifted to a nearby hospital and spent two days in a coma. Eventually, a priest was called in to administer last rites — a Catholic practice typically reserved for someone who is gravely ill or nearing death. But when the priest arrived, Spears said they bore witness to a miracle.

"He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes," Spears shared. "I'm screaming for the doctors, like ‘Come in here now!'"

She noted that even the priest was stunned, telling her, "'I've never seen anything like what's happening.'"

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Spears continued, "I knew she was in there and felt all of us praying. We were given a miracle, and I don't take it for granted."

While Maddie doesn't recall the details of the accident herself, she shared that in the wake of her near-death experience, their "faith got a lot stronger. She added, "In the end, I think such a negative experience affected us positively."

Jamie Lynn Spears.

Jamie Lynn Spears/Instagram

The accident also left another lasting impact on the family. Before the incident, Maddie had begged Jamie Lynn to give her "a little sibling." So during her two-day coma, Spears said she began "bargaining with God, like, 'Take my arm, take my leg. I don't care. Just give me my baby back.' "I was like, 'I'll have a baby. I'll have whatever you want.'"

When Maddie woke and again asked her mother about a little sibling, Spears said, "I was like, 'Oh, He's already calling in.'"

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Spears and Watson welcomed daughter Ivey, now 8, the following year. (Spears, who wed Watson in 2014, shares Maddie with ex-fiancé Casey Aldridge.)

Spears told PEOPLE that looking back on the incident now, "We always say she just went up to heaven to go pick out her little sister."

Since the frightening accident, Maddie has gotten back on an ATV after Jamie Lynn gifted her a new one for Christmas last year.

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