Jamie Lynn Spears’ Daughter Maddie Badly Hurt in ATV Accident
Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter Maddie was badly injured in an ATV accident on Sunday (Feb. 5). The 8-year-old's grandfather is asking for prayers for his granddaughter.
TMZ first reported about the incident on Sunday night, saying that Maddie was riding a Polaris off-road vehicle in Kentwood, La., when the ATV flipped over. The website's sources report that the young girl was unconscious and under water for "several minutes," and that she was taken to a nearby hospital. In an update, TMZ added that Maddie was later airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans and is in "critical but stable" condition, per "sources connected with the family."
TMZ’s original report stated that Spears was not with her daughter at the time of her accident, and that Maddie was hunting when the incident occurred; however, per a Monday (Feb. 6) report from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, Spears and her husband, Jamie Watson, along with other family members, were about 100 yards away when Maddie crashed.
Deputies responded to the incident, along Highway 51 in Fluker, La., around 3PM on Sunday, Sheriff's Office officials report. Officials say that Maddie — whom they did not identify in their report — was trying to avoid running over a drainage ditch and overcorrected, running the ATV into a pond.
Spears and Watson, who Maddie’s stepfather, tried to rescue Maddie, but she was trapped by the vehicle’s seatbelt and safety netting. An ambulance arrived within two minutes and freed her, and the report notes that Maddie is in stable but critical condition; shortly following TMZ’s original report on the accident, Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, told ET, “All I can say is, pray for our baby Maddie.”
“Right now,” a rep for Spears’ sister, pop star Britney Spears, added, “the Spears family asks that everyone respect their privacy during this time and appreciates all the prayers and support for their family.”
Jamie Lynn Spears has yet to comment on the accident; she shares custody of Maddie with the girl’s father, Casey Aldridge. Spears became pregnant with Maddie in 2007, at the age of 16; the singer and Aldridge, then girlfriend and boyfriend, got engaged in the spring of 2008, and Maddie was born in June of that year. However, the couple called off their engagement in the spring of 2009, and their relationship officially ended in early 2010. Spears married Watson in 2014.
Spears most recently released a single, "Sleepover," in June of 2016. In addition to releasing music of her own, she's been writing songs for other artists, including Jana Kramer‘s “I Got the Boy.”
The Latest on Jamie Lynn Spears' Daughter
Artists Who Have Suffered Terrible Tragedies