Jamie Lynn Spears Says 2017 ATV Accident Led to Last Rites

jamie lynn spears said Wednesday, June 17 that her daughter Maddie survived a 2017 ATV accident after a priest was called to her bedside for last rites. Maddie was 8 years old when the vehicle turned on the Louisiana property she shared with Spears and Jamie Watson, then ended up underwater in a pond.

Spears said she, Watson and her father-in-law ran toward the water while paramedics were called to free Maddie from under the ATV. She said Maddie was not breathing when she came out, and later described the moment as the day she thought she had lost her daughter.

Maddie Underwater in Louisiana

Spears said, “We were watching her, and we still don't quite know if she was dodging a dog or what it was,” before the ATV turned and Maddie went into the pond. She said the scene was “really not a sight anybody wants to see,” a blunt description that fits how fast the family’s afternoon shifted from routine to emergency.

Paramedics pulled Maddie free, and she was airlifted to a hospital, where she remained in a coma for 2 days. Spears said, “At that point, she was not breathing,” and added, “We thought that she had passed.”

The Priest at Her Bedside

A priest was called to Maddie’s bedside to administer her last rites, and Spears said the child physically sat up in her restraints and tubes when he walked in. “He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes,” Spears said. “I'm screaming for the doctors, like ‘Come in here now!' Even the priest was like, 'I've never seen anything like what's happening.' 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.”

That sequence is what separates this from a standard recovery story: Maddie’s survival came after a point when the family believed she had died, and it was the last-rites moment that became the turn. Spears described her daughter as having fought “against all odds,” language that matches the scale of the rescue and the 2-day coma that followed.

Faith After the Accident

Maddie, now 18 years old, said she does not remember the accident. She said her family's faith got “a lot stronger” during her recovery, and added, “In the end, I think such a negative experience affected us positively.”

For readers looking for the practical takeaway, the only clear next step in this story is the family’s own conclusion: Maddie survived a life-threatening accident, and the ordeal reshaped how they talk about faith, fear and recovery years later. Spears’ account now places the most important detail on the record — the morning a priest was asked to perform last rites became the moment the family says everything changed.