Jamie Lynn Spears recalls being “shamed” for getting pregnant while shooting ‘Zoey 101’

Jamie Lynn Spears is reflecting on the public outcry that happened after getting pregnant at 16 while filming her Disney Channel series Zoey 101

“[T]hat was something that I took responsibility for the way that made sense for me,” Spears recalled during the Wednesday, July 26, episode of the Better Tomorrow With Hannah Brown podcast. “That doesn’t make sense for everyone else, but it made sense for me, and the whole world came down and told me I was the worst human alive for doing so, and that every young girl who ever watched my show was going to be ruined because of me and my personal decision.”

“[People were] having the conversation of young girls my age were having sex. And I think people didn’t want that … Of like, this is going on, but a lot of them aren’t getting pregnant,” she added, explaining, “If I would’ve had an abortion, no one would have known about it, but it wouldn’t have changed the fact that I had sex. So I think that was really the bigger conversation, like, ‘Now, young girls are going to want to have sex, or they are.’”

Spears calls returning for her new film, Zoey 102 — which premiered Thursday, July 27 on Paramount+ — a “full-circle moment,” sharing that when her daughter Maddie, now 15, visited set, she said, “‘Wow, Mom, I can’t believe all of these people are here because of your show, and you did that, I’m so proud of you.’”

“And I swear to you that was like the moment that I said, ‘Thank you, God. Thank you so much, that moment makes it all worth it,’” adds Jaimie Lynn.

Spears also shares daughter Ivey, 5, with husband Jamie Watson, whom she married in 2014.