Maddie Aldridge, the 17-year-old daughter of Jamie Lynn Spears, is opening up for the first time about the near-fatal ATV accident that left her in a coma at just eight years old. In a candid YouTube video, she shared her memories of the terrifying February 2017 crash in Louisiana, and how she’s learned to see herself as “very blessed” despite the ordeal.
Maddie Aldridge has joked she is “very accident-prone”, nine years after her near-death 'All Terrain Vehicle' (ATV) crash. The former Zoey 101 star’s daughter was just eight when her Polaris RZR 170 flipped into her family’s pond, trapping her underwater and leaving her to almost drown.
This week, she uploaded a video to her YouTube channel in which Maddie said, “I did have an accident though. I was in a coma, and I came back to life, and I’m very blessed. So yeah, I’ve just been very accident-prone. I swear my parents are amazing, and they did not do anything to me!”
The teen also shared that she was “in and out of the hospital” early in life, undergoing “treatments all the time” for various health issues, including severe asthma.
During the 2017 incident, Maddie spent several minutes underwater as Jamie Lynn, now 34, and others fought to free her from the ATV’s safety harness. She was eventually airlifted to the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, where she remained unconscious for several days. Against all odds, she made a full recovery with no signs of neurological damage.
After Maddie spoke about the ordeal in her video, Jamie Lynn praised her daughter’s bravery in a heartfelt Instagram post on Wednesday (August 13th, 2025). Sharing a clip from Maddie’s YouTube channel, she wrote, “What was supposed to be a fun way to document her senior year on YouTube has now turned into a way for her to share the not-so-fun parts of life too."
"You can work so hard, and do everything right, yet still face adversity, no matter what path you’re on in life. You can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can decide how you react to what happens to you."
She continued, "I know being a resilient person is one of the best qualities a human can have, but it’s only earned by having no other choice but to be resilient. Gotta trust God’s plan."
© IG: maddie watson"I’m so proud of this kid, she never lets anything or anyone sit her down, and sharing her journey through it all hopefully inspires others to never stop going hard for what they want out of life.”
