Jamie Lynn Spears says she wants to set the record straight for "Zoey 101" fans.
Spears, 35,addressed the long-standing rumor that her pregnancy at 16 was the reason why the Nickelodeonshow ended.
"I would say though, if we're talking about like a concrete misconception, it would be that everybody thinks that 'Zoey' ended because I got pregnant," Spears said in an Aug. 18 appearance on the "Momarchy" podcast. "And that is not true."
Spears played Zoey Brooks, the ultimate girl next door navigating life (and love) at a Southern California boarding school, for the entirety of the show's run. The season finale aired in May 2008, one month before she welcomed her daughter Maddie with ex-fiancé Casey Aldridge.
According to Spears, the truth is a lot
simpler.
"We were done shooting, completely done shooting but the rest of the season I guess you know, hasn't aired and that's how it is in entertainment. A lot of people who aren't in the business don't understand. They think we shoot it, it comes out. No, you shoot it, and it comes out like maybe the next year or something.
"So, I think that's where people were confused but we were wrapped, we were always wrapped, and there was never going to be another season. And so, my beautiful beautiful Maddie is not the reason the show ended."
Jamie Lynn Spears get 'kick out of' all 'Zoey 101' comments
The "Sweet Magnolias" star and Maddie, now 18, get a good chuckle from all of the "Zoey 101" fanatics who comment on her daughter's TikTok videos.
Instead of getting angry with fans who say her pregnancy was the reason the show ended, Spears and her daughter laugh off the comments.
"I've said it probably in every interview I've ever done and people still, they don't understand it," Spears said. "My daughter, my 18-year-old, she does TikTok and all this stuff. She's like, 'Oh, my top comments are always like, 'You're the reason 'Zoey's' over. You're the reason.'"
Spears added: "And we laugh about it cuz you know they're pretty; you got to like laugh at these things cuz like it's pretty funny some of the things they say to her. But it's just not the truth."
Spears can understand fans' "confusion" about the timing of it all, but she also finds it "funny, like we really get a kick out of the comments about it. They're like pretty hilarious."
Spears got the chance to reprise her role and reunite with some of her "Zoey 101" costars in the follow-up TV movie "Zoey 102," which premiered on Paramount+ in July 2023. Her daughters Maddie and Ivey, 9, both made cameos in the film.
"Just seeing those two worlds collide, it was a really proud moment for me as a mom," Spears told Entertainment Weekly in an interview tied to the film's release. "[Maddie] told me she liked what she saw - the set and saw the production and what it was. She was like, 'Mom, I can't believe that, like, they're all here because this is the movie that you've created.'"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jamie Lynn Spears says pregnancy didn't end 'Zoey 101'
