Jamie Lynn Spears Talks 'Personal' Decision To Quit Acting After Getting Pregnant

Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is opening up about her "personal" decision to step away from the cameras when she got pregnant at 15.

Although she stepped away from "Zoey 101" to focus on her family, the younger sister of pop star Britney Spears," first made her Hollywood comeback with a role in "Sweet Magnolias" before returning to "Zoey 102," which will be released on Thursday.

On Wednesday's episode of the "Better Tomorrow" podcast, the 32-year-old actress reflected on what it was like getting pregnant at fifteen, telling host Hannah Brown, "That was something I took responsibility for the way that made sense for me." She quit her Nickelodeon show, "Zoey 101," which ran from 2005 to 2008, and decided to get a fresh start in the "middle of nowhere" Mississippi.

She revealed that she actually got rid of her cell phone and only communicated with others through a "house phone." That being said, she still wanted as little contact with the outside world as possible. “I was like, ‘No one call me,’ [and] I put myself on a budget,” she explained. “I had a budget for, like, 10 years that I lived very strictly by and I just wanted to be normal and I just really wanted to be away.”

Although this is the way that she preferred to live her life, she admitted that she was facing constant scrutiny from the media for her decisions. “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,” she said.

Even though she was away from Hollywood cameras, she was still afraid to go into stores worrying that she might be recognized and photographed. “Interacting with people like that on a daily basis makes you have a much different outlook whenever a newspaper writes a bad headline about you that’s not true. Like, you know what, that doesn’t matter. These are the people that matter,” she recalled.

In June 2008, Jamie Lynn welcomed her daughter Maddie, now 15, with her ex-boyfriend, Casey Albridge. She also welcomed a second daughter, Ivey Joan, 5, with her husband, Jamie Watson, who she married in 2014. With the upcoming release of "Zoey 102," the "All That" actress has been opening up more and more about her private life, including her relationship with her older sister, Britney Spears.

The two sisters were embroiled in a public social media feud following the release of her memoir, “Things I Should Have Said,” which resulted in Britney calling her sister “scrum” in a since-deleted post. Jamie Lynn recently reflected on their feud in an interview with Variety, saying, “If I learned anything from last year, being so open and feeling like I had to defend myself at times, I don’t feel like there’s anything else that I need to say.”

“I just have to leave it where it is because those conversations are meant to be personal. All I can focus on now is my girls, my husband, and the work that I’m doing,” she added. Although she said that the situation “makes me sad” and teared up, she emphasized the importance of not letting her older daughter, Maddie, share those same emotions.

“I don’t want my daughter to feel that way. So I have to say I will absolutely not allow my children — especially my oldest daughter, who was very affected by all of it — I will not allow her to feel this way in her life,” she said. “My strength is out of the love for my children and wanting to make sure that I don’t give way to anything other than what I know to be authentic and true. It was hard, but at the end of the day, look where I am now.”

When asked if she would ever share the stage with Britney again, Jamie Lynn replied, “I think right now I’m really just focused on me and what I’m doing,” adding, “I’ve worked very hard to be able to be a part of shows like ‘Sweet Magnolias.’ And then fighting hard to bring back a character from my childhood. That is all I can think about right now because my dreams are coming true.”

“Zoey 102” will become available to stream on Paramount+ on July 27.