Jamie Lynn Spears fights back tears over ’emotional’ family news

Jamie Lynn Spears got emotional as she celebrated her eldest daughter Maddie’s graduation on Monday, in a major milestone for the 17-year-old. The mother of two took to Instagram to share several snaps from the special day, including a photo of her standing with Maddie in her full graduation garb. 

The high schooler stood half a head taller than her mother, who wore a black minidress with white ruffles around the neckline and shoulders, paired with pointed black heels. Her daughter was stunning in a black dress, with her graduation gown and hat over the top and her long blonde locks styled in sleek curls. 

“She did it!!! GRADUATED w/ honors, and we couldn’t be more proud,” Jamie Lynn wrote in the caption, before adding that she was “a little emotional too, but mostly proud”.

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Maddie also posed alongside her eight-year-old sister, Ivey, in one photo, and with her grandmother, Lynne Spears, in another shot. Jamie Lynn’s father, Jamie Spears, was also in attendance at the event in a wheelchair, following his leg amputation in December 2023. 

Jamie Lynn’s nephew and her sister Britney Spears’ son, Sean Preston, also came to support his cousin on her big day, although the pop superstar was nowhere to be seen.

Jamie Lynn and Britney have shared a fraught relationship over the years, particularly since the “Toxic” singer’s conservatorship ended in 2021. Despite trading barbs on social media and in their respective memoirs, Jamie Lynn shared with People that she will always be there for her.  

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“I love and I support my sister, and I always will. It’s very clear that this has been a painful process, and I have to respect however she works through that,” she said. “This is a complicated situation. It gets to a certain point where you can’t help someone who doesn’t want you to.” 

Learn more about Jamie Lynn and Britney’s relationship below…

Meanwhile, Jamie Lynn’s family dynamic is set to change as Maddie prepares for her next step after graduation. The 35-year-old shares her eldest daughter with her ex-fiancé, Casey Aldridge, and was still starring on the hit teen series Zoey 101 when she discovered she was pregnant. 

The pair split in 2010, less than two years after Maddie was born, and Jamie Lynn went on to marry businessman Jamie Watson in 2014. Together, they welcomed their daughter Ivey in April 2018. 

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Jamie Lynn shared insight into her emotions on social media as she prepared to send Maddie off into the world. “Welp…the grad invites are sent, the cap and gown arrived, and the last regular day of school is here,” she wrote on Instagram. “I guess the lovely state of denial that I forced myself to be in has to end, [because] the reality of time is coming at me like a freight train.” 

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She continued: “It’s bittersweet, [because] you’re so proud of everything they have accomplished this far, and so excited to watch everything that their future will bring, while also longing for them to stay your baby forever.”

“I know I’m one of the luckiest mamas in the world, so I’ll stop my rambling now, until I completely lose it on graduation day.”