Sweet Magnolias star Jamie Lynn Spears is behind Noreen Fitzgibbons who initially had an affair with Maddie Townsend’s ex-husband

Sweet Magnolias’ Noreen Fitzgibbons has returned for the fourth season but what is there to know about the actress away from the Netflix drama?

Maddie (played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliot) and Helen (Heather Headley) are back gossiping over margaritas once again as the southern belles once again star in the latest series of Sweet Magnolias.

Season four dropped on Thursday, February 6, on Netflix with the entire main cast back for the next 10-episode stint, including naïve neighbour Noreen Fitzgibbons.

And with the heartwarming drama returning, fans are curious to know more about the actress Jamie Lynn Spears who portrays the woman herself.

Teen pregnancy

Born in April, 1991, in McComb, Mississippi, Jamie Lynn was raised in Kentwood to parents Jamie and Lynn Spears and was the youngest of three siblings, her older brother Bryan and singer Britney Spears.

Jamie Lynn became famous in her own right though following her sister’s success when she went on to star in Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 as Zoey Brooks.

But the young celebrity’s life changed forever when she became pregnant at 16 with her now ex-boyfriend Casey Aldridge’s daughter Maddie, who she gave birth to in June 2008.

Actress Jamie Lynn Spears was behind Zoey Brooks in the children’s show Zoey 101. ( 
Image:
NICKELODEON)
While she decided to go through with the pregnancy, not everyone was supportive of her decision.

Opening up on the Better Tomorrow podcast, she said: “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.”

In her 2021 memoir Things I Should Have Said, she explained that her parents “banished” her into isolation after refusing to have an abortion or give up her child for adoption.

She wrote: “Everyone was certain that termination would be the best course of action.

“Everyone around me just wanted to make this ‘issue’ disappear.”

Jamie Lynn also opened up on the experience during her stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, telling fellow campmate Fred Sirieix: “Everybody told me I was going to be a horrible mom.

“So I was like ‘I’ve got to raise this baby by myself’ and I did.”

Conservatorship

Jamie Lynn’s older sister Britney Spears had been in a controversial conservatorship since 2008, which saw their dad Jamie be in legal control of her finances and other aspects of her life.

After publicly testifying about the abusive nature of the arrangement, the conservatorship officially came to an end in November 2021.

Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is the younger sister of singer Britney Spears. ( 
Image:
GETTY)
She defended her involvement in the situation to Good Morning America, explaining: “First off, I don’t understand – when it was put into place, I was a 17-year-old, I was about to have a baby.

“So I didn’t understand what was happening, nor was I focused on that. I was focused on the fact that I was a 17-year-old about to have a baby.

“I understand just as little about it then as I do now.”

Traumatic incident

When Jamie Lynn’s daughter Maddie was eight-years-old, she was in a near fatal incident while driving an ATV on her family’s property, resulting in the vehicle flipping into a pond.

The ATV reportedly “became completely submerged” with the youngster nearly drowning.

According to People, years later, she said: “We dove in and we were able to rescue her. When we were finally able to get her out of the water…and the first responders took from me, we thought she was gone. We thought we lost our daughter.”

Thankfully, first responders were able to perform successful CPR on Maddie and she was rushed to hospital.

Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is married to businessman Jamie Watson who she married in 2014. ( 
Image:
GETTY) 

Husband

The Sweet Magnolias actress is married to businessman Jamie Watson who she met through mutual friends and dated on and off for a few years before getting engaged in 2013.

One year later and the couple tied the knot in a New Orleans wedding ceremony and now share daughter Ivey Joan with Jamie, also the step-dad to Jamie Lynn’s daughter Maddie.

Marking their eighth wedding anniversary on Instagram, the actress wrote: “I was an 18-years-old single mom, when this guy came into my life, he made me laugh more than I ever had before, and his never changing consistency gave me stability for the first time in my life.

“I felt a sense of peace with him, and I think that’s what being in love is supposed to feel like, just feeling at peace.”

Sweet Magnolias is available to watch on Netflix.