LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Maddie Ziegler has opened up about her time on ‘Dance Moms’ in a recent podcast on Monday, June 26, 2023, which can be considered unpleasant at best. The 20-year-old dancer shared with Emily Ratajkowski in her ‘High Low with EmRata’ podcast that the show’s producers completely fabricated her brash persona. While her mother Melissa did apologize to her for putting her through the ordeal, the harrowing experience of her participating in the competition under dancing coach Abby Lee Miller left a mark on her psyche.
Acknowledging that Melissa never wanted to “hurt” her and her sister Mackenzie, Ziegler said they also could not guess “how crazy it would get". She further shared that watching her on-screen character at the viewing party brought her to tears because of her different portrayal as she said, "I remember we watched the first episode at a viewing party for the launch of the show, and I just cried because I was like, 'Oh my gosh. Everyone thinks I'm this bitch, and I'm not. I'm seven!'"
The ‘Dance Moms’ alum said that she had a huge pressure on her because Abby Lee Miller would say, “'You're my girl, so you have to lead everyone to victory every time.’” Talking of the show, Ziegler added, "It was hard...," before adding, "We would do almost 30 episodes a season, so it consumed our lives." However, this is not the first time that Ziegler has opened up about the toxicity of the show as previously also she talked in detail about how the dancers were treated under Abby Lee Miller’s strict tutelage.
'I was sick of being in a toxic environment'
In a 2022 interview with Cosmopolitan, Ziegler, after sharing that her bratty persona was made up by the producers, blamed her coach Abby Lee Miller for being the primary source of her stress. Pointing to the various times when Miller would scold her pupils for losing, Ziegler said, “It’s weird because there were really amazing times, but there were also a lot of things that were really, really not great for us kids.” She added that the children were not allowed to befriend other competitors.
She also shared that despite her family’s attempt to break all ties with the show, they were forced to continue because of their contract. The ‘Ballerina’ star said, “My family and I really tried to leave for the last three seasons,” before adding, “But when you’re in a contract, it’s really hard. Eventually, I finally got out.”
As expected, Miller also did not take Ziegler leaving the show in good faith as she cried for hours and locked herself in a room. The ‘The Fallout’ star said, “She was distraught. For the longest time, we felt so guilty,” and added that she could not thrive in the “toxic environment” anymore. She added, “She trained me, she helped me, but also, I knew I would be okay without her and I was sick of being in a toxic environment.”
Ziegler also revealed that she did not talk to her dance coach after leaving the show and is happy with the decision, “I feel at peace, definitely.”
'I fought with the producers. I fought with the network'
To Ziegler’s Cosmopolitan interview, Abby Lee Miller quipped back with an open letter of her own which she published on her YouTube channel. She started the video by saying “In today’s video, I talk about some recent press,” before continuing that her video was going to be about Maddie. “I’ve said a lot of things over the years. But as proud as I am of Maddie, I must speak from the heart. My love is with my students always. And once a student, always a student,” Miller said.
In the video, she counterclaimed that Maddie and the other children were not actually contract-bound and could leave the show easily. She added, “What I don’t understand about ‘the pressure’ and the ‘toxic situation,’ is if it was so toxic, why did you keep doing it?”
Miller continued quoting Ziegler, “I had to! I tried to quit, many a time! And I was forced to come back to set, because I signed a contract,” before revealing, “But— newsflash!—the kids, the original cast, never had a contract.” She also added that while the children were not included in the contract, their mothers were.
The dance guru shared that she was always on the dancers’ side and had to fight the producers for giving them a better environment. Miller also added that it was she who made it possible for Ziegler to appear in Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ music video as the producers and Lifetime did not want her to go. “I fought with the producers. I fought with the network,” Miller said, adding, “I put my job on the line for a kid. A kid that I loved, to go to something different and exciting.”
Castigating Ziegler for claiming she wasn’t allowed to have friends, Miller said, “I’m a dance teacher. I am not going to tell you who you can and can’t be friends with.” However, she also claimed that Ziegler’s Cosmopolitan interview was about fame, adding, “The article’s all about fame.” She further explained, “Maddie doesn’t remember when she wasn’t famous. But I do,” Abby said, before adding, “I knew that little girl could have a better life, a more exciting life, with an education at the ALDC.”
