Highlights
- Kenzie Ziegler and sister Maddie faced trauma and anxiety from their time on
Dance Moms
due to Abby Lee Miller’s harsh teaching methods. - Both sisters chose not to attend the reunion, not wanting to relive the traumatic experiences from their childhood on the show.
- Kenzie Ziegler spoke out about how being on the show led to trauma and anxiety as an adult.
Lifetime’s hit reality TV show Dance Moms, about nonsense dance coach Abby Lee Miller and her young dancers took the world by storm. However, there was a glaring issue with the series, with the most obvious one being Abby. Her teaching methods were controversial and several of her former dancers have since come forward to share how their experience at the Abby Lee Dance Company negatively affected them.
MacKenzie Zielger, who now goes by Kenzie, was only six when she starred in Dance Moms. Kenzie and her older sister, Maddie Ziegler, were OG dancers on the series, starring in the first six seasons. However, Kenzie and Maddie were both absent from the show’s reunion (Abby was also not present), and it had a lot to do with the fact that they didn’t want to relive their time on Dance Moms. With an entirely new Dance Mom’s reboot set to premiere on Hulu, Kenzie has since opened up about the trauma she experienced since starring on the show and how she’s learning to move on.
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Kenzie Ziegler Was Left Feeling Traumatized
Kenzie and Maddie Ziegler were 6 and 8 when they starred in Season 1 of Dance Moms. Along with other young dancers, they would train and compete in dance competitions under Abby Lee Miller, who was known for her harsh and strict teaching methods. The infamous dance coach would even make dancers cry and had several nasty confrontations with the mother’s of her dancers.
Both Kenzie and Maddie left the show after Season 6 to pursue other projects. But, being on Dance Moms under the tutelage of Abby still impacts these sisters today. In a July interview with Cosmopolitan, Kenzie revealed that she had a tough time rewatching the show because she didn’t want to relive it. In addition, Kenzie shared that being on Dance Moms resulted in her dealing with anxiety as an adult.
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Dance Moms Most Famous Alums | What They Are Doing Now? |
|---|---|
Kenzie Ziegler | Singer |
Maddie Ziegler | Actress |
JoJo Siwa | Actress/Singer |
Chloe Lukasiak | Actress/Influencer |
Nia Sioux | Actress/Influencer |
Kendall Vertes | Influencer |
“I recently watched an episode for the first time – I’ve never watched it before. … I don’t remember a lot from it because I started when I was 6 years old. That was my childhood. I never went to middle or high school or did any normal kid things. So, looking back at it, I feel sad for myself because I never got to experience real life,” Kenzie said.
“I mentally feel like I’m 45 because I’ve lived so many lives. I had to grow up quickly.”
Kenzie and her sister were also not at the Dance Moms reunion, which premiered in May. The girls that did attend included famous faces like JoJo Siwa, Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes, and Kalani Hilliker. Fans questioned why Kenzie and Maddie chose not to attend, with speculations that they didn’t want to relive those experiences or had a falling out with other dancers.
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Kenzie addressed her reasoning behind her no-show with Cosmopolitan, and added that there was no bad blood between her and her former co-stars:
“Personally, I just dealt with a lot of trauma from that show and I have the worst anxiety from it. I would’ve loved to be with the girls. But I also didn’t want to sit on television and watch a traumatic part of my life that is so far from me now.”
Although Kenzie spoke about the negative effects of being on Dance Moms, she did admit to Cosmopolitan that she had grown “such thick skin” because of it. She also admitted that she and her sister Maddie are so far removed from the show because it occurred when they were just kids. They’ve since established their own careers, with Kenzie focusing on her singing career, and Maddie continuing to nab acting roles.
Maddie Ziegler Also Spoke Out Against Abby Lee Miller
Maddie Ziegler has spoken out about how her mental health was negatively impacted by the series and coach Abby. During an interview with Emily Ratajkowski on her High Low with EmRata podcast, the former Dance Moms star admitted that not only was she left traumatized after starring in the show, but she was fed lines by producers who told her to say things like, “Say you’re the best, say you’re better than every one else.” Making Maddie sound like a villain and a brat, although she was just a kid.
“I’ve blocked out so much of my childhood that I actually don’t know what my life was like even just before working.
Like Kenzie, Maddie also dealt with hardships as an adult, telling Emily on her podcast that she suffers from panic attacks. “Last year, I was having a really bad panic attack and I called my mom and things were coming up from my past, and she apologized to me.”
In her own Cosmopolitan interview in 2022, Maddie noted that her family even tried to leave Dance Moms but were obligated to be on the show because of their contract. In addition, Maddie has never spoken to coach Abby since departing in Season 6.
“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.”
Asked by Cosmopolitan if she rewatched her episodes of Dance Moms, Maddie simply stated, “Never.”
Hopefully, speaking out against Dance Moms helps both Kenzie and Maddie heal from their trauma. Thankfully, they have one another to lean on and have focused their attention on their booming careers.
