Why Dance Moms' Maddie Ziegler Has Never Watched A Full Episode Of The Show
Maddie Ziegler might've been the rising star of Lifetime's hit series "Dance Moms," but she has no interest in reliving the glory days of her childhood. In a 2017 interview with People, Ziegler revealed that she's never watched a full episode of the show that took up five years of her life, starting when she was only 8 years old.
"We lived through it, so I feel like we don't have to watch it," the dancer told People. "And it was just so much drama that I don't want to see it again." Ziegler went on to say that she doesn't enjoy watching herself on-screen, citing her hypercritical tendency to over-analyze what she says and her facial expressions while on camera.
And while it's hard to believe someone who performs so effortlessly would struggle with revisiting her past work or TV appearances, it makes sense that Ziegler would want to distance herself from the tumultuous storylines of the cult-classic Lifetime show.
Maddie Ziegler says her superstar persona did more harm than good
Maddie Ziegler, older sister to fellow "Dance Moms" star Mackenzie Ziegler, was largely considered one of Abby Lee Miller's favorite students. Show narratives often centered around Maddie's exceptional success, particularly in comparison to her sister. But despite this top-tier status, Ziegler said it was more of a burden than a boost.
"When I was working on the show, I was seen as the lead dancer or the most well-treated dancer," Ziegler recalled on an episode of Emily Ratajkowski's podcast, "High Low." "Looking back — and a lot of people have started to say this — it's like, 'Well, she actually had the most pressure on her,' because she was like, 'You're my golden girl, so you have to lead everyone to victory every time,' which is just not sustainable."
In an effort to emphasize Ziegler's wünderkind status, the dancer claims that "Dance Moms" producers coached her to act like a brat on the show. "People thought I was a brat because, in all my interviews, I would say, 'I'm the best. I know I'm going to win.' But that's because the producer was telling me to say that. I don't think I'm better than everyone else. I was just doing whatever they told me to do because I thought that's what you did. They set you up for failure," Ziegler told Cosmopolitan in 2022.
The dancer and actress has largely dissociated from that time in her life
Maddie Ziegler might have been an Abby Lee Dance Company favorite, but Ziegler's relationship with teacher Abby Lee Miller now is all but non-existent. The dancer wanted to quit "Dance Moms" way before her Season 6 departure, and when she finally did, she didn't stay in touch with her militant former teacher. Regarding her connection with Miller, Ziegler told Us Weekly "We don't keep in contact" in 2018. And in fact, Ziegler makes a concerted effort not to revisit that rocky period.
"I've blocked out so much of my childhood that I actually don't know what my life was like, even just before working," Ziegler told Emily Ratajkowski on the "High Low" podcast. The former "Dance Moms" star shared how surreal it feels to stumble upon videos of the Lifetime show on social media, saying that she often doesn't remember ever doing or saying the things she sees in the clips.
Ziegler has, however, shared a snippet of the series with her ex, Eddie Benjamin. "I watched a little bit of an episode from the very beginning to show my boyfriend because I was like, 'You cannot watch this, but I'll show you what I looked like,'" Ziegler told Cosmopolitan. "And we both were like, 'This is sad. We need to turn this off.'"