Maddie Ziegler, who got her start on Dance Moms in 2011, trashed her former teacher Abby Lee Miller in a recent interview.
Maddie spoke about her time on the show and dancing for Abby at her studio in Pennsylvania in the Fame Issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. She recalled the “toxic environment,” and even claimed she and her family tried to leave Dance Moms for three seasons before finally making their exit in 2016.
Maddie stunned on the cover of the magazine, wearing a giant, puffy, pink and red dress in front of a red background. She held her arms over her head, jutting out her hip. Her hair was worn down in waves, in a middle part, and her makeup was very light and natural.
Maddie Ziegler reflected on her time on Dance Moms
Maddie reflected on what it was like when she finally left Abby’s studio and Dance Moms. As for how Abby felt about it, Maddie said, “She was distraught. For the longest time, we felt so guilty. 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. I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since.” In the footnotes, she said, “I feel at peace.”
Abby, who is notorious for being a dance coach who yells at the children, did not teach good life lessons according to Maddie and put too much pressure on winning. Maddie told the publication, “The pressure of being known as, ‘Oh, she’s the girl that always wins,’ then to not win or to have another girl beat me was the end of the world. Because that’s what I was taught: to not win or to have another girl beat me was the end of the world.”
She continued, “My dance teacher taught that if you don’t get the trophy, if you don’t get the crown, you are less than, which is the worst way to train a kid. It carries into other life lessons.”
Maddie claimed she never watches the show and doesn’t remember a lot
Maddie said in the interview she has never watched the show back, except for the beginning of the first episode with her boyfriend. She even claimed there are many scenes she doesn’t remember if she happens to see one, but claimed she has “dissociated so much from that time.”
Maddie later 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.”
Abby Lee Miller responded to Maddie’s claims in a Youtube video
Abby Lee Miller herself was none too pleased about the interview and posted a Youtube video to her channel on June 16 called Dear Cosmopolitan, responding to Maddie’s claims.
She really took offense to the fact that Maddie claimed she wanted to leave for the last few seasons, saying, “Newsflash: the kids in the original cast never had a contract. The moms had a contract, but the kids, well … they were just kind of there on a handshake.”
Abby continued, “I thought she wanted to be there. … If she said, ‘I don’t want to go, I’m not going,’ kicking and screaming, stomping her feet, I’m sure her mother wouldn’t have brought her — or she would have come and talked to me about it. She never did that.”