Maddie, Kenzie Ziegler 'Dance Moms' Quotes: What They've Said

Taking a walk down memory lane! Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler have reminisced about their Dance Moms days many times over the years.

The dynamic sibling dance duo made their debut on the Lifetime reality show during its first season in 2011 and starred alongside their mom, Melissa Gisoni, until departing from the series during season six. While looking back at their Dance Moms days in May 2021, during an interview with Elite Daily, Kenzie asked her sister, “When did you realize we had an unusual childhood?”

Maddie replied, “We got pulled out of school every day to go to dance and film a TV show, so that was not normal at all … And then once we started traveling, people started recognizing us. I remember we were in an ice cream store and someone called our names, and we were so freaked out. Like, how did these people know us? And then we realized, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of attention around our show.'”

Kenzie agreed, noting that she felt like “it was all very stressful as a kid.”

Following their stint as reality stars, the duo both continued their careers in the entertainment world. Maddie continued her career as a dancer thanks to her ongoing gig with Sia. She also kicked off an acting career and has appeared in a few movies, including To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and West Side Story. Kenzie, for her part, has become quite a star on TikTok and even kicked off a pretty successful music career.

“It’s so crazy,” the singer told BBC in June 2020 about her rise to fame. “I mean, my whole childhood was filmed, and my whole life is on screen. It’s definitely been a learning experience.”

While they’ve both learned to deal with life in the public eye on their own terms, both Maddie and Kenzie made the decision to go from competing against each other to becoming best friends.

“Literally our whole lives, we competed. And I was absolutely the competitive one in the family,” Maddie told Elite Daily. Kenzie explained that when they were on the show, she handled the comparisons “pretty badly.”

“I was a bratty kid. We’d be doing interviews, and I’d just be like, ‘I’m not Maddie,’ yelling at you, and you had nothing to do with it,” the songstress shared. “You’re just a good dancer, and we’re sisters, and that was it. But we still get compared to this day. Every sister gets compared, no matter who you are.”

Maddie assured her little sister, saying, “Everyone should be allowed to shine in their own ways. That’s why I was so happy you took [up] singing, because I can’t sing for the life of me. It’s good that we have our own things. We’re allowed to be different.”

Scroll through our gallery to read everything Maddie and Mackenzie have said about their Dance Moms days.

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The Apology

Maddie revealed that her mom apologized to her because of Dance Moms during a June 2023 episode of Emily Ratajkowski‘s podcast, “High Low.”

“Last year, I was having a really bad panic attack, and I called my mom, and things were coming up from the past, and she apologized to me,” she explained. “She was like, ‘I’m so sorry I put you through that.’ It’s so sad because she would never want to hurt us, but none of us knew how crazy it would get.”

Feeling Guilty

In June 2022, she told Cosmopolitan that she felt she needed to leave Dance Moms for her own mental health. “She [Abby] was distraught [when my sister and I left]. For the longest time, we felt so guilty,” she explained. “She trained me, she helped me, but also, I knew I would be OK 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.” She revealed she doesn’t plan on speaking with her former dance teacher ever again. She added, “I feel at peace [now].”

The Public’s Perception

“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,” Maddie told Cosmopolitan in a June 2022 interview, noting that there were “really amazing times, but there were also a lot of things that were really, really not great for us kids.”

Deciding to Quit the Show

“It is hard when you’re really loyal to your dance groups,” Maddie also explained to Cosmo. “I was the most loyal girl there; I just wanted to dance. And I loved competing until it became televised and the drama started. Don’t get me wrong — there’s drama regardless if there are cameras or not! But it was heightened. I started to feel like, ‘It’s so peaceful outside of this world. I can’t be in this.’ My family and I really tried to leave for the last three seasons. But when you’re in a contract, it’s really hard. Eventually, I finally got out.”

Being In the Public Eye

“It’s not a normal experience to grow up at such a young age in the public eye. It’s a lot of pressure. It can be scary. It is a hard thing to cope with,” Maddie said while talking with the Independent in February 2021. “I would not change a thing about it because it’s gotten me to where I am now.”

Kenzie Was ‘Over’ the Show

“In the last few years I was on [Dance Moms], I just didn’t take crap from anyone. I was so bossy and I would talk back and I would get in so much trouble … but I wasn’t very competitive,” she recalled to BBC in June 2020. “I wanted to dance for fun, and everyone else wanted to compete, so I was just over it. I was like, ‘I’m just gonna dance and have fun and you can yell at me if you want.'”