Maddie Ziegler (left) and her mother Melissa Ziegler-Gisoni.Photo:Jon Kopaloff/Getty, Michael Tullberg/Getty
Jon Kopaloff/Getty, Michael Tullberg/Getty
Maddie Zieglerand her mom recently had a healing conversation.
The actress and dancer, 20, revealed during an appearance on theHigh Low with EmRatapodcastthat her mom, Melissa Ziegler-Gisoni, apologized to her for her time onDance Moms.
“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,” Ziegler told hostEmily Ratajkowskiin the podcast’s latest episode, which dropped on Tuesday, perEntertainment Tonight.
“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,” Ziegler added.
TheWest Side Storystar went on to recount some of the uncomfortable experiences she had working on the Lifetime reality series as a young child.
“When I was doing the show, in the first season [in 2011] I was 7, and there were male producers saying, ‘This is what you have to say,’ " she recalled. “My mom wasn’t in the room, so I was like, ‘OK, I just have to do whatever I’m being told.’ They would say, ‘Say you’re the best, say you’re better than everyone else, say blah blah blah.’ "
Maddie Ziegler and mom Melissa Ziegler-Gisoni in 2012.Amanda Edwards/WireImage
Amanda Edwards/WireImage
Because of that coaching, she said she was “was perceived as a little brat in the first season.”
Maddie Ziegler in 2011.Lifetime/Everett
Lifetime/Everett
TheBallerinaactress was so unhappy that she fought to quit the show with the help of her mom and singer and collaborator,Sia. “[My mom] really did everything to try to break our contract and pull us out, and eventually did with the help of Sia,” she said of her exit in 2016. “It was hard … We would do almost 30 episodes a season, so it consumed our lives.”
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Ziegler told Ratajkowski that she remembers very little of the time before she didDance Momsbecause she was so young when the show debuted.
“I’ve blocked out so much of my childhood that I actually don’t know what my life was like even just before working,” she said, adding, “It’s weird to find out things that I did when I was younger on TikTok. I’ll see people posting things of me, and I’m like, ‘I don’t even remember doing that.’ "
Maddie Ziegler in 2023.Corey Nickols/Getty
Corey Nickols/Getty
TheMusicstar has been very open in the past about what she has described as her"toxic” experiencesonDance Moms.
InCosmopolitan’s Issue 4: The Fame Issuelast year, Ziegler recalled the many challenges associated with her time on the reality series — including working alongside Miller, 57, the infamously tough dance coach — and revealed how she felt after ceasing contact with Miller.
“She was distraught [when I left]. For the longest time, we felt so guilty,” she recalled. “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.”
source: people.com
