Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler’s Quotes About Their ‘Dance Moms’ Days

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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