Abby Lee Miller Says Former Student Maddie Ziegler Wants ‘Nothing To Do’ With Her: ‘It’s Sad’
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Abby Lee Miller confirmed that Maddie Ziegler isn’t invited to appear on her new dance show, after Maddie dissed her former coach in an interview last year.
Abby Lee Miller and Maddie Ziegler‘s relationship is still non-existent over six years after Maddie quit Dance Moms. Abby Lee, 57, did a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight and confirmed that Maddie, 20, will “definitely not” appear in the new version of Dance Moms that is in the works. Abby Lee said that Maddie “absolutely wants nothing to do with me and that’s sad, but it is what it is.” Abby Lee’s working on a new iteration of the hit reality show, and while Maddie clearly won’t be in the mix, Abby Lee did promise that another Dance Moms alum, JoJo Siwa, 19, could “absolutely” make an appearance in the new show.
Fans of Dance Moms will remember that Maddie was one of the biggest stars on the Lifetime show, and she used that fame to achieve worldwide stardom after she quit the reality show in 2016. Maddie dabbled in modeling, authored a dance-themed trilogy of books, and acted in films like Sia’s directorial debut Music and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story. Her career has truly boomed, but it came at the cost of her relationship with Abby Lee.
Last year, Maddie recalled how “distraught” Abby Lee was when she decided to leave Dance Moms. “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,” Maddie said in a June 2022 interview with Cosmopolitan. “I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since. I feel at peace.”
In that same interview, Maddie revealed she tried leaving the show for three seasons before she finally quit. “When you’re in a contract, it’s really hard. Eventually, I finally got out,” she said, before mentioning how the drama just became too much for her to handle. “I started to feel like, ‘It’s so peaceful outside of this world. I can’t be in this,’ ” Maddie said.
Abby Lee reacted to Maddie’s interview and said she was “heartbroken” about her former student’s remarks. “Spending hours, days, weeks and years together in a crazy reality TV show environment, we became like family,” Abby Lee told TMZ.
Now, Abby Lee is focused on creating a new version of Dance Moms all these years later. She told ET that the show, which won’t be on Lifetime, is going to be great. “This is all new. It’s classic Abby Lee Miller, but there are little ones and their moms, and the talent is nuts,” she teased.