Maddie Ziegler is best-known for the reality
series Dance Moms and her memorable appearances
in several Sia music videos, but there's a
lot more to her than just dance.
In 2017, at age 14, she added best-selling
author to her already impressive resume.
According to Yahoo, the Pittsburgh native
started dancing when she was just 2 years
old.
She later scored a spot at the Abby Lee Dance
Company, whose students, and their ultra-competitive
mothers, became the focus of Lifetime's Dance
Moms.
Of course, the road to stardom is never without
speed bumps, but this girl refuses to let
her setbacks slow her down.
From the drama surrounding her Dance Moms
exit to her plans for world domination, here's
the untold truth of Maddie Ziegler.
"I'm so excited."
"Is she ready?"
"I've been waiting my whole life for this."
She wasn't born a dancer
In her New York Times best-seller memoir,
The Maddie Diaries, Ziegler admitted she's
never been a naturally gifted dancer.
"So you're gonna start like this… then you
go back…
I'm not really that good at it."
Fans might find that hard to believe, but
the teen insists she had to hustle, writing,
"I wasn't very good at [dancing] in the beginning,
and I had to work really hard.
It taught me an important lesson: Even if
you're not good at something at first, don't
give up.
Someday you will look back and never believe
how far you've come."
But Ziegler might never have become a professional
dancer at all if not for an unfortunate childhood
injury.
Around the age of 4, she broke her arm just
before she was due to start horseback riding
lessons.
She wrote,
"Looking back, I'm really glad that happened,
even though at the time I remember being really
upset.
I might have been a horseback rider instead
of a dancer!
Things definitely happen for a reason, and
I believe in fate."
Even so, Ziegler has her sights set high,
telling Teen Vogue,
"I am a very hard critic over myself, and
I still think I could be a better dancer,
like I still have so many flaws I could work
on."
Not missing Dance Moms
The show might have made her, but Ziegler
doesn't exactly miss her time on Dance Moms.
The reality series turned her and the rest
of the cast into international celebrities,
but Ziegler's never even watched a full episode.
"Now I just have so much weight off my shoulders,
like, aw, I can live my life and do something
without worrying and thinking oh I'm gonna
get yelled at if I do this."
She told Seventeen,
"The show was a really stressful time, I just
didn't want to deal with all of the drama
anymore.
I'm happy I've moved on.
I get to step out and do my own thing and
be myself."
Ziegler did admit that she missed dancing
with the girls, but she didn't mention her
former coach, Abby Lee Miller.
In fact, according to Radar Online, Miller's
name didn't come up once in Ziegler's book,
either.
And there may be a good reason why.
"Shh, shh…
Abby's gonna hate me…
"Look at me…
"She's gonna hate me.
I've never done this, I've never done this."
Abby Lee Miller's take
As Ziegler's career took off, Abby Lee Miller's
was sinking hard.
In 2015, the outspoken coach was indicted
on 20 counts of fraud for concealing $755,000
worth of Dance Moms income.
She was sentenced to one year and one day
in prison, according to Deadline.
Before turning herself in, Miller did an interview
with The View's Jedediah Bila, saying of Ziegler,
"I look at what she has done, and the other
jobs and the other opportunities besides Dance
Moms, they all involve dancing.
[…] I don't think, had she not been at my
studio, she would be where she is today.
[…] I'm not gonna say that I 'made' anybody
[…] but I certainly added my two cents in."
According to People, Miller was released from
prison after 8 months, serving additional
time in a halfway house in Southern California.
Blowing up with Chandelier
Ziegler became a full-blown sensation in 2014,
when she starred in the first of several Sia
music videos.
According to Australian news outlets, the
eccentric singer tweeted Ziegler, asking to
collaborate, and Ziegler agreed.
"Chandelier" has been viewed more than a staggering
1.8 billion times on YouTube.
Ziegler told Mamamia,
"Once I did 'Chandelier', everything changed
for me.
I had already done Dance Moms […] But after
the Sia video came out things just became
crazy.
I mean, there were some big celebrities that
all of a sudden knew my name."
"I'm like wow at 11 years old I had like over
a million views on a video."
"Billion."
"Yeah."
Unfortunately, Ziegler's next collaboration
with Sia didn't go down quite as well.
She performed a routine with Shia LaBeouf
in the video for "Elastic Heart," which Sia
anticipated might lead to controversy, given
the content.
"Shia and I have been just living in the cage
for like a year, and I'm the strong one, and
I'm trying to pretty much kill him."
Sia tweeted: "I apologize to those who feel
triggered by 'Elastic Heart,' my intention
was to create some emotional content, not
to upset anybody."
She's a YouTube star
"You are a very great dancer and I look up
to you."
"What?"
YouTube users have watched her billions of
times in music videos, but Ziegler's own channel
is also pretty successful, with more than
2.8 million subscribers.
She told Seventeen,
"I film and edit all of my videos myself.
It's more personal that way.
It's a lot of work, but it's important to
me because I want to put out cool content."
She's become particularly well-known for her
beauty vlogs, specializing in makeup tips
and tutorials.
She told Billboard,
"I was super into makeup at such a young age.
So, that's why I really wanted to make a YouTube
channel so that I could show people, of course,
just like my life and do some fun challenges,
but also show some little makeup looks."
Ziegler also vlogs about fashion and has even
launched her own clothing line.
But she's not stopping there.
"I also cut my one of my friends' hair all
the time, so…"
"She's so talented!"
She's already making inroads in Hollywood.
She lent her voice to 2016's animated feature
Leap!, and made her on-screen debut in 2017's
The Book of Henry.
Ziegler told Billboard,
"... coming from being a dancer from the age
of 2 and then breaking into acting, dance
has definitely helped me transition into acting
a lot."
We're looking forward to an extraordinarily
bright future for this multi-talented powerhouse!
