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These days, Maddie Ziegler and Kenzie Ziegler are famous in their own right. Maddie is making a name for herself as an actor, having starred in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and The Fallout. In fact, the 20-year-old recently wrapped production on her first leading role in the upcoming film, Bloody Hell. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Kenzie had made music her focus. The singer-songwriter recently released her newest single, “100 degrees,” and has a new album in the works. But before the sisters became famous in their own right, they were primarily known for their tenure on Dance Moms.
Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler grew up on ‘Dance Moms’
Kenzie and Maddie were only 6 and 8 when they were selected for the Dance Moms cast. The young dancers had no idea just how much their lives would change thanks to the show. Originally, the show was slated to be a docuseries, which would only last six weeks. However, Lifetime realized they struck gold early on and continued to extend the show. Ultimately, the sisters and their mom, Melissa Gisoni, stuck around until they left the show midway through season 6.
The reality TV show brought the sisters an intense amount of fame and recognition
It wasn’t long before Maddie and Kenzie were being recognized. Not only were dancers approaching them at competitions and conventions, but fans of Dance Moms were approaching them on the street. As the show’s popularity skyrocketed, they were extended more opportunities. Suddenly the siblings were being invited to award shows and performing on TV shows like The View.
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But despite the growing fame that Dance Moms provided for Maddie and Kenzie, at home, they were just regular kids. While speaking with Cosmopolitan, Gisoni shared that she continued to provide her daughters with normalcy. However, she explained that fame wasn’t always easy for her children to navigate. This was especially true in the age of social media.
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Melissa Gisoni explained how social media affected her kids
“Our home life didn’t change because we never watched the show,” Gisoni shared about Kenzie, and Maddie’s life outside Dance Moms. “The only thing that was ever an issue was social media. The girls would be like, ‘Mom, people hate me.’ And I’m like, ‘It’s not really people. It’s people without a face.’ Kids like 12-year-olds who say mean things to you because they’re bored bullies — that was the hardest part of the fame.”
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Gisoni shared that she also had to contend with people impersonating Maddie and Kenzie during their Dance Moms days. The Because Mom Said So podcast co-host revealed what she did to combat this phenomenon. “There’s so many fake accounts of my kids and people pretending to be them,” Gisoni added. “I hired a social media manager almost immediately when my kids started to get popular.”
Do Kenzie and Maddie have a better relationship with social media post ‘Dance Moms’?
Now that Maddie and Kenzie are older, they’ve taken agency over their own social media profiles. Both sisters run their TikTok and Instagram pages. However, Maddie has shared that her team runs her Twitter page. But the dancers also aren’t afraid to set boundaries with what they share on social media. The Dance Moms alums are strategic about what they share with fans and what they keep to themselves. And it seems that they’ve learned how to navigate the negativity that comes along with being in the spotlight.
