Would Abby Lee Miller end her feud with former student and co-star Maddie Ziegler? She is giving fans an answer once and for all.
As you may know, there has been some bad blood between the Abby Lee Dance Studio founder and the Ziegler family ever since Maddie left Dance Moms. The 20-year-old dancer previously opened up about her experiences on the series, telling Cosmopolitan last year that Abby created a “toxic environment.” She explained:
“She was distraught [when I left]. For the longest time, we felt so guilty. 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. I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since. I feel at peace.”
Related: Maddie Ziegler’s Mom Apologized To Her For Dance Moms!
While this did not come as a shock to fans who witnessed the teacher’s harshness while working with young dancers for years on the show, Abby had been surprised by the comments from Maddie at the time:
“Newsflash: The kids in the original cast never had a contract. The moms had a contract, but the kids, well … they were just kind of there on a handshake. I thought [Ziegler] wanted to be there. … If she said, ‘I don’t want to go, I’m not going,’ kicking and screaming, stomping her feet, I’m sure her mother wouldn’t have brought her — or she would have come and talked to me about it. She never did that.”
Abby obviously wasn’t too happy with Maddie back then. But where do they stand today following the war of words? Well, the pair have not reconciled that’s for sure! The 57-year-old television personality spoke about her relationship with Maddie on the latest episode of Sofia Franklin’s Sofia with an F podcast. When asked if Abby would reconcile with Maddie, she revealed that it would be hard for them to end their rift since there was “a lot of ugly darkness there”:
“I can’t really separate Maddie from her sister and her mother, and there is some … I don’t want to use the term ‘bad blood,’ but there are some devastating things there.”
What sort of “devastating things” is she talking about here? Abby went on to claim that her feud with the family primarily stems from the fact that she’s jaded over the release of Mackenzie Ziegler’s 2014 song It’s A Girl Party. According to the dance instructor, she had funded the project and was not given anything in return from the track following its success. Seriously? Abby explained:
“A song that went to No. 1 in three countries on iTunes, ‘It’s a Girl Party.’ I produced it. I bought the song. I did everything for that child. Mack Z was my creation. The video itself was $27,000 and I got my $27,000 back immediately because the video went to No. 1 too, but I’ve never seen one penny from the music. And I had a 360 deal with Mackenzie. So where is it?”
Hmm. Considering these two were children when this happened, why not call out their mom Melissa instead? Why feud with Maddie? It’s a tad strange to be holding this big of a grudge over something that happened when they were kids. Just saying. Ultimately, Abby made it clear she would be willing to speak to Maddie if she made the first move and reached out. You can see a clip from the interview (below):
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[Image via MEGA/WENN, Sofia Franklin/YouTube]
