Former members of Abby Lee Miller’s Dance Company reunited for the first time in a decade, but Maddie Ziegler was not among them.
When Dance Moms fans tune in to the reunion special on May 1, fans of the West Side Story star will be surprised not to see her sitting next to JoJo Siwa or the other girls.
Or maybe they won’t. To be honest, there’s a lot of bad blood between Maddie and the dance teacher who put these dancers on the map via reality TV.
And because Maddie Ziegler skipped the reunion, she now has some beef with the other girls.
Why Maddie Ziegler Skipped ‘Dance Moms’ Reunion
Dance Moms: The Reunion brought together many of the reality show’s most famous alums. JoJo Siwa, Chloé Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes, and Kalani Hilliker and agreed to appear.
Noticeably absent from the special are OG cast member Nia Sioux and sisters Kenzie and Maddie Ziegler. Behind JoJo, Maddie is arguably the most famous face to come out of the franchise. It was confirmed that the Ziegler sisters were invited to participate, but immediately turned the offer down.
“We didn’t want to go back in time to that era,” they said in a statement to ET.
While the decision to skip the reunion was completely their choice, the other girls who did participate slammed the move during the special.
JoJo Siwa Turns On Maddie Ziegler For Skipping Reunion
In a controversial move, JoJo Siwa actually defends Abby Lee Miller and her controversial behavior during Dance Moms. During the special, JoJo even took things a step further and called out all of the girls, like Maddie, who turned down the reunion special because of her complicated relationship with Abby Lee Miller.
“Them not being here is kind of like, ‘Let me erase my past, pretend it never happened, shove it down the drain,’” JoJo said to the other girls. “When it’s like, that’s why you are who you are.”
It seems most other girls agreed with JoJo, like Kalani, who can be seen nodding along, and Kendall Vertes, who added:
“We would not be here without Dance Moms. It was literally the stepping stone into who we are today.”
Other girls came to their defense.
“Some people might still be processing and it’s hard to talk about some of the stuff we went through,” said Paige, as Brooke adds, “They closed the book and they don’t want to open it up and backtrack.”
What’s Maddie Doing Now
Maddie was on Dance Moms for six seasons, from 2011 to 2016. These days, she’s off TV and into the movie scene, along with dancing and modeling.
In not wanting to look back, Maddie is most definitely looking ahead to a bright future in Hollywood.
After her breakout role in West Side Story, she recently starred alongside Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega in The Fallout. She has another film, Fitting In, coming out in 2024.
In short, Maddie is growing up and growing away from the little girl people saw on-screen. And honestly, isn’t that the way it should be?
“I’m not always going to be that little girl,” she told Teen Vogue in March. “I’m still that same goofy, loving, hard-working girl, but I’m also changing and growing. It’s scary when people are like, ‘But you’re not who you were when you were younger.’ And I have to explain, ‘Yeah, because that’s just not realistic.’”