Honestly, if you grew up watching Dance Moms, you probably remember the Ziegler sisters as the "golden child" and the "baby" of the Abby Lee Dance Company. But it’s 2026 now. A whole decade has passed since Mackenzie Ziegler and Maddie Ziegler officially walked away from that pyramid-ranking, bun-wearing life.
Ten years. That is a lifetime in Hollywood.
People still obsess over whether they’re friends with Chloe or why they don't post about Abby Lee Miller, but the reality is much more interesting than some old reality TV feud. They’ve basically pulled off the hardest move in the industry: transitioning from "exploited child stars" to legitimate, working adults with actual boundaries.
The Strategy Behind the Silence
You’ve probably noticed that Maddie rarely, if ever, mentions the show that made her famous. Some fans think it’s "shade" or that she’s being "ungrateful," but that’s a total misunderstanding of how the industry works.
Maddie is playing the long game.
She wants to be an actor—a real one. Not a "reality star who acts," but a peer to people like Jenna Ortega or Maya Hawke. To do that, she had to kill the "Maddie from Dance Moms" persona. Her team has been incredibly calculated about this. If she spends every interview talking about how Abby yelled at her when she was eight, she stays stuck in that eight-year-old’s body in the eyes of casting directors.
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It’s working, too. Between her roles in The Fallout and My Old Ass, she’s proven she has the chops for indie dramas. There’s even a lot of buzz about her role in Ballerina Overdrive, which has a killer cast including Uma Thurman. She isn’t just "Sia’s dancer" anymore; she’s a lead.
Kenzie, on the other hand, is a bit more relaxed about the past. She’s now 21—which feels wild to say—and she’ll occasionally chat about the old days on her social media or in interviews. But even for her, the focus is strictly on the future. She’s got a movie coming out in March 2026 called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (well, that was recently, and she's moving into even bigger indie projects now) and her music career has matured way past the "It’s a Girl Party" era.
What Most People Get Wrong About Their Relationship
The biggest misconception is that there was this permanent, toxic rivalry between them because of the show.
Look, did they fight? Yeah. They were sisters on a high-stress reality set where a grown woman was literally paid to compare them every Tuesday. But they’ve both said that leaving the show was the best thing that ever happened to their bond.
When they were on Dance Moms, they were competitors. Now, they’re each other's biggest support systems. Maddie has talked about how she’s incredibly protective of Kenzie, especially regarding the pressure of social media.
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- Maddie’s Current Net Worth: Estimates put her around $5 million as of early 2026, largely thanks to high-end modeling for brands like Maison Margiela and her acting contracts.
- Kenzie’s Focus: She’s leaned heavily into the "Gen Z cool girl" aesthetic, with a massive TikTok following and a jewelry line that she actually had a hand in designing.
They aren't just "the sisters from that show." They are individual brands that happen to share a last name and a very weird childhood.
Dealing with the Trauma of the ALDC
We have to be real here: the environment they grew up in was objectively bizarre.
Maddie has admitted in several interviews (most notably with Buzzfeed a couple of years back) that she actually dissociates when she sees old clips of the show. She’ll see herself crying on screen and won't have any memory of filming it. That’s a trauma response.
The pressure to be perfect wasn’t just a "storyline" for the cameras; it was their actual life.
It’s why they’ve both been big advocates for therapy. They’ve worked hard to unlearn the "if you aren't first, you're a loser" mindset that was drilled into them by Miller. It’s also why they’ve largely distanced themselves from their father and worked on a "surface level" but healthy relationship with their mother, Melissa, who has also faced her fair share of criticism for keeping them on the show as long as she did.
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What’s Next for the Ziegler Sisters?
If you're looking for a reunion or a "where are they now" special on Lifetime, don't hold your breath. It’s never going to happen.
Maddie is currently moving into producing. She’s been linked to an adaptation of the book Shiver, and while production has been a bit of a rollercoaster, it shows she’s looking for power behind the camera, not just in front of it.
Kenzie is doubling down on her music. She’s moved away from the bubblegum pop of her teens and is leaning into a more alternative, singer-songwriter vibe that actually fits her voice. She’s also become a fixture at Fashion Week, often sitting front row with the same designers who used to only dress her older sister.
The takeaway for fans? Stop asking them about the pyramid. If you want to support them, watch their movies and stream their music. They’ve spent the last decade trying to prove they are more than a three-minute lyrical routine, and by all accounts, they’ve finally succeeded.
The best way to keep up with them isn't through Dance Moms hashtags, but by following their individual shifts into the "prestige" side of Hollywood. Watch Maddie’s performance in My Old Ass if you haven’t yet—it’s the clearest sign that the "child star" label is officially dead.