In a story for Elite Daily, Mackenzie Ziegler admitted to not remembering life before she and her sister, Maddie Ziegler, shot to stardom as part of the "Dance Moms" crew at 6 and 8 years old, respectively. But she does remember the stress. "When I was younger, I was going through a lot of hate. Our teacher, the environment we were in — it was all very stressful as a kid. I'm glad we were doing the same thing so I could have a shoulder to lean on," Mackenzie said to her sister.
Indeed, Maddie's relationship with her sister turned into a focal point on the show, with constant comparisons between older sister Maddie and younger sister Kenzie. Unfortunately for Kenzie, she often came up short in competition wins, something dance instructor Abby Lee repeatedly harped on throughout the series. However, the sisters told Elite Daily that the show's producers largely fabricated this tense competition. "It broke my heart that you got compared to me so much as a dancer," Maddie recalled.
Mackenzie wasn't the only Ziegler sister interested in leaving the series, either. In a 2022 interview with Cosmopolitan, Maddie recalled that she, her sister, and her family tried to sever ties with "Dance Moms" for almost three seasons. "But when you're in a contract, it's really hard. Eventually, I finally got out," she recalled.
