It's hard to believe that Maddie Ziegler is only 13 years old. The impressive dancer first wowed audiences when she appeared on the reality show Dance Moms. She later went on to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, dance in multiple Sia music videos, and join a Broadway production. She also nabbed a spot as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance.
But, any young girl who is catapulted into the spotlight runs the risk of letting her newfound popularity go to her head. Fortunately, it sounds like Ziegler has a someone looking out for her along the way — her mom.
Melissa Gisoni, Ziegler's mother, spoke to Cosmopolitan about her daughter's rise to the top of the dance world, and the struggles that came with it.
Gisoni said their family never watched Dance Moms, but that didn't stop Ziegler from overhearing the social media buzz. Gisoni told Cosmo that internet trolls were definitely the most difficult aspect of fame to deal with.
"Our home life didn't change, because we never watched the show," she told the mag. "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. There's so many fake accounts of my kids and people pretending to be them."
Gisoni also said that Ziegler is itching to relocate to Los Angeles and move in with a famous friend. "She wants to move to L.A. today," she said. "We were home [in Pittsburgh] for two weeks and she goes, 'Mom, I'm going to move in with Sia. I can't live here anymore. I need to live in L.A.' It's just where she belongs."
Down with those internet trolls, but hell yeah to being roommates with Sia. Sign us up.
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