Maddie Ziegler Left ‘Dance Moms’ One Year Ago And Things Have Definitely Changed

It’s been a year since Maddie Ziegler famously revealed she was parting ways with “Dance Moms” and things have definitely changed since. Not only are Maddie and her sister Mackenzie Ziegler no longer part of the hit Lifetime series, but the dancer’s career has since skyrocketed.

During the end of her five years on the reality show, Maddie took some time off to film her first feature film “The Book of Henry.” While the movie has yet to release, promotions for the drama are well underway with its scheduled it debut on June 16. In late March, Focus Features unveiled the first trailer for the film during CinemaCon and showed off Maddie’s acting chops.

But it’s not just on-camera acting Maddie’s fans have to look forward to. The 14-year-old has also lent her voice to the animated dance film “Leap!” The movie, which premieres in September, stars Maddie opposite Elle Fanning and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Since Maddie left “Dance Moms” in Season 6, there have been a lot of changes to the series. In June 2016, her former teammate JoJo Siwa exited the series in favor of opportunities with Nickelodeon, and in a shocking turn of events, several of coach Abby Lee Miller’s students left her ALDC team in March to work with former teammate Chloe Lukasiak.

After several years of going back and forth with producers over creative credit, Abby announced her own departure from the show after seven seasons in late March. She said her leave was a result of being treated poorly by the program’s producers.

While Abby hinted she would consider returning to the show, despite Lifetime since replacing her with “Dancing With the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke, viewers shouldn’t expect a Maddie cameo anytime soon. While promoting her New York Times best-selling memoir “The Maddie Diaries’ last month, she admitted to never actually watching the show and not wanting to return.

“I’m really glad that I did move on from that, and I did learn a lot from her and we did have some fun times. But I feel like now, I’ve never been happier in my life,” she said. “I’m done competing. I’m so glad to move on from competing, that’s one thing I’m so happy about moving on from, because it was stressful.”

Elsewhere in her career, Maddie is also taking over the fashion world. Last week, she announced her Wear What Moves You campaign with Something Massive and Kahn Lucas is nominated for a fashion Shorty Award.

And, of course, Maddie is still dancing.