Dance prodigy Maddie Ziegler gives advice to teen girls, gets surprise from Sia
“She always has silly nicknames for me,” Ziegler said of Sia.
— -- The 14-year-old dance phenom Maddie Ziegler made a name for herself on the hit series “Dance Moms” before skyrocketing into fame as Sia’s go-to dancer for the mega-blockbuster music video “Chandelier,” in which she starred at the ripe age of 11.
“I was known a little bit from ‘Dance Moms’ but ‘Chandelier’ took it to a whole new level where celebrities were tweeting me and I was known for more than just being on a reality TV show, which was so cool,” Ziegler said on “GMA.”
Now she has a new memoir, “The Maddie Diaries,” chronicling her early rise in the limelight. Her “best friend” Sia surprised her with a very special congratulatory message on “Good Morning America.”
“Oh hello Maddie, my pumpkin pie. It's Auntie Sia here,” the recording artist said in the video message. “Just wanted to wish you a very happy book release day. Congratulations. You're my very special friend. I love you so much. I just adore you. And your goofy sense of humor. You're my wombling wimble, from Wombledon.”
“She always has silly nicknames for me,” a shocked Ziegler responded.
The teenage dancer said after working together with Sia on “Chandelier,” they “kind of stuck together.”
“We just had this connection the first time we met and ever since then we’ve been like best friends,” she explained.
Ziegler said her life changed after appearing in the music video. Now she’s using her experiences to help empower other young girls with her personal philosophy: “Why not?”
“I think it’s very important to say, ‘Why not try something new? Why not go out of your comfort zone? Why not just express yourself in your own way and not worry about what other people are thinking of you?,’” she said. “And I feel like that’s really important now because teens are all trying to fit in and I go through the struggle too. Everyone on social media is trying to fit in on what other girls think they should look like but it’s more of what you want to be.”
"The Maddie Diaries" hits bookstores nationwide today.
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