Maddie Ziegler found more than fame and success since ending her run on Dance Moms.
While the star often kept her opinions to herself on the show, she revealed in a new interview, "I’m growing up, and it is liberating to know that I can speak up for myself."
The 21-year-old admitted to Teen Vogue that she didn't so on the series, adding she often felt like she had to hide her talent for the sake of others.
"When I was younger and teachers would say, ‘You need to be more like Maddie,’ I felt myself trying to dumb myself down because I hated it," she recalled. "I don’t want anyone else to feel less than."
Ziegler also reflected on how audiences have expected her to never change despite being in the spotlight from a young age.
“I’m not always going to be that little girl. I’m still that same goofy, loving, hard-working girl, but I’m also changing and growing," explained the actress. "It’s scary when people are like, ‘But you’re not who you were when you were younger.’ And I have to explain, ‘Yeah, because that’s just not realistic.’"
Nonetheless, the West Side Story actress is still grateful for her time on the Lifetime series.
"Obviously, I have my feelings about that [show], but if I didn't do it, I would not be where I am right now at all. I wouldn't have been found by Sia," she noted. "I wouldn't have found my love for acting through music videos, and I wouldn't be where I am, literally, right now talking to you."
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Now that she's making a name from herself free from the show, she's eager to go full force on expanding her acting resume.
"I felt that I needed to prove myself so I could be taken seriously as an actor because I was taken so seriously as a dancer," she shared. "People respected me on a high level."
"Acting gives me the creative freedom to jump into different things, but it also helps me protect my own being," the brunette beauty explained after being on reality TV for years. "It is scary to have people have such strong opinions on you and to feel like they know you. But there is something so beautiful about that too."
The starlet also has dreams of taking on a future role behind the camera.
"I look at Margot Robbie and at Reese Witherspoon's production company. They're so incredible, and I'm very inspired by that, to have my own production company one day," she shared.
