Dance Moms alum Chloe Lukasiak recalls the competitive dynamic she had with costar Maddie Ziegler during an exclusive video interview with Life & Style.
During the early seasons of Dance Moms, fans watched Abby Lee Miller pit Chloe, 22, and Maddie, 21, against each other. More than a decade after Chloe and Maddie stopped dancing together at Abby Lee Dance Company, the Pepperdine University grad looks back on their complex dynamic ahead of the Dance Moms: The Reunion special.
“That’s something that we cover a lot in the reunion. We really touch on that, and I make my thoughts pretty clear on the matter,” Chloe tells Life & Style about the competitive nature between her and Maddie. “I think that competition is vital in creating an ambitious person, someone who’s willing to work for what they want.”
While Chloe says she approves of competition to a point, she explains that “the manufactured competition” between her and Maddie “was kind of unnecessary.”
Chloe notes that competitive dancers are “in it to win it,” though says Abby, 58, took it too far when she created a “narrative” that weighed heavily on both her and Maddie. “I know, personally speaking, it definitely weighed on me,” Chloe continues. “I don’t live with regrets and I do think everything happens for a reason, so I’m OK that I experienced that because it made me who I am today.”
While Maddie opted to not participate in Dance Moms: The Reunion, the special will show Chloe reuniting with former costars Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, Kalani Hilliker, Kendall Vertes and JoJo Siwa.
During the special, the former dancers will look back at the highs and lows of their time on the show. The series ran on Lifetime from 2011 until 2019, while Chloe and her mom, Christi Lukasiak, starred on the first four seasons and season 7.
“It was really interesting. It was fun,” Chloe tells Life & Style about reuniting with her former costars for the reunion. “We all stay in touch, so I’ve talked to them for years after the show and we see each other when we can.”
The Pennsylvania native adds that it “was really nice to sit down and reminisce on the good times, the bad times, all the in between.”
“The great thing about our friendship is we could not speak for 10 years and turn around and come back to each other and still have that same bond just because it had been built during such a tumultuous time,” Chloe says about her relationships with the former ALDC dancers, adding that it was “interesting” to return to the show for season 7.
Dance Moms: The Reunion premieres on Lifetime Wednesday, May 1, at 8 p.m. ET.
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