Mackenzie And Maddie Ziegler Have A Strained Relationship With Their Dad

Kenzie and Maddie Ziegler have been children of divorce for most of their lives, noting on their former podcast, "Take 20 with Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler," that their parents divorced when they were four and six years old. "We were the only ones that had split families," Maddie shared, comparing her family dynamic to that of her friends at the time. "I just felt like we weren't the picture-perfect family anymore."

Initially, Melissa Gisoni and Kurt Ziegler shared partial custody of their daughters, but Gisoni petitioned for modification and obtained legal and primary custody in 2017. This change may have been prompted by the family's cross-country move, as the girls and their mom followed "Dance Moms" once the show relocated from Pittsburgh to L.A. in 2015.

Things appeared to be strained between the father and daughters long before their big move, but the distance certainly didn't help. "We were in L.A. and he was in Pittsburgh, so we never really got to see him, and then it got to a point where it was just, like, he's not present," Kenzie revealed about her father on "The Squeeze" podcast.