Kenzie Ziegler: No Closure, Just Getting Older

The Squeeze
The Squeeze
346,235
0
Published 2023-11-01
Singer, dancer, and former reality star Kenzie Ziegler joins the Lautners to discuss navigating success and pressure from an incredibly young age. She shares the toll that reality TV took on her childhood and how it caused her to lose her passion for dance. Kenzie explains how she couldn't differentiate between reality and what was manufactured for the show, and shares the advice she would offer a production team tackling a reality show centered around children. She attributes her mental health struggles to the show, and shares with your hosts when she first discovered she was suffering from anxiety. She opens up about her relationship with social media, which she has navigated since the age of eight, and how she has grown to become more private, allowing less of the negativity to affect her. She also talks about her song Anatomy, her family's reaction to the deeply personal song, who she played it for first, and how cathartic the recording process was. The Lautners had such a great time with Kenzie, and look forward to signing those adoption papers! You can adopt a 19-year-old, right?!

00:00 Intro
03:20 Welcome Kenzie
05:10 Citrus Got Real
10:40 Growing up on reality tv
12:09 Losing her love of dance
13:55 Inability to differentiate between what was actually reality and what was manufactured for the show
15:29 Advice she would give if hired as a consultant for a reality show involving kids (remember that children are children)
19:00 Discovering her anxiety
21:30 Relationship with sister Maddie Ziegler
22:30 Navigating a large social media following from a young age
26:53 Her song Anatomy and relationship with her father
29:57 Her family’s reaction to the deeply personal song
31:40 Dating history and how therapeutic the writing room was to her
34:38 Lemon 11
43:06 Outro

Follow Kenzie and check out the music video for Anatomy below!
www.instagram.com/kenzie/?hl=en
   • kenzie - anatomy (Official Music Video)  

Thanks to our awesome sponsors for supporting this episode:

Blissy — Get better sleep now with Blissy and use THESQUEEZE to get an additional 30% off at blissy.com/THESQUEEZE

ReGain Couples Therapy — Give online therapy a try at regain.com/thesqueeze and get on your way to being your best self

Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram:
The Squeeze: www.instagram.com/thesqueeze/
Tay Lautner: www.instagram.com/taylautner/
Taylor Lautner: www.instagram.com/taylorlautner/
& TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thesqueezepodcast

To learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow www.instagram.com/lemonsbytay/ and visit lemonsbytay.com/

Dance Moms footage used in intro, credit to Lifetime:    • Mackenzie FIGHTS to Be Her OWN PERSON...  

SyncID: MB01JEOXXRBAHDJ
SyncID: MB01ARGTDVEATZC
All Comments (21)
  • @annastewart7139
    Gosh. Kenzie is just so sweet and down to earth. Just by watching this I can tell she’d be an incredible person to be around.
  • @kellyknowles236
    Not me trying to hold back tears at work hearing her talk about the song because I paused and listened to the song and then came back
  • @kaitkat27
    The fact that mental health wasn’t a conversation for these young kids in the spotlight is absolutely insane. Bless Kenzie and how strong she is. As a person who developed anxiety that young I couldn’t imagine not having access to therapy and being open about my mental health
  • @user-jj1qk5zq7z
    Knowing from how much Kenzie has grown into a young woman,u can notice how much she matured and how she has dealt with these things.Loved this episode!
  • @Fairytaleszz
    Please try to interview Maddie Ziegler as well! I really love seeing these sisters❤
  • @terryschultz9064
    Thank you Kenzie. I watched Dance Moms occasionally, until the abuse you girls experienced became so evident that I had to turn it off.. Abby was awful - she never seemed to realize the harm she caused, and just went on and on, always justifying her behavior. She was a bully, and you were victimized. I hope our expectations today ae very different. I'm so glad you've sought and benefitted from therapy.
  • @maxiesquibel1624
    I watched Dance Mom's from the beginning. I felt like Kenzie has grown up and matured in a positive way. I enjoyed this podcast. Thank you.
  • @nicholasrobles3776
    So nice to see an interview with someone that has actually watched the show… I’m a huge fan ❤
  • @emmaleemiklosovic5558
    i absolutely love this podcast. thank you all for being so willing to talk about such vulnerable topics and just being so REAL. <3
  • @amnabhutta1
    This makes me want to go to my friends and digest our feelings and lives together it’s so cool how one conversation can make a major chain of healing together ❤
  • @eileenbesser7831
    Poor Kenzie. Her mom kind of lived vicariously through the girls and I don’t think she could have left the show even if she wanted those first years
  • @Fett60
    When Taylor said she used to be a nurse and now she does... this. But then said she doesn't edit the podcast. That's exactly why we all want to marry a rich person. 😂
  • @abbieprice3430
    Never thought I’d hear Taylor Lautner say he was a Dance Moms fan while Mackenzie was sitting across from him!
  • @hannajenyse7539
    Watching/listening to this podcast has gotten me through so much. Thank you for doing what you do and thank you to the guests for being so vulnerable in such a judgmental world.❤
  • @lisha1229
    this podcast is so soothing. keep it up you guys, you’re providing a safe and relaxing space for many ♥️
  • @someonee8250
    Idk how we all got teary eyed listening to anatomy, it’s such a girl code that almost every girl relates to, and love how it wasn’t overly complicated and or anything it was just a rant explaining what I remotely felt without knowing how to put it in words
  • @alilwildwithcat167
    They should’ve had them in therapy since the beginning. Having someone help sort through what is real and what is not could’ve been so helpful😢