Not having it! Maddie Ziegler took to Instagram to share a photo lying in bed with her boyfriend, Eddie Benjamin. When the 17-year-old got slammed for the picture, which consists of her beau snuggled up next to her while shirtless, Maddie’s mom, Melissa Gisoni, clapped back and defended her daughter.
“This pic looks a little inappropriate,” wrote the follower. “He has his shirt off for god’s sake! He’s a boy!” the 51-year-old replied.
By the looks of it, Melissa is totally fine with the snap of the lovebirds. The mom of three commented, “Such a beautiful picture!” How sweet.
In addition to Maddie, Melissa also has 15-year-old Mackenzie, and evidently, she’s all about her daughters. “I am so very proud of my girls, what strong young women they have become,” she wrote on Instagram on March 8, in honor of International Women’s Day. “The most important thing in my life is them and seeing how they stand up for what they believe and how they support each other and other young women! Let’s all celebrate all women today and every day.”
Melissa and her daughters seem to be in a much better place since they left Dance Moms behind in 2016. After their exit on the show, Melissa got candid about why it wasn’t the right place for her and her family to be. “I never wanted to be on TV and I never want to be on TV again,” she told Cosmopolitan at the time.
However, when Melissa was on the show, she thought it could be a great platform for her daughters to showcase their talent and passion for dancing. Over time, she realized that wasn’t the case anymore. “The girls would be like, ‘Mom, people hate me,'” she divulged to the outlet.
The former reality star revealed the haters were online trolls. “And I’m like, ‘It’s not really people. It’s people without a face,'” she said. “Kids like 12-year-olds who say mean things to you because they’re bored bullies — that was the hardest part of the fame. There’s so many fake accounts of my kids and people pretending to be them. I hired a social media manager almost immediately when my kids started to get popular.”
It’s a good thing they’re not affected by the negativity.