Anjie Sanderson: Playing Truth or Consequences
Remember that old adage “when you always tell the truth, no one will ever catch you in a lie?”
Truth, especially in the complex world of entertainment, is sometimes hard to identify when it comes to celebrity squabbles over contracts, money and reputations. And it’s not always the person making the most noise who’s the most truthful.
For example, if you follow the case of Anjie Sanderson, mother of teen singer/dancer Leigha, and her much-publicized dispute with pop star JoJo Siwa, you’ll find yourself front and center to the classic “he said/she said” confrontation.
Content on sites like Reddit, YouTube, Rolling Stone, etc., will have you wondering what’s going on. Why all the drama, and why was Leigha let go from the girl group, XOMG POP?
Viewers seem divided over Anjie’s assertion that her daughter was dismissed because she couldn’t keep up with the rigorous practice sessions and dance routines, as well as her complaints about the need to balance Leigha’s school requirements with the need to be in California for XOMG.
Check out this YouTube video at the 7:33 mark where Anjie worries that Leigha’s physical issues (spina bifida) might jeopardize her place on the team, a suspicion she voiced on several other occasions, as well.
Are Leigha’s physical limitations really the primary reason she was let go? Or was it something behind the scenes (as some assert) that alluded to Anjie complaining to other mothers and being toxic
The Siwas made their position crystal clear.
In a Rolling Stone article, the Siwas’ attorney pointed to Anjie, rather than to any physical shortcoming Leigha may have had, as the reason behind her release: “Voluminous and irrefutable evidence [will] tell you all you need to know — that a disgruntled momager’s own abusive behavior caused her daughter to be asked not to return to the group.”
So, was Leigha fired because of the way her mother was acting, fomenting discontent and creating bad feelings among the other mothers? Which side is telling the truth here?
The truth is that the other mothers in the group supported the Siwas over Anjie. That brings to question Anjie’s credibility when she asserts bad treatment by the Siwas, excessively rigorous practice sessions and various other accusations that put JoJo and Jessalynn in a bad light.
Not surprising, then, that Anjie even told Reddit that she and Leigha were never big fans of JoJo, not even before Leigha was invited to join the group. But is that really true?
In Rolling Stone, Leigha claims to have been a long-time fan of JoJo’s going back to the days when she watched her on Dance Moms. Really?
“She was definitely someone I looked up to,” the Rolling Stone article quotes Leigha as saying.
But somehow, during the time the Sandersons and the Siwas worked together, Anjie the Admiring Fan had turned into Anjie the Disgruntled Stage Mom.
Was this because of the way Anjie felt she was being treated, or did Anjie become convinced she knew more about the girl group business than the Siwas did?
Whatever the truth is, it came with consequences: Leigha was terminated, and according to Anjie, the Sandersons found themselves scrambling to finance Leigha’s career as an independent talent.
How tough would that turn out to be? Pretty tough, according to Anjie. It got so bad that, at one point, she even claimed to be “dead broke.”
Was that the truth? Is that why Leigha started a GoFundMe account to raise $10,000 to help pay for medical expenses related to Anjie’s recently discovered brain tumor?
Were they really dead broke?
We decided to do some checking by way of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Public records show that Anjie’s husband Cody works as a Senior Supervisor for Residential Appraisals for the Collin Central Appraisal District in Texas, according to the FOIA request, earning $93,470 a year, plus $17,432 in benefits that include an HDHP Group Health Plan.
There’s a world of difference between Cody’s income of $93,470 and that of the national average income of $59,384 (using stats from Q4 2023).
It puts Cody in the upper middle income as a salaried employee and does not count any income from projects by Anjie and Leigha (Anjie says they’re “doing well.” But without knowing the family’s personal finances, there’s no way of knowing whether they’re actually broke or not.)
We may never know the truth here, but as we all know there are usually three sides to every story: your side, my side and the truth. What is true here? Seems like we’ll need to decide that on our own.