Viewers who tuned in to Dance Moms: The Reunion earlier this month couldn’t help but notice a conspicuous absence.
Abby Lee Miller, the boisterous and sometimes domineering coach at the center of the series, was nowhere to be found. In a recent interview on “Just B With Bethenny Frankel,” Miller, 58, shared what she believes is the reason why she wasn’t on stage: her former pupils can’t bear to be around her.
“I think the kids can’t face me because they know they would never be where they are today if it wasn’t for the show,” Miller told Frankel, 53.
Miller’s former students reunited on a Lifetime reunion special to hash out their time on the show and talk about where their lives have gone since. JoJo Siwa, sisters Brooke and Paige Hyland, Kalani Hilliker and others shared their mixed feelings about the methods employed at Miller’s dance studio. Hilliker, 23, told Us Weekly ahead of the taping that Miller’s harsh style inspired her own work as a dance teacher — in a way.
“I think that there’s a lot of things that I don’t agree with that Abby did as a dance teacher,” she said. “So I kind of do the complete opposite.”
On Frankel’s podcast, Miller objected to her characterization as a “toxic” taskmaster. She noted that multiple generations within the same family came to her studio for guidance.
“[Brooke and Paige Hyland’s] mother was in my original competition team,” she shared. “She stayed at my studio, then she left, got married, had kids, brought them to my studio at 2 years old.”
She added that all of the dancers at Abby Lee Dance Company were free to go to other studios in Pittsburgh, but hers “was the best.” Miller noted to Frankel that she’s sent 25 dancers on to Broadway shows over the course of her career.
She went on to claim that the portrayal of her on the show was cooked up by producers, who wanted her to appear as a “down and out, podunk, heavy-set dance teacher” who did nothing but scream at her students.
Interviews with cast members and other revelations since Dance Moms wrapped cast that assertion into doubt. Miller’s last attempt at a show on Lifetime fizzled out during the pandemic after former Dance Moms star Adriana Smith accused her of making racist remarks during their time at the studio.
Miller told Us she’s mellowed out quite a bit in the interceding years, which included a cancer diagnosis and a stint in prison.
“I don’t think I get that upset over things,” she said in 2019. “It’s hard to deal with the moms, all of that’s hard, but I don’t fly off the handle as quickly as I did.”
