'Dance Moms' Alums Shade Abby Lee Miller: Maddie, Kenzie, More

The shade is real! Dance Moms alums, like Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler, Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland and Nia Sioux, have dished on their ~true~ feelings about coach Abby Lee Miller over the years.

The choreographer’s teaching style was seen as extremely controversial during the Lifetime show due to the insane amount of stress she would inflict on her young students by promoting inner-team competition.

The show began in July 2011 and introduced many of its breakout stars during the premiere season. Although many of the girls went on to find success in the entertainment industry, very few look back fondly on their days at The Abby Lee Dance Company.

Dance Moms ended in 2019 and was followed by Abby’s Virtual Dance Off, which was slated to run for 12 episodes. However, the spinoff was quickly pulled by the network in June 2020 after she was accused of racist behavior by former dance mom Adriana Smith, whose daughter Kamryn appeared during season 8.

Abby apologized to the family shortly after. “I genuinely understand and deeply regret how my words have effected and hurt those around me in the past, particularly those in the Black community,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “To Kamryn, Adriana and anyone else I’ve hurt, I am truly sorry. I realize that racism can come not just from hate, but also from ignorance. No matter the cause, it is harmful, and it is my fault. While I cannot change the past or remove the harm I have done, I promise to educate myself, learn, grow and do better. While I hope to one day earn your forgiveness, I recognize that words alone are not enough. I understand it takes time and genuine change.”

All of the drama on Dance Moms through the years has led fans to wonder if the series is scripted. Maddie, who left the reality show during season 6, talked about what happens behind the camera during an interview with USA Today in 2017.

“It’s hard to do a reality show when there’s so much crying and drama. The producers set it up to make us all yell at each other,” the Book of Henry star admitted. “You know how I said that moms do fight? The moms have to fake a fight sometimes. Afterward, they just start talking and laugh about it.”

That being said, Maddie acknowledged the stress revolving around competitions is 100 percent genuine. “It is really real. We do have a really crazy competition life,” she added.

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Maddie hasn’t been shy about expressing how “toxic” filming Dance Moms was and that hasn’t gone over well with Abby. In fact, the show’s leading lady revealed The Fallout actress would “definitely not” be asked to make a special appearance on her upcoming show.

While teasing her new series with Entertainment Tonight in March 2023, Abby revealed that Maddie “absolutely wants nothing to do with me and that’s sad, but it is what it is.”

Keep scrolling to see other Dance Moms alums’ shady comments about Abby!

Maddie Ziegler

“My dance teacher taught that if you don’t get the trophy — if you don’t get the crown — you are less than, which is the worst way to train a kid,” Maddie said during an interview with Cosmo in June 2022. “It carries into other life lessons … I’ve had to unlearn a lot of those things.”

The performer also admitted she felt “guilty” about eventually leaving Abby’s studio. “She trained me, she helped me. But also, I knew I would be OK without her, and I was sick of being in a toxic environment,” she explained. “I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since.”

Abby, for her part, responded to Maddie’s comment in a statement to TMZ that same month. “Spending hours, days, weeks and years together in a crazy reality TV show environment, we became like family,” the choreographer said. “Sadly, it’s always the ones you do the most for that kick you in the can-can.”

The former reality star referred to Maddie as a “perfectionist,” noting she “paid attention to everyone else’s corrections, she wanted to be good, she got it and I thought she got me too”.

Maddie Ziegler

Maddie told Life & Style in April 2019 she’s “not in contact” with her former coach, but she talked about how much she disliked being compared to her sister during the show.
“It broke my heart that you got compared to me so much as a dancer,” she said during an interview with Elite Daily in May 2021. “Like, if you didn’t win, why weren’t you as good as Maddie? That is so heartbreaking. Everyone should be allowed to shine in their own ways … We’re allowed to be different.”

Chloe Lukasiak

Chloe spilled the tea on why she was “kicked out” of Abby’s studio during season 4 in a January 2019 YouTube Video.
“My former dance teacher made fun of a medical condition I have,” she said in reference to her silent sinus syndrome, a condition that causes facial asymmetry which affected her eye.
“Some might say it’s not that serious what she said, which I would disagree,” the teen continued. “If you know anything about Dance Moms, you probably know I was my former dance teacher’s least favorite student … What she did was horrible.”

Brooke Hyland

“Facebook telling me I have a new friend suggestion,” Brooke documented in a since-deleted TikTok in May 2020 while zooming in on Abby’s name. The former reality star then flipped the camera around to show herself making an awkward facial expression before shaking her head “no.”
However, JoJo Siwa came to the defense of her former coach. “It’s one thing to just not add her back. It’s another to post it,” the singer said in response to Brooke’s shady video, according to TikTokRoom.