Can you have a Dance Moms reunion without Abby Lee Miller? Absolutely.
Though one could argue that pop singer JoJo Siwa is now the most famous Dance Moms alum, Miller herself remains the face of the former show.
But she is also a controversial figure, even among her former students. Memes and memorably humorous reality TV clips do not outweigh racism scandals or how she treated those children.
Perhaps that is why, when it came time for a Dance Moms reunion, Miller apparently didn’t receive an invite.
‘Dance Moms’ held a reunion 13 years after it first premiered
Ahead of the Wednesday, May 1 Dance Moms reunion, Inside Edition reported one glaring omission from the guest list.
Abby Lee Miller was the instructor of the ambitious young dancers, memorably clashing with their mothers.
The two-hour reunion Lifetime special will not include Miller or her larger-than-life personality.
According to the report, the reunion did not invite Abby Lee Miller to participate.
“I haven’t seen her since fight with her and my mom when we left the show,” Paige Hyland shared, explaining why she and sister Brooke left — and did not reconnect with Miller.
Paige continued: “That was the last time I ever saw her which definitely went out with a bang.”
Dealing with Abby Lee Miller prepared some of the girls for future toxic encounters
JoJo Siwa admitted that she has had run-ins with a lot of people who remind her of Miller in the worst ways.
“That’s normal and it’s scary that that’s normal,” she acknowledged.
“But that taught me how to survive in the industry,” Siwa reflected.
Kalani Hilliker, who went to tour with others after the Season 7 finale of Dance Moms, spoke to Inside Edition about her breast reduction surgery.
“Something that I am always talking about is body positivity and (to) change something if you want to change something, so this is something that I thought about for a while,” she shared.
Hilliker then affirmed: “I am happy that I did it.” Good for her!
(Most of) the ‘Dance Moms’ alums remain very close
Obviously, not everyone who was on Dance Moms made it big. Some are almost household names, while others went on to lead relatively normal lives.
The dancers even got matching tattoos. Sometimes, very close casts will do this — cementing their bond in ink.
But some may wonder why Abby Lee Miller wasn’t part of Dance Moms: The Reunion.
Late in the spring of 2020, numerous Dance Moms alums — both adults and children — spoke out to accuse Miller of racism.
In response, Lifetime conducted an investigation and fired Abby Lee Miller. This was a major move, as the network had been planning to air Abby’s Virtual Dance-Off.
Some networks have walked back the firings of awful people as soon as they can get away with it (looking at you, TLC). However, in this case, it’s likely that some of the less controversial Dance Moms alums didn’t want to see Miller.
