Fans of Dance Moms will remember that Abby Lee Miller was not the easiest person to work with. She held her dancers to high standards and had clear favorites.

What made her behavior even worse was that she worked with children.

With this in mind, it probably comes as a surprise to exactly no one that she was allegedly not invited to Lifetime’s special Dance Moms: The Reunion event.

Miller confessed to being left out because she felt that the dancers didn’t want her there.

Miller made these claims on an episode of the Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast. The reunion show included several famous faces, including dancers Kalani Hilliker, JoJo Siwa, Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, and Paige Hyland.

What Did Abby Lee Miller Say About Her Time On ‘Dance Moms’?

Before Abby Lee Miller chatted with Bethenny Frankel on her podcast, the reality TV star admitted she was reluctant to have Miller as a guest. “Honestly, I didn’t know much about the show, and I read a lot about her, and I hesitated to have her on,” Frankel said in the intro of the show.

Frankel asked Miller about the conflict that arose between her and some of the dancers. “There’s a conflict between you and some of them, and then conflict between them, within each other, and they do this reunion experience, and they don’t … they’ll only do it if you’re not there. What’s the problem?” Frankel asked.

Miller responded to this question: “Then you can’t face me because they know they would never be where they are today if it wasn’t for the show. There’s two little girls named Brooke, Page Highland, who I was very close to, much closer emotionally and family-wise than any of the other kids. Their mother was in my original competition team … she stayed at my studio. Then she left, got married, had kids, brought them to my studio at two years old, and stayed until the show started. So my point is, if this was so toxic for all these kids, why did they come back at three and four and five, and six and seven and eight.”

Miller may not feel her behavior was toxic, but there have been claims from the dancers that have suggested otherwise.

What Have The ‘Dance Moms’ Stars Said About Abby Lee Miller?

Maddie Ziegler appeared on Dance Moms; some may consider her to have been one of Abby Lee Miller’s favorites. In an interview with Cosmopolitan in 2022, she reflected on this time in her life. “I had more stress [on the show] than I did once I left. I have dissociated so much from that time,” she said. “It’s weird because there were really amazing times, but there were also a lot of things that were really, really not great for us kids.”

She also claimed that the way Miller taught her to compete had a lasting impact. “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,” she said. “It carries into other life lessons. We also weren’t allowed to watch our competitors or be friends with them. I’ve had to unlearn a lot of those things.” She continued, “I did watch a little bit of an episode from the very beginning to show my boyfriend … And we both were like, ‘This is sad. We need to turn this off.'”