Abby Lee Miller

Abigale Lee Miller is an American dance instructor, choreographer, and reality television personality. She is the founder of the Abby Lee Dance Company, which appeared on the reality television series Dance Moms for eight seasons.Born Sep 21 1965 (55 years old).On June 2016, Miller pled guilty to felony bankruptcy fraud. She was sentenced in May 2017 to one year and a day in federal prison, and was released early. In April 2018 she developed Lymphoma, a form of cancer that made her unable to walk. She now uses a wheelchair to get around.Miller grew up around dance in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb, studying under her mother's direction at the Maryen Lorrain Dance Studio. In 1980, at age 14, Miller was given the responsibility for choreographing and coaching for one of her mother's dance competition teams. Miller eventually took over the studio in 1995 and renamed it Reign Dance Productions.

Miller became certified by Dance Masters of America and became a member of Dance Masters of Pennsylvania Chapter #10 in 1986, but her membership was terminated in February 2012, with DMA saying Miller's reality-TV show *Dance Moms* was "a total misrepresentation of our dance educators and their students and is detrimental to the dance profession''.In 2011, Miller began to appear in the Lifetime reality television show *Dance Moms*. Miller appeared on the show for seven seasons through February 2017. *Dance Moms* follows the practice sessions and performance competitions of young students of the Abby Lee Dance Company.

Three spin-offs of *Dance Moms* are *Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition*, which ran for two seasons and 22 episodes; *Dance Moms: Miami*; and *Dance Moms: Abby's Studio Rescue.* The latter ran for only 7 episodes. Miller has also been a guest judge on *Dancing with the Stars*. In 2014, Miller published a book, *Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class*.

In 2015, Miller opened a new studio set up in Los Angeles called ALDC LA. In March 2017, Miller announced she had quit the series. In July 2018, Miller announced her return for season 8 of *Dance Moms*. *Dance Moms*: Resurrection premiered June 4, 2019 on Lifetime.

In 2016, Miller appeared on *The Eric Andre Show*'s season 4 premiere.

Miller announced on Instagram on May 4, 2020 that she will be leaving *Dance Moms* and Lifetime after nine years.On June 2, 2020, Miller posted a black square to Instagram on Blackout Tuesday in response to the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. This caused Adriana Smith, the mother of *Dance Moms* season 8 dancer Kamryn, to share on Instagram that she and her daughter left the show because of their experience with Miller. "A statement from her that sticks in my mind to this day during my time on DMS8 is 'I know you grew up in the HOOD with only a box of 8 crayons, but I grew up in the Country Club with a box of 64—don't be stupid.'" Smith wrote on Instagram.

On June 3, 2020, another *Dance Moms* mother, Camille Bridges, accused Miller of treating her daughter Camryn differently because of her race and that the environment was "extremely hostile". She told E! News via e-mail that Miller "tried to spin Camryn as being the poor one and there on scholarship. She would say the most terrible things on camera. It was a traumatic experience that I wish on no one."

Miller has since deleted her Black Lives Matter post and on June 4, 2020, she issued an apology to "Kamryn, Adriana, and anyone else I've hurt", saying, "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." Reposting Miller's apology, Smith said that she did not accept it because she did not think it was sincere. "I also fully support and standby Nia [Frazier; aka Nia Sioux], Camryn and Nicaya [Wiley] as well as any others who have been victims of racism at the hands of Abby Lee Miller or in the industry," Smith wrote.

It was announced that on June 5, 2020, Lifetime decided to sever ties with Miller as a result of the allegations of the racist remarks she made. The network canceled the *Abby's Virtual Dance-Off* competition reality series, which was announced in April and was slated to debut in summer 2020. Miller also won't be returning to *Dance Moms* if the series is renewed for a ninth season.