Dance coach Abby Lee Miller would often be extremely vocal with her students and their shortcomings. In a 2022 chat with Cosmopolitan, "Dance Moms" alum Maddie Ziegler admitted that Miller taught her that she was "less than" if she did not win a trophy. The dancer also shared that her fellow performers were not allowed to interact with competitors, including merely watching them perform or being their friends. Ziegler has since cut ties with Miller, but the former coach and cancer survivor says she was forced to conjure up this type of chaos for ratings. "The producers were asking me to do something, I didn't want to do it," Miller told Entertainment Tonight.
In many instances, Miller believed the producers would purposely get her upset in order to get a confrontation going between herself and the mothers of her dance troupe. Miller hinted at such behavior when she announced her exit from the series in 2017 ahead of her prison sentence after being convicted of fraud. In a social media post declaring her leave, Miller expressed love for her children but said she'd grown tired of being "manipulated, disrespected and used" by those running the Lifetime hit.
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