'Dance Moms: The Reunion': JoJo Siwa Defends Abby Lee Miller's Behavior to Co-Stars

'Dance Moms: The Reunion' premieres on Wednesday, May 1 at 8pm ET/PT on Lifetime.

'Dance Moms: The Reunion': JoJo Siwa Defends Abby Lee Miller's Behavior to Co-Stars

Published:

7:05 AM PDT, April 26, 2024

The Dance Moms girls are returning for a reunion special, and JoJo Siwa is getting honest about their embattled former mentor, Abby Lee Miller.

In this sneak peek of the forthcoming Dance Moms: The Reunion special for Lifetime, Siwa is joined by some of her former co-stars -- including Kalani Hilliker, Kendall Vertes, Chloé Lukasiak, Paige Hyland, and Brooke Hyland -- and the Dancing With the Stars alum gets candid about Miller's divisive teaching tactics.

"This is going to be a little controversial to say, I think," Siwa began, cautiously, "but, to me, Abby was always right."

Miller would often clash with the young dancers -- and even more so with their mothers -- over her abrasive and demanding behavior toward her students. It led to many feuds between Miller and the other stars of the show -- but Siwa says that, despite everything, it was ultimately beneficial in her experience.

"If I was a mess and a beat off, she wasn't just yelling at me because she wanted to yell at me. I actually was a mess and I was a beat off," Siwa said, arguing that Miller wasn't controlling or mean just to be vindictive.

"One thing that I've learned really working, like, insane, in Hollywood is that that's normal," Siwa adds. "And it's scary that that's normal, but that taught me how to survive in the industry. It truly is so tough."

Abby Lee Miller and JoJo Siwa celebrate her Sweet 16 Birthday celebration at W Hollywood on April 09, 2019. - Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Siwa previously spoke with ET back in December about the reunion special, and jokingly teased what fans might be able to expect from the two-hour TV event.

"It's me, Kalani, Kendall, Chloé, Paige, Brooke, and [in terms of parents], it's "Kelly [Hyland], Christi [Lukasiak] -- who was on FaceTime a lot -- my mom, Kira [Girard], and Jill [Vertes]."

"We got squads, it's good! There's a lot," Siwa said, enthusiastically, before dropping the truly unexpected tease, "You might even see me get married!"

Although when pressed for more details, Siwa laughingly shrugged off questions, so what the reunion will actually feature remains to be seen.

The two-hour Dance Moms: The Reunion special premieres on Wednesday, May 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Lifetime.

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