Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald - Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller Tells All

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Abby Lee Miller is one of the most infamous polarizing reality TV stars. She was the star of "Dance Moms" on Lifetime TV. We get into how she began her own dance school for children and discovered dance competitions. Abby explains how surprised she was to find that her most challenging part of her job, the dance moms, is what interested TV networks most. Abby shares how Bravo wanted her show, but the producers chose Lifetime. We get into her thoughts on Jojo Siwa, some of the worst moms, going to prison and getting sick. So much juicy scoop none of us knew gets dropped! Enjoy!  • Go to https://TheOuai.com for 15% off sitewide and enter promo code JUICY. • Get Up to 50% OFF @honeylove by going to http://honeylove.com/JUICY   • To learn more about therapy with NOCD, go to https://nocd.com and schedule a free 15-minute call with their team. • Start your free online visit today at https://forhers.com/JUICYSCOOP for your personalized weight loss treatment options • Stop wasting money on things you don’t use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to https://RocketMoney.com/JUICY  Stand Up Tickets and info: https://heathermcdonald.net/ Subscribe to Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald on iTunes, the podcast app, and get extra juice on Patreon: https://bit.ly/JuicyScoopPodApple  https://www.patreon.com/juicyscoop  Shop Juicy Scoop Merch: https://juicyscoopshop.com  Follow Me on Social Media: Instagram: https://www/instagram.com/heathermcdonald  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heathermcdonald  Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherMcDonald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Let's go faster forward together. In Life, Interact. Heather McDonald has got the Juicy Scoop. When you're on the road, when you're on the go, Juicy Scoop is the show to know. She talks Hollywood tales, her real life mystery, sacred serial data, and serial system. You'll be addicted and addicted fast to the number one tabloid real life podcast.

Listen in, listen up. Woo woo. Hannah McDonald. Yeah. Juicy Scoop. Hello and welcome to Juicy Scoop. I am really excited for you guys to hear this interview. This is one you have been asking for, begging for.

I sat down with Abby Lee Miller of Dance Moms. Now, I really have not watched that much of Dance Moms. I've seen the clips. I've seen what was perceived about her. I followed her case when she went to prison. We met and made this time for her to come on Juicy Scoop. And it is such an interesting life story. So many things I didn't know. She's funny, she's juicy, and she's inspirational and very real. And I think you'll really love this interview. So sit back and relax for Abby Lee Miller. Hello and welcome to Juicy Scoop. I'm very excited because I have a great guest, Abby Lee Miller, the star of Dance Moms, famous on so many levels.

Welcome to your first time at Juicy Scoop. Thank you, I love being here. We met at the Us Weekly Party. Yes. And I was so impressed that you knew who I was. Well, I've been a fan for years. So I was like, oh my God, definitely come on. My niece who's 17 is a new fan of the

show. And yes, I guess a lot of these shows with our younger generation that can watch shows, whether it's friends or dance forms or whatever, discovered it and was it was so excited that you were coming. So she was. I'll get a t-shirt for it. Yeah, yeah. Send it over to you. I cannot believe you put me in the same sentence with friends. That's great. Yeah. Yes.

Oh my God. I just, I can retire right now. So I want to get a little bit of a background for the people that aren't that familiar with you or the show. This is a show that it was on TLC, right? No. Was it on Lifetime? Yeah. Okay, sorry. It was on TLC, right? No. What was it on? Lifetime? Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

It was on Lifetime for seven or eight seasons. Eight. Eight seasons. Double seasons. And so two seasons a year. So we've shot 13 episodes, three specials, like a clip show I did, and then a reunion, and then a kids reunion, and then another 13 episodes, and another three specials. And then I would leave Pittsburgh and go fly to LA and do another show, a spin-off, Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, or Abby's Studio Rescue for another 13 episodes. So I was on television 45 weeks out of 52 weeks a year for years.

Seven or eight years. Six. Yeah, because the first season was supposed to be a six week docu-series that wasn't supposed to destroy my business or me. And yeah, it turned into eight long seasons. Well, I mean, I think that's, I want to get into all of that and let's, so let's go back. And so your mom was a dancer and had a dance studio. And so that's really where your dancing career began. Yes. My mom had seven studios in Miami, Florida before she left to marry my dad and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

When did you realize that you wanted to follow in your mom's footsteps and teach girls? I started to go travel with my mother to the conventions in the summer. There weren't competitions, but there were a lot of continuing education, and my mother was very big on that. It's, you know, dance is a constantly evolving art form. You have to stay on top of your craft.

Something new all the time for the kids. So I went with her and I studied with some of the most influential teachers of our time, jazz teachers Frank Hatchet and Luigi and Gastrodano and these people. And then when I was 13, we got a flyer in the mail and it was said, dance competition. That's the first time you saw those two words together. And I said, mom, mom, I want to do this. I want to do this. And she said, she looked at it and she said, wait, we're going to pay people money to watch you dance and then they're going to judge you.

That's absurd. You should get paid to dance. Uh huh. But she get paid to dance. Uh-huh. But she's in Pittsburgh now, different than Miami, different culture. And she said, okay, you wanna do a solo in this? I said, oh no, I wanna teach my friends to dance, choreograph it, and put them in it.

And I did. I got the costumes, I did the rhinestones, I cut the music when it was reel to reel tape, you had to slice it with a razor blade and put it back together. That's how you edited music. Now kids can do it on their phone. Right.

It's bizarre. So I did it and I put them in, three girlfriends, they were my age, and they took dance from my mother, of course, and they were my friends, and they won. I had that little 12 inch plastic trophy in my hands and I knew what I was put on this earth to do. Amazing. So then you, so then, okay, so then let's cut to, so you start. I'm 14. That, that, I'm, my birthday's in September. I turned 14 and I tell my mother, I want to have a competition team at your studio. And she said, okay, everybody that tries out makes it.

I'm not going to lose customers over this. And you're going to teach them for free because you're 14. You have no credentials. You're not a member of any organizations or anything, dance teacher organizations. So it's free. And you'll do it on Saturdays or Sundays after they're, you know, not during class time. And I did. And that's how it started. And I had 15 kids, one boy, 14 girls. And one of those girls

ended up being a mom on the show. Really? Yes. Did you get along with her? Nope. She's the one that physically assaulted me. Who was that? Her name is Kelly Highland. Wow.

Yeah. And when she was my student since she was three at my mom's studio and she was on the competition team at the Abby Lee Dance Company. Did you get along back then? I did. Yes, I loved her. She was gorgeous. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was a beautiful child, beautiful.

And nice legs, flexibility, she was more of an acrobat. And then her mother, who was divorced, her mom and dad were divorced, lovely people. Her mom had an affair with somebody else's dad in the dance studio. And that child was also on the competition team. So when that all broke out, we would go to the conventions at hotels and they were getting a room upstairs. And when that... And did you know as a kid, as a teenager?

No, no. Well, I did when it all blew up and both kids quit. They were so embarrassed and so mortified. They were like 14. And Kelly was one of those. Yes. Okay. But then her dad who was divorced, her dad always had a young gorgeous girlfriend and they always had kids and he brought them back to the dance studio. Every couple of years he'd bring in these new three-year-olds. So he was good for business. He was great. Yes. He paid tuition longer than anybody else in my studio. So then when do you decide to venture on your own and have your own studio? I didn't. I took over my mom's studio and I borrowed $585,000 when I was 22 years old at nine and three quarter percent interest. And my mom and dad gave

me their life savings, which was, I think, $180,000 to build my building. And I did. And is that the same place that then the years later that the TV cameras came to? Yes. Okay. Now, what was your relationship with reality TV before they came a knock-in? Were you a fan of it? None. You didn't watch it? I watched like Real World, maybe. So a little bit. Yeah. But I was a very avid TV watcher, scripted television. I was an only child. Television was my best friend. Yeah. So you're doing this thing. How old were you when they first said, hey, we're and how did they discover you? Tell

me the whole thing of how it came about. I was not discovered. I created the show, but I don't get a creative credit. Let's just throw that out there. All right. All right, so my 15 kids grows to 148 on my team, 400 in the studio. I'm married to the studio. I'm married night and day. Because you never have been married, right?

No, I did 77 solos myself choreographed. No guest choreographers, no guests. I had a great staff of people that I worked with, mainly ballet teachers that were at the ballet companies in town. I had a tap teacher that came from West Virginia, but they were mostly people that my mother had trained. Right? Okay.

So we're there, we're doing our thing, and we start to win. my mother had trained. Right. Okay. So we're there, we're doing our thing and we start to win. That was my goal. I want to win. I want to win. I want a Miss Dance of Pennsylvania. That was a big deal. And I got one.

And okay, now the next goal, I want a professional working dancer. I'm going to train a kid that's going to get out of this town and they're going to go and they're going to be they're gonna be successful. And I did. My first professional dancer, Lisa Schantz, was one of those very first kids at when I was 14 in my team. Oh, wow.

Part of my team. And she got Tokyo Disney. And she left her crazy family, which she had a crazy dance mom too, left her, moved to Japan. I flew to Japan to see her. Like I did it. I invested my life in these kids. They were my life. I love them dearly. Like they were my own kids, you know? Either younger sisters. Because you have never had your own children. Correct. Right. Right. Okay. But I've been in the wings of the stage. Right.

And put my hands like this and had a kid throw up in my hands. Yes. You've done it all but I've been in the wings of the stage. Right. And put my hands like this and had a kid throw up in my hands. Yes, you've done it all. I've raised these kids. Yes. Okay, all right. So, and then it went on and on and on, and then a junior misdance, and then a teen misdance,

and then a misdance of America, of the nation. And these aren't little rink eating competitions. This is big time, not for profit, huge events. And now what's the goal? I want a kid on Broadway. And I started driving those kids back and forth to New York City. Me. I paid for the gas, the parking tickets, the speeding tickets, the McDonald's, right? I did it. And I got a student in Footloose. That same young man is now an associate choreographer, a director of this and that.

He's involved in the new show, Death Becomes Hard, that's opening in November on Broadway. Right now, I currently have four kids on Broadway. Now, till this day, it's insane. And I did that. And to see your name in that playbill is meant it was all worth it. All the sacrifices that I made. Right.

Right. Okay. So I'm doing that. Right? Now things take a turn, my father passes away. He runs the books, he runs the money. Then my business, 2008 happened. And the kids couldn't go to dancing school.

The really advanced kids were still there because they were gonna get a life out of this, a college scholarship, their livelihood. They were still there. They didn't all pay, but they were still there. And then I still had babies coming because we have a great, great preschool program till this day, my mother's curriculum,

but they could afford it. It was 30 bucks a month, something cheap. It was those middle of the road kids that came two days, maybe three a week, that it was kind of pricey, but they weren't going to make a living at it. So they cut it out. And then it's just bills caught up, caught up, caught up. I refinanced my building from that nine and three quarter percent interest, refinanced the building and they never put the taxes in escrow on the building. And I didn't know that. I never went to a tax office. I never paid a tax bill. It was just in the monthly mortgage. So, three years

later in 2010, they come to me and say, you owe $37,000 on property tax on the building. And you don't have it. I don't have it. I don't have anything. I'm driving a brand new Escalade every two years. Like I lived a nice life. I still belong to the country club. I still did everything. So then what did you do? So I was so mortified and so embarrassed that I declare bankruptcy.

That was on December 10th of 2010. The show started four months later. Four months later. So you're saying… The TV show started. So you should have never declared bankruptcy. Never declared bankruptcy. Strung them out for four months, went to the tax office, tried to get an attorney to… Worked out a payment plan or something. And then, well, I did try to do that first before I declared bankruptcy. I did. But then the show would have rolled in

and I would have said, listen, we're gonna lose this building. If you wanna shoot here, you better figure this out. Right. Right. Okay. Right. I know everybody wants to get their gift giving done in July. Well, that doesn't really work for me,

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So she absolutely loves their leave-in conditioner. It is multitasking leave-in conditioner. It detangles, hydrates and fights frizz for every hair type on your list. Get on your way to save for the holiday. Go to the way T-H-E-O-U-A- i dot com for 15% off site wide and enter promo code juicy that's t h e o u a i dot com for 15% off with the code juicy. Reconnecting with the people in your life is so important and sending a holiday card is a meaningful way to do that. But it can be so hard. Where do you start? Well,

Shutterfly makes it so easy to share a custom card that's perfect for you. Some of you guys know I'm big on the holiday cards. You do a different one every year and we send them out to our very special Patreon peeps and I hope you're one of them. Also, what I love is I get so many back from you and I see the cutest families, dogs, vacation pics. I absolutely love it. And Shutterfly has a style for everyone from classic seasonal designs to hand-drawn holiday cheer. Find a card that reflects your vibe. No professional photos, no worry. Shutterfly multi-photo designs are great for candid photos, travel photos, or even school photos. I absolutely love

that because then I get to see a bunch of photos in one card. Stand out in a are great for candid photos, travel photos, or even school photos. I absolutely love that, because then I get to see a bunch of photos in one card. Stand out in a holiday card stack with foil designs or metallic pre-lined envelopes, so classy. Also Shutterfly offers services like free address printing and custom envelopes, or the new easy address collector that helps simplify holiday mailing

and makes it so easy to get your cards in the mail. That is what I really love. Find the perfect holiday card for you at Shutterfly.com and start customizing today. Enjoy 40% off your Shutterfly order with the promo code JUICYSCOPE and send something meaningful this year. Get free shipping on qualified orders. See site for more details. This episode is brought to you by NoCD. When people joke about, oh, I'm a little OCD, I wish they knew what it's really like to live with OCD

because it's nothing like the stereotypes about having to be super neat, tidy, and organized. OCD is a serious condition that can become totally debilitating. The thoughts can feel so real that seeking help can seem like a huge risk. It can feel like there's nothing you can do. But it doesn't have to stay that way because OCD is highly treatable with the right kind of care.

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So Hot Guy, most of my stories start with Hot Guy. So a young man named John Corrella was a professional dancer from Phoenix, Arizona. I used to see him at competitions. So he would win Team Mr. Dance of America. The next year he was giving up the title and my student was winning it. So I knew his family, I knew his dance teacher, you know, blah, yada, yada. So now I'm at a convention in Vegas

and I'm walking into the ballroom area and this hot guy's walking out. And I'm like, check him out, you know. Who's that? He's hot. And he looks at me and like checks me out. Like, who's this old fat lady looking at me? And I'm like, John Carrell. And he's like, I really wanna.

And we hug, we stay up all night talking. And I've known him since he was a kid, right? And he's done, you know, world tours, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Paula Abdul. He's done every Oscars Emmy, Grammy show in the opening number. He's a Latin, muscular, masculine dancer. My mother used to say he looked like Valentino on stage. So we start talking, what are you doing here? Oh I'm coaching these three kids. How do you put up with these mothers? I can't take it. Yada yada yada. I said three

kids, try hundreds, you know. And so the next day I'm leaving the hotel. He's coming in and he said where are you going? And I said well I have to go down the street to see my kids compete. He's coming in and he said, where are you going? And I said, well, I have to go down the street to see my kids compete. He's like, what are you talking about? Your kids are here. They're winning everything. They're amazing, Abby. I said, no, my other kids are down the street at a Dolly Dinko Rinky Dink event, at a really

trashy hotel. So we get in the car, we go down to the dinky hotel, and we walk in and there's a little girl named Maddie doing her solo, cute. Next kid does her solo, you don't know her name. The next kid does it, you might know her name. I look over at him and he's like this. I said, what's wrong with you? He said, oh my God, Abby, these kids are adorable.

They have to be on TV. These kids should be on television. Well, that's not my world. Broadway is my world. So I said, let me introduce you to their mothers. So I take him outside the ballroom. And you're thinking that's going to turn him off. Oh, yes. That's going to, he's going to realize that they're not the LA.

They're not going to be able to take their kids to, on a plane to Los Angeles and stay outside while they work in a movie or a film or whatever. Because, because why? Because these damn dance moms that you encountered are just a type unlike any other. Little ones, moms with the solos that they were doing, their kids were like on the verge of being good, right? Okay.

Yeah. So they think they know everything. You know, your kid wins one thing and suddenly you're an expert. But I take them outside and they're drunk. Yeah. The moms are. It's the morning. Okay.

Yeah, they're drunk already. They're broke. Okay. And they're bitching about everything. Uh-huh. You know, the competition, it starts's the morning. Okay. They're drunk already. They're broke. Okay. And they're bitching about everything. Uh-huh. You know, the competition, it starts too early, it ends too late. The food, the hotel, the ballroom, the bedbugs, everything. Everything.

I said, let's go, we're out of here, come on. And we jump in the car. Yeah. And he looks at me and says, Abby, I have an idea and it's going to be really good. And he started working on it. I went back to Pittsburgh. So he started working on the pitch. He went back to LA.

He starts working on a pitch. His best friend is a casting director for a little show you may have heard of, The Bachelor, The Bachelor. And he takes it to her and she said, John, I think you have a good idea here, but I hate kids. This is not for me. I'm going to introduce you to a guy that I know that does these famous birthday parties and stuff. And so John meets Brian Stinson and they both get credit for creating the show. Yeah. I will refer to him as Satan for the rest of this talk. Okay. So, Brian, Satan. The second guy.

Now, why? Okay. So, then they bring it to you and… No, they don't bring it to me. They start calling me. Okay. And they need pictures of kids. Okay.

They need 8x10s. So, I email the 8x10s. Yeah. We need footage. Do you have recital footage of dances, like groups and stuff? Uh-huh. Yeah. Yes, John, I have that. Now are you getting excited? Are you imagining what it would be like to have a TV show like

this? No, no. They're painting the ass. I'm busy. You're not excited. This is just annoying you. So, I'm in bankruptcy. It's like going to college. You have to fill out a form every month. It's literally like enrolling in school. If anybody's thinking about doing it, it's enrolling in college for accounting. When you file bankruptcy. Yes. And all through it all. Yes. It's a very stressful process. Okay. Yes. Okay. So we have that. I'm running my studio, trying to run it, maybe running it into the ground. I have two retail stores. One at my studio, one where like Carnegie Mellon University, like in the city where they are.

Okay, so I have all that, right? My mother is older, she's 82, 83 at the time. My dog is 16 years old, okay? I'm in Pittsburgh, I'm trying, and the goal was at 45, I was gonna go to Florida and live three weeks Come home do two weeks at home and go back and my mother would stay in Florida We're done with the snow and the shoveling and all that and try to start to sell my business Okay, one of my former students. Okay, so that's the game plan

next thing I know I Need we need your program books. I used to do these big, thick like yearbook almost beautiful pictures because I can make any kid look amazing in a picture. And this is before Photoshop. This is years before, you know, like pose them and like jump out of the frame and get back in the chin stand, the handstand. Right. OK, so then so then we're doing our thing. We're competing still. We're doing it.

We're trying to do less because people just don't have the money for all these fees. Okay, so I get the call, we're gonna find a cast. So they take it, they start knocking on doors to production companies, and they keep getting the door slammed in their face. Then they go to a place called Collins Avenue Entertainment. Jeff Collins gives them $3,000 to shoot a

sizzle. Got it. Now I have to provide all the stuff for the sizzle. Right. I'm the one that has the competition stuff and they want the crowns and the banners and all that. Right. Okay. So I don't even have money. They want 12 program books overnighted to Hollywood. They're this thick. I don't even have the money to ship these. Like 180 bucks to ship these to them. I'm like, you got to send me like a sticker or something to put on it so I can send them. All right. So, 11 networks were interested.

11. After the reel. That's unheard of. Yeah. They had mothers, mothers fighting and kids dancing, mothers drinking. When you said, okay, hey, how did you explain it to the kids and the moms that these cameras are coming in just for a little sizzle reel? Did they get excited? The sizzle was all made up of footage that I had. Oh, so they, so, okay, so they- The moms know nothing about this.

Okay, so then the offer comes in and you decide- There's no offer there. We're coming to Pittsburgh to shoot. So the networks go down and down and down and down and down. Right. And it's a bidding war. Right. And it gets, comes down to lifetime and Bravo. Oh, and lifetime buys the show. I could be, what's his name? Andy Cohen. Yeah, I should be Andy Cohen. I could be… What's his name? Andy Cohen. Yeah. I should be Andy Cohen. I should be his cohort. I'm bummed that Bravo didn't get it either because the thing that made me obsessed with Bravo from the very start were… What was it called? Showbiz moms and dads.

Oh, I don't know that show. Let me tell you people, I get chills thinking how good it was. Was it after Dance Moms or before? It was before. It was like when Only Bravo had like two things. No, it was such a small like cable network. They had that show and they had Inside the Actors Studio. That was literally all they had. That was a legit serious show.

I grew up here in LA. And I had a child's agent, this big woman called Iris Burton. And my two sisters and I, we all, we had the headshots, we went and my one sister, she made a lot of money in commercials. She's blonde, blue eyed. That's what they wanted. They didn't want the brown hair, brown eyes back then. So anyway, and then my one sister's her kids started doing it. So, we discovered this show and it is all about showbiz moms and dads. They'd feature one person who had a pageant kid. And then, but the one I was going to be interested in was everyone would come here. And then, but the one that I was going to interested in was everyone would come here. They'd stay at the Oakwood Apartments in Burbank for pilot season. And we were like obsessed with these kids that were trying to get the pilots and trying to get

the acting and you know, some were, some were good and some were like, I can't believe this person thinks their kid is going to make it. There was a lot, the cluelessness and the way it was shot was just brilliant. So brilliant. Like where the people think they're all that and your people at home are like, you're a loser. So anyway, I'm bummed they didn't get it. Okay. So lifetime gets it. Jump into lifetime. Yeah, they didn't get it and lifetime got it.. And it immediately changes the entire concept of the show because Lifetime wants a housewife show. Oh.

So Dancing with the Stars, their numbers are going up and up every week. So You Think You Can Dance was good at that time. Right. Right. So now they want a housewife show that centers around a dance studio because they're so freaking

cheap. They want the moms fighting and the moms having friendships and all that. Yes. It's a housewife show. The dancing is 10%. The kids are 10% and I'm not on it. I have nothing to do with it. They're using my studio.

And are they paying for that? No. So why didn't you say no? I thought. That be good at advertising. Now I have kids in 20 Broadway shows at the time or 15 Broadway shows at that time. What's my next goal? Right. Maybe this is it. Maybe kids are going to come flocking to my studio because we have a TV show. Yeah. Okay. Got it. I'm down and out. I got to do something. Okay. Now they're going to find a cast. So it's posted on my website, my website,

auditioning, TV show, no, not auditioning, interviewing. That's the key word, Heather, you have to realize. Yes. So the kids sat in a chair next to their mothers, like this. Nobody danced. no one. Okay. Keep that in mind.

So, 30 families interviewed. 27 were my students from my family's, right? From my studio. Two were friends of mine that had little boys that I thought were hilarious that would make great TV. And the mothers were hilarious. I mean, they were from a hick town called Uniontown and they just, hey, Abby, hey, Abby, how you doing?

Like they were crazy, right? They were fun. And the 30th one was Kathy, who ends up being my arch nemesis rival later on in the show. She was the first one. So she calls me, says, are you really doing a TV show at your studio? I said, Kathy, I don't know. They're gonna use my studio. Well, they like the upstairs, you know, thing.

We'll see. Well, I'm coming down. And I said, oh, well, who are you bringing? Thinking it's a student of hers and their mother, right? Yeah. What do you mean, who am I bringing? Vivianne, I'm bringing Vivianne. Her daughter can't even walk with the same, like opposite arm and opposite foot.

I was like, what? I'm like, well this is not the show I'm thinking of, is that? So 30 families. Now if you talk to any other mothers, they're going to make you believe thousands of people interviewed for this show. Boshay. No, I can't. No, no. Because no one knew about it. any other mothers, they're gonna make you believe thousands of people interviewed for this show. Okay. Bullshit. All right.

No, I can't. No, no. Uh-huh. Because no one knew about it. It was only on my website. And she knew because she stalks my website. Okay. That's it, right?

Right. And a couple other local studios were probably upset and stalking my, like, oh my God, she's gonna have a TV show. Now she wins everything. Right. So I'm already kind of hated in Pittsburgh because we win everything now.

All right. Like everything. Okay. So if you're serious, you come to my studio. If you want Dolly Dinkle, you go somewhere else. All right. So and also in my studio at this time, not there's one kid who's actually on Broadway and Hamilton right now, John Michael, give you a shout out. He is from the zip code that my studio is in. Okay. Nobody else is. Everyone is driving in 45 minutes, an hour to train with me. Okay.

So they come in, they interview these kids, and they have a cast. Okay. Now I'm choreographing for free. So now I'm choreographing reworking numbers that the kids already know. But there's one kid that's older, the older sister, and there's one little sister that they don't know these numbers. But all the other kids know the numbers. So they picked four kids out of a class,

18 kids in the class, right? Four get on a TV show and 14 quit. So I don't lose the tuition just for the next year. I lose the tuition for the next 10 years, eight years, all the costumes, fees, the shoes, the tights they're buying from me. So okay, so then the show, we're going to have to skip a lot. So then the show starts airing. Oh, well, wait, I got one more thing to say. Okay, so I'm choreographing for free.

And I think I can't keep doing this. My other kids are being shoved aside, neglected, and they're the paying customers. These bozos are the ones that are disrespectful and cause the trouble. Now are those kids getting paid by lifetime? Yes, the mothers were. Okay.

Not the kids. Uh-huh. The moms. So, I said, this is ridiculous. And you're still only getting a location fee? No location fee. Not a dime. Well, now are you getting paid anything at this point?

No. The first season you don't get paid. No, the first three episodes is where I am right now. Oh, okay. So, I bring in some other kids. Uh some other kids that aren't on this show. It's supposed to be a six week docu-series, remember that, six weeks. So I'm figuring in six weeks, it's gonna be over

and people are gonna come back, it's gonna be fine. I've got it. They're gonna realize it was nothing. Got it. That's in the back of my mind. So I put other kids that are the level of these kids, some better, way better, in behind the cameras to learn the choreography. So at least I can use it in my recital.

That's what I'm thinking, right? So one kid comes in with their hair down and socks on and a big sloppy shirt. I'm like, what are you doing? You look like a ragamuffin. Get out of here and come back when you look like a dancer." Meaning run out, put your hand up by a pony tail and get back in here. She never comes back. But 10 minutes later, her psycho mother slams the door open and starts screaming at me. Screaming and the kids are like shaking. And so I leave the room. Saying what? How dare you speak to my daughter like that?

Yes. Okay. Yes. Because that's what I told the kid. It's on camera. We know what I told the kid. But the kid texts her mother. Yeah.

Abby said this about me. Abby said that about me. She won't let me in the room. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And stirs the pot with the mother. That's what kids do. Right. That's what your kid does.

Yes. So then she comes in. So I go out of the room and she's chasing me around the den where the kids put their clothes and their coats and stuff. Like a lunatic, she's chasing me. And the cameras are catching this. Oh my God, they're on me.

Yeah. So I pick up somebody's cell phone, that's laying there, one of the kids, flip phone. I open it up and I dial 911. Uh-huh. And the dispatcher answers and he says, Officer Broadway, what's your emergency? Officer Broadway.

Yeah. And I look at Satan in the corner and I'm thinking, you intercepted a 911 call. Like, you're not that good, how would they do that? Yeah, how would they do that? So I said, there's one. Like, you're not that good. How would they do that? So I said, there's a psycho woman. She's chasing me around the studio. It's my building. It's my property. Come get her. Take her away. Yeah. And officer Broadway says,

does she have any weapons? And I said, just her mouth. It was like the heavens parted and the angels were singing. And that was my moment. And when that footage got back to Lifetime. But it was a real officer though. It was a real officer. And he later brought his daughter to take from my studio. Oh my God. She was too little at the time, but then he brought her years later. And the chief of police's daughter was actually there at the studio too. And they got back to lifetime, the footage, and they said, who is this? Who is this woman? We don't know her. We don't know a picture. And John's like, well, that's the woman's studio you've been using for free.

Oh, and my gas bills and my water bills went through the roof because they were there from 8 in the morning. So, you know, we want you on and then they offer you money. Now you need a contract and we're going to offer you $1,500 an episode. Oh, God. And I said, no, no, no, I don't have an entertainment attorney. I don't even know one of those in Pittsburgh. I bankrupt.

I have to check with the bankruptcy court to see if I can do this, if I can get paid. How is this all going to work? Yada, yada, yada, yada. So we, the next week we're in Arizona to film and we have a different crew because they're not bringing the cheap guys from Pittsburgh. They're hiring other people. So we're filming and I had new crew. So I have to tell the guys where they enter and where they exit the kids and where they do the dance. Like, you know, cause they don't know the dance. The other guys knew the dance. So I'm standing there and my back is to the audience and the

stage is here and Satan comes over and he puts a piece of paper in front of me and a pen in my hand and says, you have to sign this. It's just an appearance release. He said, everybody that walked in this ballroom had to sign it. And I'm just like, no one's even in the ballroom. He's like, what are you? I turn around and my ass is to 500 people sitting in seats that came in to watch the competition. But I didn't know that because I'm engrossed in what I'm doing right now. Right. And I grabbed the pen and I signed it. It was an eight year contract. It was a four year contract with a four year option for $1,500. So as the success went on year two and three, you couldn't negotiate anymore. I did. I did. I did. I hired another, I hired

an entertainment attorney finally. He screwed up. It was awful. It was just out of law school. Didn't know that. He was suggested by the production company. I had some friends that engaged in a deal with somebody who the person said, here, just use my attorney. My attorney, which I'm like, that's like a realtor that represents both the buyer and the seller. It can happen, but it's probably not in anyone's best interest. Correct. Yes. And then I paid that attorney in bankruptcy, had to pay him $100,000 to get rid of him to get a real entertainment attorney. Okay, so now that's nuts to me.

The mother's had a new attorney every week. Let me get into the show for a while because I have some questions about the show. Have you heard of Olivia, the travel company for lesbians and LGBTQ plus women? You know what they say, life is short and the world is wide. And when you're a lesbian or LGBTQ plus woman, you wanna be able to go on vacation, have some fun, feel safe and be yourself. Olivia Travel creates full takeovers of their cruise, resort, riverboat and adventure vacations.

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Yeah. Say their name. I think I found sobriety through my fans. That's beautiful, bitch. I love those little whores. I'm normally not this nasty. I bring it out of everyone. That's the tea. To watch the podcast in studio, see exclusive content, and get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, head over to youtube.com slash at Monet Exchange official and tell all your friends you can listen to Monet talks completely free on Spotify, Apple podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcast. Period. So we start watching people start watching the show and we're

mesmerized by the incredible dancing by the jealousy of the mothers for each other and their daughters and all of that. But also we get some highlighted moments of where you are frustrated with the girls and when you see those little snippets or whatever people feel like, is this any kind of, you know, cruelty towards kids or whatever. And what was that like to get that feedback when you had this successful business for decades and now because it's on TV, people are trying to say that you are, you know, verbally abusive towards children. Yeah. I mean, if it was a football coach saying

that stuff, it would have been perfectly acceptable, especially in Pittsburgh. You know what, it's just, it's funny that you say that because I literally just was talking about how before doing this interview, I said, you know, there's men all over the world that said, my dad made me hate baseball or whatever, because it was like so stressful, anxiety driven, all that kind of stuff. And it isn't great, but all of those people, some are, you know, some are running to their dad and saying, I can't believe I got the grand slam, you know, in the Dodger game and others, it didn't work out for them. So, it's a very tough thing to do, but it is a competition and you know, that's the way you make a star. So, I guess

that's interesting. It's not's the way you make a star. So I guess. It's not interesting the way you make a star. I had students that I still till this day, sweetie, put your leg, you're, you're not wrapping your serle cutipier when you come to posse on that devil pay and they go, Oh, and they fix it right away. That was not these kids because they picked these kids without seeing them dance. They picked them on their mother's behavior, personality, camera friendly looks. They didn't pick my best dancers. Now, where did JoJo come into play? Okay, JoJo was on a spin-off show called Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, which I loved

because I just had to show up every once in a while and yell and just sit in a chair with Robin Anton and Richie Jackson, my buddy and judge. And that's where JoJo came from. So she entered that competition. Yes, she had submitted stuff for Dance Moms season after season. They sat in Nebraska and watched it. We just talked about this on my podcast

that I did with JoJo and said, oh my God, why aren't we on this show? We should be about this on my podcast that I did with JoJo and said, Oh my God, why aren't we on this show? We should be on this show. And so then when Abby's Ultimate was looking for, you know, kids all over the country, they submitted and they got it. And then she came on to Dance Moms. And she's very grateful.

Yes. I've seen that. And so what did you think? I mean, when I see those old, I mean, she's beautiful now, but've seen that. And so what did you think? I mean, when I see those old, I mean, she's beautiful now, but that little face is just the sweetest with her little face, her eyes would open up wide. She's a beautiful child. Yeah. She's a beautiful girl now, but she was really just like a little doll face. Yes, she was. And so… And she was a star.

Yeah. I knew that. But a star is different than a team member. Uh huh. I wanted the Rockettes. I wanted everybody the same height, the same leg, the same side aerial side. Yeah. So that are both side side aerials. Let's throw that out there. Uh, so that they could learn a routine in two days. We had Wednesday and Thursday to teach those numbers to those kids.

And several hours because of the filming laws in Pennsylvania are very strict. Thank you to that K plus eight chick. Yeah. So now we're even, you know, under the thumb being watched every minute and having to pull kids off camera and not learn the routines. So I didn't need JoJo to stand out.

I needed her to blend in. And that was my problem with her. And also, she was homeschooled since she went to kindergarten. I think she went one semester to kindergarten and never went back. So kids learn how to stand in line, how to raise their hand and ask a question, how to, you can't just run to the water fountain. You need to ask to leave the class. She didn't know that. Because she was never in a traditional classroom.

Right. So, she didn't know any of those social graces or rules. And that's where the line comes from. Jojo, have you learned nothing? Because I have, I told her a million times when two adults are speaking, you say, excuse me. Yeah. You don't just interrupt and blurt shit out. Yeah. And she did. So in dealing with all these kids, a couple of questions,

you know, were there times when you did feel, you know, that they were in a bad situation with a parent? Like, you know, where you were like, I feel like this could be really detrimental, like don't step in, whether it was on camera or prior to the show, what was that like? Okay. Prior to the show, I would call Child and Youth Services probably every couple of years.

On somebody. On somebody. Yeah. When you saw it the most was when we were doing the pictures, the photo shoots for these big program books that we would do, and you'd see that woman with the hairbrush just going in on the kid and you're like. Hitting her, hitting them.

Yeah, and you're like, this is not just today because you can tell the way the kid reacts. If the kid screamed and yelled and ran and said, my mom just hit me with a hair dryer, you know, then it just happened then. But when the kid doesn't react and like sucks it in, you know, that's going on every day. And I would see that. Then you would call. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And then would the mother ever retaliate thinking that you were the one that was the whistleblower? I think they quit and were never seen again. A little girl that I still train over Zoom now, when her mother was a child, she took from me and she grew up to be a teenager that kind of got in with the wrong crowd and stuff. And she had a baby and would just leave her at the studio. And it would be eight o'clock at night and nobody ever came to pick the kid up.

And somebody else at the studio would take the child home with them and feed them and put them to bed or whatever. Yeah, so we had that too. Wow. The Abby Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh and my mother's studio prior to that, it was a safe place.

It was a place where you knew your child was safe and they were doing something artistic and athletic and they weren't in the backseat of a car with a boy. You know what I mean? You knew where your kid was on Wednesday nights at 8.30. You knew that your kid was at the studio. Now what about, you know, when with gymnastics and ice skating and dancing, how did you deal with kids that might be on the verge of an eating disorder or that you feel maybe the parents were like, that must be a hard thing to make sure. I had one kid.

I probably had some teenagers that tried it or whatever. And the parents would come to me and say we caught them. I'd say take the bathroom door off the hinges and the bedroom door off the hinges. And that was it. It was one and done. I had one little girl. She's an adult now she's married. She has two kids and I still think she's anorexic. I still think it and we forbid her to dance. She could watch class but she was not allowed to dance because the gymnastic teacher at

the time was a pharmacist by day and in the medical field and he came to me and he said Abby she's gonna get hurt. She was too fragile and thin. Yes. Yes. So we forbid her but it was weird because her dad used to bring her and he used to sit upstairs every single day for hours and watch her in the class. And I'm thinking and she was young but she got put in the older kids, teenagers for a

couple classes, like the warm up and stuff. And these gorgeous girls are doing beat beat straddle with their legs and he's sitting up there. So we had to stop him from going up because it was making them feel uncomfortable. Yeah, creepy. And I thought, how does this guy drive this little, I don't know, maybe she was 12, to the studio

and not just keep driving to Children's Hospital? Yeah. You had the kid in the car, pass the studio, drive to the hospital. I called the pediatrician because I knew who it was. Called the pediatrician in confidentiality and said, this kid has a problem. I either too much exercising at home,

you know, like sweating it off or not eating, or it's up here. Maybe she doesn't want daddy to watch her like he watches those other teenage girls. Maybe she doesn't wanna develop and grow up. Yeah, very true. Or we had another little one in the studio that was older, but petite and tiny and won everything

and got all the auditions because she was 14, but looked 10. And she could read a script like a 14 year old. And maybe she was jealous of her and wanted to be like that and thought, if I don't eat, I won't grow. I don't know. There's something going on called the pediatrician in good faith.

The next day, the mother came into the studio stormed in and demanded to see me in my office and shut the door and said, how dare you call our pediatrician. That is our business and we are dealing with it. I still don't think they've dealt with it. So what did you do then? Did you say leave? She can't dance.

Yeah. So she puts the weight on and she did. She ended up working for me. She worked on the show a little bit. Oh, okay. So she got better. Yes. But still,. She worked on the show a little bit. Oh, okay, so she got better. Yes, but still I don't think she's better. Right, I mean, that's a hard thing to come over.

And then as the show became so popular and the moms became famous and some of the kids became famous, what was like the best and the worst part of it and yourself included in that? What was the greatest like thing about becoming famous and having this hit show? And then what was the worst?

Well, the worst was losing my business. Yeah. Yes. And if I, you know, hindsight again, if I would have demanded that all the kids be homeschooled before the show started those six weeks, you have to be homeschooled for the six weeks. And we shot from eight in the morning until four.

It's done. Camera crews are gone. And then my business goes back to normal. I would still have a booming business in Pittsburgh till this day. I'm sure of it. Or I would have sold it to somebody and I had something to sell, right?

Right. But they didn't. So it destroyed the business. Got it. And with that being said, the moms started to do these meet and greets and charge a hundred bucks for somebody to take a picture with their kid and this and that. But the kid, they were missing their dance classes, their regular training, not the show, of course. But also, and that's also work. That's also their working longer taking,

doing meet and greets as a child. There's one mom. And who was going to the meet and greets? I'm sure it was probably mostly girls and boys, but were there any adult men going to these meet and greets? That I don't know about so much, because yeah, but I, you know, I know one kid that built her family home.

They lived in nothing. They came from nothing. Well, and they live in a huge mansion now that the kid built. From the success of the show and going on. In their own private meet and greets and pretending to teach dance classes when they weren't teachers and stuff like that. Oh. Yeah.

And then with JoJo, I know that she then built this YouTube channel and she had all these products. Yeah, that's a regret. I should have been sitting next to her on the bus learning to edit and upload and do all that myself because Jojo, you give the kid a computer and she'll make you a million dollars. I should have been doing that. I should have had cameras in that studio. I could have been teaching Zoom all over the world then. I mean, we all didn't know what Zoom was until the pandemic. in that studio. I could have been teaching Zoom all over the world then. I mean, we all didn't know what Zoom was till the pandemic. Right. Yeah, I could have done a lot of things with JoJo.

That money went towards supporting her family as well. However, she's doing so well now. It's not a problem. Now, if she hadn't built an adult career, you know, which is like the classic thing, you know, so it's good that everything has worked out for JoJo and she's continuing to be an artist. But yeah, I think she could have kept going with the kid thing too. I mean, kids love her.

Yeah. You know, and now with the resurgence of the show, right, you know, so I don't know if everyone that's watching. How do you feel about how sexual she's gotten with her art now? You know, well, Richie Jackson is her choreographer. And so I'm working with him on another project. So I knew what the video was going to be like the first video. And I knew that every single undulation was choreographed, was counted out. And everybody is so professional on set. It may not look like that, but it was. Cause I had some of my girls there

that were extras in it too. I think JoJo's laughing all the way to the bank. Oh yeah, I think it's great. Whether she's selling a bow or a sexy song. Or wearing a glittered dick on the cover of a magazine. Whatever. Whatever sells, sells. Yeah. She said in her, I saw a clip from her, which I have not watched the whole thing, but child star and Hulu, where she said, I got addicted to the numbers. I got addicted to how many subscribers I had and how many views I had on YouTube. And then I'd set another goal for the following month and the following month and the following. And then one day she said,

I don't want this anymore. And I remember I used to be like, first of all, I thought she was gay, very young. I was like, this girl's gay and she's wearing these bows and she's too old to be wearing bows. When can she break from the bows and be herself? So I was really happy to see her break and do what she wants, whatever that is, style, singing, dancing. Well, yeah, I'm thrilled that she's still dancing. Yeah. I was teaching at her studio Saturday and she showed up. Yeah. And she was like, she didn't take my class because my class is too hard. But it's interesting that she still loves the fame. I mean, she drives two cars around that her face and her name are wrapped in it. She lives in my neighborhood. I saw her. I chased her down. Oh, good. Well, I don't think she knew who I was. I think she

just thought I was a weird mom saying Jojo because then I acted like I was walking by the house and I was like, Jojo, Heather Duffer, Juicy Scoop. And she's like, Hey, and she just went back into her house. But anyway, I think that's great. I think it's great that, you know, she has a good relationship with you. And so, she knows she wouldn't be where she was if it wasn't for the success of the show. And I also think she understands reality TV because she went on, she judges a reality TV show. So she's on the other side of the fence, has to create the drama. She was on that crazy show where they were out in the middle of New Zealand somewhere and she had carried a guy on her back and all that.

Special forces. Yes, special forces. So she's done it. She knows it. All the other kids, even though they went on to maybe do some other things, kind of leave that with a facial expression, they weren't reality TV things. So, oh, it was horrible. It was this. It was toxic, global blind. It's like you have a million dollars in the bank.

You're living in a $2 million house that you bought yourself. You're 20 years old and there's millions of young girls that would trade places with you in a heartbeat. So stop saying it was so tragic. When you were 10, you wanted to win. You wanted to be the best and you had a week break. Where were you? With me traveling somewhere, being my demonstrator in my class? So now let's cut to when you had to go and do a year in prison.

I was in a witch hunt because of the character that I depicted on the show, guaranteed. Listen, I didn't know you very well and that's what I thought. Well, thank you. I mean, I didn't know you personally and I didn't really watch the show religiously. But just from what I saw, I was like, who is this woman screaming at these little kids all the time? And now she is a convicted criminal. 21 indictments and one And one stuck. Twenty were proven wrong. And one stuck. And it sickens me to say this. I went to prison for eight and a half months. It was a year and a day sentence.

I served eight and a half months because I was maybe going to walk away from a vacation home in 2010. What do you mean walk away from a vacation home in 2010. What do you mean walk away from a vacation home? We couldn't. My bankruptcy attorneys were trying to get Chase Bank, who held the mortgage at that time, on my house, the adjustable mortgage, to negotiate a standard rate, you know, a set rate.

So it wasn't adjustable anymore. And they couldn't get them to play ball. They couldn't get a hold of them. They wouldn't email back. They wouldn't phone call back. Nothing. Could not get through. And I live in a like a cul-de-sac. It's not a cul-de-sac. It's like a round loop. Yeah. And seven houses out of the 11 people left. They just walked away from their homes. Oh God, oh I got it. Cause a lot of expats in Orlando, you know,

bought vacation homes. And till this day, I still own that house. I still make the payments. I never walked away from it. So what- My bankruptcy attorney on my behalf, without my knowledge, because I made it. So, my bankruptcy attorney on my behalf without my knowledge because I made it perfectly clear I wasn't giving up the house because I was too afraid

I wouldn't get credit again to buy another home. That was my philosophy. So, I was sticking by that no, no, no, just… So, if you were to go back you would have been like take everything or are you okay with now that the time is done? Yes. You would have said take everything. Or are you okay with now that the time is done? Yes. You would have said take it. Well, I would have went back. I would have just paid it off. Okay.

So. With the TV show. So when you. But you know, a lot of do that in bankruptcy. Okay. You can't get a chunk of money and pay one person back. Oh, okay. You can't.

So I owed that $37,000. Got it. And when they put everything all in. Okay. My cars, my house, my parents' house, everything in. Yeah. It was 620 grand. That was it. That was it. So what was prison like for eight months? Hell. You didn't make any friends? I made wonderful friends. Okay. I made a best friend that I still have. Oh, that's good. Shout out to Michelle. Yeah.

And so were you with like white collar criminals or were you with any of your like murderers? I was with white collar criminals who just got there or I was with hard criminals who worked their way up status wise with good behavior. To be in a more lenient? To be in a camp, a prison camp. Okay. Yes. It was like in a camp, a prison camp. Okay. Yes. It was like your parents dropped you off at the wrong Girl Scout camp. Okay.

Not the one with the horseback riding in the swimming pool. Right. In the good food. The other one, the cheap one. That's what it was like. And there were like bunk beds all in one room? At the beginning, you stay there and then you get assigned a square,

a rectangle if you will. So, it's all one room, the ceiling's open. But you're in with two girls and you have two sets of lockers and two bunk beds. And I was on the bottom. And at any point, did you set up a dance team there? Yes. You did. So, your visitors come on the weekend and instead of it just being the normal candy out of the vending machine, it's party for the holidays. Yes. So Christmas or Hanukkah, whatever you, you know. Yeah. And of course I got a group of girls together and I taught them Santa Claus is coming to town. It's a sixties numbers and the class come with but the Pointer sisters,

we got the music. And then their families got to see it. Yes. Oh, that's so cute. That's so sweet. And then we took pictures. We had group pictures and it was fabulous. At any point when you got there, was there any time that people were mean and bullying because you're famous until they got to know you. And what kind of bullying type of mean thing would they do? It was the guards. Oh, the guards were bitter and off, not the prisoners. No, some of them were just like, who does she think she is? Other ones were, oh my God,

you have made this okay for me. Because my children were so humiliated, embarrassed, angry with me, not speaking with me. They wanted to disown me. And then you come here and suddenly I'm cool. Because you know, Abby Lee Miller, we want to come visit you. Can we see her? Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. So that was great. And I took a lot of pictures. What about lesbian love in prison? I think if you're a lesbian before you go in, you're a lesbian there. There was a few people I think turned that way just because they needed something.

And they're there for years and years and years. I'm, no, I like hot guys. You didn't see anyone do the family thing where they'd be like a family where they'd act like a mom and dad and then another girl would act like their child and they'd form a little weird family unit? No. I've seen that in prison. Most of the drama was over the microwave.

Oh, how many people can use it or waiting? Waiting in line to use it. So I get there and I think, well, what's the big deal? I'm just going to have my friend Diana order a couple dozen microwaves. So, I did. I ordered a dozen for one unit and a dozen for the other unit. And they came and they got turned away. They got turned away because they wouldn't allow it. Of course, you're not allowed. But I didn't know that. You just thought it would be nice. Another time the kitchen was broken or something

happened and they had to give us bag lunch with peanut butter and jelly and an apple or whatever. Can we just order pizza? Like, oh, I can do it. I'll order the pizza. Like what? Like it's very backwards. Did the guards get nicer to you once they got to know you? Some of the guards, well, I shouldn't say guards. Some of the… Correctional officers? … counselors. Oh, okay. Stuff like that. They were like, what are you doing here? We read your entire case.

What are you doing here? It's ridiculous. If this would have happened in California, you would have got a letter in the mail. Yeah. So that was tough to take. So we're going to wrap it up, but in doing all this, how do you feel about like in conclusion? Well, conclusion, they took me off my medication and that caused me to be in this chair. The prison. The prison. Cold turkey.

Metformin for diabetes and very high dose 325 of thyroid medication, levoxylsynthroid. And they took me off of a cold turkey, I feel as a punishment for something that happened. And they, I got out and a week later, I was visiting six doctors in 10 days, getting go home and take it easy honey, when they see that you're in prison or coming from a halfway house. And I had cancer choking my spinal cord. It left me in a chair.

If any one of those six doctors are listening, if you would have cut it sooner, if you would have believed me and listened to me, I wouldn't be in this chair. Wow. So, in looking back at everything, do you feel that like the series of events of being on this show, do you just feel like you were taken great advantage of and then like a series of unfortunate events then followed through? I don't know if they were unfortunate or they were calculated events.

Right. Yeah. Yes, definitely. And then had catastrophic results. Yes, absolutely. So now going forward, you have such like a positive attitude. They didn't kill that. Thank you.

So I think that God let me live. So I need to live. I think God let you live to redeem yourself here on Juicy Scoop. Well, I'm thrilled to be here. It's fabulous. I love your necklace. I'm going to need one of those for my show. Thank you.

But I do think like, you know, I know that you said you're working on other projects. You have other things going. You are a really positive light. It really was definitely not portrayed in the show. Never saw the good times. You never saw the laughter with the kids. No, you never did. And I just had that.

And so what would be your advice to somebody that might be in some other business or whatnot and they go, oh my God, they want to make a reality show about me or I'm up for joining a reality show. What would be your advice to someone like that? Get a really good attorney, get an even better accountant, and then question every single thing that they do. Read the fine print. Yeah, that's good advice. I didn't do that. I was working, I had a camera on my face 12 hours a day every day. I also think you started, what year did you begin? 2011. That's still beginnings of reality show. I mean, we're 2024 now. That was 13 years ago. Like a lot

has happened and you certainly, there was no way to be savvy at that time as a dance studio teacher. Yeah. In Pittsburgh, not in Hollywood, not having a TV background. Like, what do you expect? You know, and who would have thought, again, you thought it was going to be six weeks. Who would have thought it would be this huge success? And then once the train has left the station, like then what are you supposed to do? You know? And I just felt I'm a woman. I'm a confident woman. I'm a strong woman. I get my fight from my dad. But had he been alive, he would have punched that Satan guy in the face and they would have not gotten in my studio for free. You know what I'm saying? Things would have been a little

different. I didn't have anyone that had my back. I had friends. I still have them. They're my dear, dear friends forever. But they weren't in a position to say, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You're not coming in here. They didn't know TV either. Have any of those mothers that you may have had conflict with, have any of them come around and try to reconnect in a positive way or have any of them come back and been that much more

vengeful or what is… You mean the one that stole money from me and took money from me and… Who took money from you? And forged checks. One of them did? Yeah. And is that out there as public record? Melissa. Oh, okay. Yeah, Maddie McKenzie's mom. Oh. McKenzie's had a little music career I started that I believed in her because she wasn't that great of an answer. Okay. So I thought she likes to sing.

We'll do this. Yeah. And we did it's a girl party. It went to number one in three countries. It's still out there. It's still making money. And I haven't seen one dime. And we had a 360 deal with the kid and she just moves on and signed something else with somebody

else. Yeah. So, it's been a lot. But are there any moms that you're close with or regained a friendship with? JoJo's mom and I, yes. Brynn's mom, Ashley. Oh, goodness. Yeah, lots of them. Oh, that's good. Good, good. But the original ones from my studio that paid $242 a month dance tuition for 16 hours

and ended up with millions from their dancing school. Like from there. Yeah. No. Interesting. No, I was dying in the hospital, dying. Not one visitor from those kids. Some kids did come, but not those original kids. Wow. But JoJo walked in with a $10,000 check from Dancers Against Cancer for me. That's great. Yeah. That's really great. I just gave it back last month to the charity. That's great.

Now you're doing much better. Yes. Yes. And so tell everybody where they can follow you and find you and listen to what you're doing. So my podcast is Leave It On The Dance Floor. And wherever you listen to your podcasts, check it out. Please subscribe, like turn on your post notifications.

My Instagram is at the real Abby Lee, TikTok at the real Abby Lee and mainly my YouTube channel, Abby Lee Miller. Please, please, please go watch, subscribe. It's fabulous. Awesome. Well, this has been so great. Thank you so much. I learned so much.

It's fascinating. Yes. We can go to lunch. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. I learned so much. You did? Yes. We can go to lunch? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you so much, you guys. I love you. And as you know, go to heathermcdowell.net

to join my Patreon and also to buy my tickets for my February shows. What a great treat for Christmas, you guys. Get those tickets now and get the best seats that are still available. And that's February 14th, New York City, February 15th, Washington, D.C., February 16th, Red Bank, New Jersey. That is a Valentine's holiday weekend. So what a perfect time to go and see a funny standup show.

Thank you.