Reality TV Star of the Week: JoJo Siwa in her 'controversial' statement calls Abby Lee Miller 'always right'
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: JoJo Siwa, a TikTok celebrity, made some controversial remarks against her dance teacher, Abby Lee Miller, at the 'Dance Moms: The Reunion' special. On May 1, some former 'Dance Moms' cast members reunited for the show's reunion episode.
During the two-hour show, the girls talked about their experience on 'Dance Moms' and their relationship with their dance teacher, Abby, who was frequently quite stern with them. When time came for JoJo to see footage of herself and the turmoil that had happened between her and Abby, the 'Karma' singer issued a statement.
JoJo responded by saying, "This is going to be a little controversial to say, but, to me, Abby was always right." Following her statement, the other females around her stayed silent.
The young star was referring to previously shown recordings in which Abby chastised JoJo for interrupting her discussion, as well as other tough clips of JoJo sobbing and Abby scolding her. In one video, Abby described Jojo as a "greedy little monster".
She added, "If I was a mess and a beat off, she wasn't just yelling at me because she wanted to yell at me. I was actually a mess and was beat off".
"One thing that I've learned, like really working in Hollywood, is that that's normal, and it's scary that it's normal, but that taught me how to survive in the industry. It truly is so tough".
Abby Lee Miller reacts to JoJo Siwa praising her in 'Dance Moms: The Reunion'
After JoJo's statement was disclosed, Abby replied on social media. Before the episode aired, Entertainment Tonight released a sneak peek that showed JoJo stating that Abby was always correct.
On TikTok, the dancing professional reshared the teaser, exclaiming, "JoJo, you finally learned something!" She captioned the video, "She said it, not me", with an emoji of a person shrugging.
Who starred in the 'Dance Moms: The Reunion' special?
The girls who returned for the Lifetime special are JoJo Siwa, Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes, and Kalani Hilliker. The girls reflected on their days with the Abby Lee Dance Company, including the turmoil.
Some of their moms were also present: Jessalynn Siwa, Kelly Hyland, Jill Vertes, Kira Hilliker, and Christi Lukasiak. Yet, three girls from the reality TV program, Nia Sioux, Maddie Ziegler, and Mackenzie Ziegler, did not attend the event.
'Dance Moms: The Reunion' Producers tried to get JoJo Siwa to 'call Abby' while filming
Abby was obviously absent from the 'Dance Moms' reunion special, but producers worked hard to rectify that. On the May 2 edition of her "JoJo Siwa Now" podcast, JoJo admitted that "the producers kept wanting me to call Abby" when filming the Lifetime reunion special in November.
JoJo called the producers "shady" for asking her to phone Abby, with whom she has a strong connection but not all of the ladies do.
"Paige, Brooke, and Chloe don't have any relationship with Miller, and it is not a healthy end of a relationship. It is very messy," JoJo said. "It is very traumatic on both ends," she added.
When the producers requested that she call their previous dance instructor, JoJo replied, "Absolutely not. I was like, That's where I put my foot down because I was like, alright, look. I'm not only putting myself in an awkward position of calling—and in this environment that no one invited her to—but, also, I'm putting Abby in a weird situation where she's talking to people who... she doesn't necessarily know how to talk to them".
She added, "And then Paige, Brooke, and Chloe, I was like, I'm not going to do that to them either because this was somebody who was a massive figure in their life that walked out of their life. There is real trauma there, and I didn't want to put anybody in that situation of, hey, let's see how this goes. No way".
JoJo mentioned that she had "a good relationship with Abby," something she has already discussed freely. "One thing is, I will never lose my respect for Abby, ever, for as long as I live," she went on to say.
"I have chosen to see that Abby only ever wanted what was best for me and was only ever tough on me because she wanted what was best for me," she continued. "And so for me, I wanted to protect my relationship with Abby, and I also wanted to protect my relationship with Brooke, Paige, and Chloe," she added.
