Dance Moms alum Abby Lee Miller has been through a lot since the Lifetime series ended in 2019. After spending a year behind bars in 2018 and surviving a rare form of cancer, Abby makes rare public appearances in between teaching children to dance via Zoom. With some of her former dance students reuniting for a Dance Moms special in May 2024, fans are interested to know what Abby is up to today.
Why Is Abby Lee Miller in a Wheelchair?
In April 2022, the Abby Lee Dance Company owner opened up about her diagnosis that left her in a wheelchair.
“Today, April 13 is the anniversary of the last time IWALKED. In horrific pain, I made it into a doctor’s office and then across the street to a hospital for a sedated MRI,” she recalled via Instagram. “On Friday the 13th, 2018, techs had to remove me from the imaging machine after 15 minutes because my arms & legs were flailing about uncontrollably! My health declined rapidly.”
She went on to say that, after being admitted to the hospital, her blood pressure dropped, and her kidneys began to fail.
“I became paralyzed from the neck down. It was too late to transfer me … Emergency surgery had to be performed,” she continued. “I have never walked on my own again.”
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Abby underwent surgery on her spine, which was when it was discovered that she had Burkitt lymphoma – a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer). While she has been wheelchair-bound since, it was announced that Abby was cancer-free in May 2019.
As Abby continues to regain her strength in order to one day walk again, she opened up to Entertainment Tonight about a setback in March 2023. The dance instructor shattered her right tibia and fibula after her power wheelchair crashed into a wall.
“I just wanna walk,” she told the outlet. “I was walking on 11 flights. I did, you know, I walked onto 11 flights. I take the chair down to the bridge and then step onto the flight and walk on. And then this happened, so it set me back.”
Was Abby Lee Miller in Jail?
The Pennsylvania native was indicted by the Department of Justice and charged with fraud in October 2015 after it was revealed that she had created a secret bank account to hide income. Abby was charged with 20 counts of bankruptcy fraud, including concealment of bankruptcy assets and false bankruptcy declarations after a judge in her 2010 bankruptcy case saw Dance Moms on television and became suspicious of her reported income.
The dance instructor faced up to five years in prison and $5 million in fines for allegedly hiding more than $750,000. She pleaded not guilty to the charges and was subsequently hit with an additional charge of importing more than $120,000 in currency without reporting it.
In June 2016, Abby pleaded guilty to one count of concealing bankruptcy assets and one count of not reporting an international monetary transaction. She was ultimately sentenced to 366 days in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay fines.
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“A year and a day. It sounds like a movie title,” she told Good Morning America of her sentence. “We’re just going to pretend I’m shooting a movie and we’re on set and I’m there for 10 months and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Abby was released from prison on May 25, 2018.
What Is Abby Lee Miller Doing Today?
Abby, who is not married and doesn’t have children, keeps busy with her YouTube channel. She spills the tea on Dance Moms, reunites with her former students and critiques other dance-related shows including Dancing With the Stars.
The former reality star is the owner of the Abby Lee Dance Company in Los Angeles, which includes teams that compete in regional and national competitions, overall dance instruction and more. Abby also teaches virtual dance classes via Zoom.
In June 2023, Abby launched her podcast, “Leave It On The Dance Floor.”
“An original podcast celebrating the groundbreaking talent, real-life drama and behind the scenes secrets of the television series: #DanceMoms, #AUDC, & #AbbysStudioRescue,” she explained via Instagram ahead of its premiere.
Abby also makes money by selling merchandise and filming Cameo videos for fans. She tours the world to teach dance and meet fans too.
Which ‘Dance Moms’ Cast Members Still Talk to Abby Lee Miller?
Most of the Dance Moms cast members are not still in touch with Abby. While promoting the Dance Moms reunion in April 2024, JoJo Siwa and Kalani Hilliker said they still spoke to Abby, while Chloe Lukasiak, Kendall Vertes, Brooke Hyland and Paige Hyland revealed they were not in contact with her.
“I feel that, especially after the reunion, talking about it and going through everything, seeing her, I could move on,” Kalani told Good Morning America. Kendall added that the girls “got a lot of closure” while revisiting their past during the special.
Meanwhile, JoJo told People that she still talks to Abby “on a weekly basis.” She said she has a “great” relationship with her former dance teacher and added, “[She’s a] great human in my life.”
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Maddie Ziegler, who did not attend the reunion and is now working as an actress following her success on Dance Moms, previously revealed that she no longer has a relationship with Abby. She and her sister, Mackenzie Ziegler, left the show during season 6, which aired in 2016.
“She trained me, she helped me, but also, I knew I would be OK without her and I was sick of being in a toxic environment,” Maddie told Cosmopolitan in 2022. “I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since.” However, she said she was “at peace” with where things stood with her former mentor.
Another former cast member who didn’t attend the reunion was Nia Sioux, who referred to Abby as the “biggest bully in America” in a 2020 TikTok. She previously discussed the possibility of reconciling with the dance instructor. “Never say never,” Nia admitted in 2018. “But I’ve pretty much distanced myself for a while. I really learned so much from her. I think one thing that I take from working with her is I learned how to deal with difficult people, with different types of people.”
