Drama! Dance Moms alum JoJo Siwa came to the defense of Abby Lee Miller after the reality dance teacher’s former student Brooke Hyland publicly shaded her.
“Facebook telling me I have a new friend suggestion,” Brooke, 22, documented in a now-deleted TikTok while zooming in on Abby’s name. The former reality star then flipped the camera around to show herself making an awkward facial expression before shaking her head “no.”
“It’s one thing to just not add her back. It’s another to post it,” JoJo, 17, said in response to Brooke’s shady video, according to TikTokRoom.
Abby, 53, is a bit of a controversial figure at her Pennsylvania dance studio because some think her treatment of the dancers is too harsh. JoJo is known to be extremely close with her former coach and frequently visited her in the hospital during her previous health struggles.
In April 2018, Abby was rushed to the hospital after suffering from an unusual spinal infection that nearly took her life. She still remains in a wheelchair. At the time, she was also battling Burkitt’s Lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which starts in the immune cells. She announced in May 2019 she was officially cancer-free after a year-long battle and even began filming for season 8.
Brooke isn’t the only Dance Moms alum with sour feelings toward Abby. Chloe Lukasiak previously detailed why she was “kicked out” of her old studio and cut all ties with her longtime teacher during a tell-all YouTube video in 2019.
The 18-year-old claimed she was being forced to “sign a contract” before her exit that had stipulations about her weight, hairstyle, tattoos and more. The blonde beauty alleged that the legal document would also give Abby “10 percent” of the money she made.
“I was still on the show, and my former dance teacher couldn’t kick me off the show because she didn’t have that power or ability,” Chloe explained about her presence on season 4. “It became really awkward between some of my old dance friends … [and] my old dance teachers and [me],” she said, while adding, “season 4 was probably the hardest for me to go through.”
As for Maddie Ziegler — perhaps the most famous alum to come from the show — she exclusively told Life & Style she is “not in contact” with Abby.
Abby seems to be doing just fine with the support system she has!