The reality TV star spoke candidly during an interview ahead of her new TV show.
Abby Lee Miller is expressing regrets about how she treated some young dancers throughout her career as an instructor, on and off screen.
In a new clip from her upcoming episode of Impact x Nightline, the 58-year-old Dance Moms star was asked by ABC News' Juju Chang if she would change anything about her behavior or temperament as a coach. Miller says that looking back, she now believes it may have been kinder to just let go of the dancers she deemed not good enough, rather than make them jump through hoops to appease her.
"Absolutely. I would," Miller said of if she would do things differently given another chance. "No matter how harsh I was on the kid, they weren't going to get it. They just didn't have the talent. They didn't have it."
Luckily for the reality TV star, she will soon get the chance to put her words into practice. Miller is set to make her return to television with a brand new show, Abby Lee Miller Dance With Me!, which she recently revealed the first trailer for. In the video, the instructor is right back to her old tricks, showing "tough love" to hundreds of dancers around the country in an effort to find the cream of the crop and train them into champions.
While the teaser shows Miller at odds with dancers and their moms once again, using colorful language and critiquing everything from form to rhythm, she told Chang during their sit-down that her intention is always to yield the best results, not to inflict any pain on those coming to her for help.
"I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I want to get them to be better and the best that they can be," Miller said in her new interview, which hits Hulu on Thursday, May 2.
In 2023, ET spoke with Miller about her return to reality television with a new dance show. At the time, she described the series as a new iteration of Dance Moms that "has nothing to do with that network."
"It's not like I'm going back. This is all new," she told ET. "It's classic 'Abby Lee Miller' but there are little ones and their moms, and the talent is nuts."
Not so coincidentally, Miller's Nightline interview and the debut of her show's trailer fall within hours of the premiere of the Dance Moms: The Reunion special starring the majority of the original cast. While Nia Sioux, Mackenzie and Maddie Ziegler did not choose to return, JoJo Siwa, Kendall Vertes, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak and Kalani Hilliker as well as their respective mothers all came back.
In a clip shared by ET ahead of the special, the returning castmates criticized those who skipped the reunion, saying they found it disappointing that the three missing castmates chose to ignore the invitation.
"I think everyone knows who's not here," Kendall said. "Maybe they just don't think they needed this."
In a recent viral TikTok video posted by Nia, 22, she plainly summed up her decision to skip the filmed special, referring to the age-old adage, "No is a full sentence."
"The reason is quite simple. I just didn't want to do it," Nia said in the video. "Some people think it was because I had sorority stuff, nope, I didn't. Some people think it's because I'm in school. I am in school, but it wouldn't have been an issue. I just didn't want to do it, and that's a good enough answer and that's a good enough reason."
She added, "I love the girls, and I'm really happy for them. And I'm really happy that they get to share how they felt and their experiences. But that's just something that I decided I didn't want to do. And that's OK!"
Dance Moms: The Reunion airs on Lifetime on May 1.
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