In an epic diatribe that confirmed her departure from Dance Moms, Abby Lee Miller blasted the show’s producers, whining about her paltry budget and the way she was treated.
But Sari Lopez, a parent on the Lifetime series, tells Radar Online that Miller actually resigned from the program for a very different reason:
Everything you see on television is fake.
Well, not fake, per se.
Everything that transpires when you watch Dance Moms online or on television each week obviously does take place.
However, Lopez alleges that Miller had very little control over where the show was headed; everything was decided for her by network executives.
“It’s supposed to be reality TV, but it’s not reality,” Lopez, the mother of mini team dancer Areana, explains Radar. “It’s staged by producers.”
This is a truly stunning revelation.
What will we be told next, that The Hills and Keeping Up with the Kardashians also script entire scenes and storylines?!?
In detailing Miller’s frustrations, Lopez says the host wanted to cut two junior elite competition team members during a Season 7 episode…
… but procures forced her to cut dancers from the mini team instead.
“They pretend Abby chose to eliminate the minis, but that is not true,” Lopez claims, adding:
“They wanted her to eliminate two minis, but it was supposed to be the elites. She walked out crying because she wouldn’t cut any of the minis.”
Lopez says the ALDC owner was fined “thousands of dollars” for not going along with this angle at the time.
In late March, Miller left Dance Moms via a lengthy, anger-filled Instagram post.
It’s worth re-running below, just so readers can bask in every capital letter…
I WILL NO LONGER TAKE PART IN DANCE MOMS.
FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS/ SEVEN SEASONS I HAVE ASKED, BEGGED, AND EVEN DEMANDED CREATIVE CREDIT FOR ALL THE IDEAS, AWARD WINNING ROUTINES, THEMES, AND COSTUMING – TO NO AVAIL!
TODAY, I WAS SO PROUD THAT I WENT AGAINST THE PRODUCER’S IDEA (ONCE AGAIN) TO ENTER A COMMAND PERFORMANCE OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE NUMBERS… “WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHILDREN GONE?”
ALONG WITH THREE BEAUTIFUL SOLOS!
I don’t have a problem working with any kid, I love children and have dedicated my life to making other people’s children successful.
I JUST HAVE A PROBLEM WITH BEING MANIPULATED, DISRESPECTED, AND USED – DAY IN AND DAY OUT BY MEN WHO NEVER TOOK A DANCE LESSON IN THEIR LIVES AND TREAT WOMEN LIKE DIRT!!
Miller, of course, is due to be sentenced this spring for her admitted role in a bankruptcy fraud scheme.
She is facing many years in prison.
In a series of interview after her resignation, Miller said that replacement Cheryl Burke will be treated better because she’s better looking, while further explaining her decision as follows:
“It’s about the respect. It’s about the trust… I don’t want flowers or candy or anything like that, I just want somebody to say, ‘Wow, you’ve done a great job."”
She went on to say she was offended “as a woman” by the way she was treated behind the scenes, concluding:
“I think [the show was] detrimental to my health, to my mental health, to everything. It’s awful. There [was] no privacy, there’s no respect.”
Will you miss Abby Lee Miller on Dance Moms?
Or do you just hope the door doesn’t hit her on the way out?