‘Dance Moms’ Stars Address Abby Lee Miller’s Absence at the Reunion, Quitting the Show & More

The stars of Dance Moms are taking a trip down memory lane with the highly-anticipated Dance Moms: The Reunion. The cast members taking part will be revisiting the most dramatic moments of the iconic Lifetime series, which ran from 2011 to 2019 and followed young dancers, their moms, and their formidable dance teacher Abby Lee Miller at the Abby Lee Dance Company.

Dance Moms alums Kalani Hilliker, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, and Kendall Vertes open up to TV Insider about looking back on their childhoods and how they feel about Abby today. All four of the stars admit they were glad Abby didn’t participate in the Lifetime sit-down.

“I think that we wouldn’t have been as open and vulnerable and honest if we had that kind of energy in the reunion,” Kalani tells TV Insider. “I think it was best having it just be us girls and being able to really open up to each other. I think if she was there, none of us would have been able to.”

Paige says she wouldn’t have taken part in the reunion if Abby had. “The whole point was for it to be a safe space for us to open up and reflect, and I feel like it would have been the same thing where we would have been scared to say anything,” she says.

Paige, Brooke, and their mom, Kelly, were cast members of Dance Moms through Season 4. The Hyland trio abruptly left the show after Kelly and Abby got into a physical altercation following years of simmering tension. “I have not spoken or seen her in 10 years since the last day we were on the show,” Brooke reveals.

Lifetime

The sisters explain that they have no regrets about leaving the show when they did. “I think we both were ready to get off the show from the beginning, so for us, we were kind of ready,” Paige says. “But I do think it was hard. Whenever I got off the show, I didn’t really use my phone. I feel like we kind of lost contact with the people on the show for a little bit. I think we all were going through so much that we needed a little bit of time away from that environment.”

Brooke adds, “But I don’t think I regret leaving dancing. I was burnt out before the show even started. I wanted to be a normal teenager. I wanted to go to school dances and football games. So for that part of it, it was kind of a relief.”

Looking back, Brooke does have a lingering question about Abby’s tumultuous relationship with her mom, who was one of Abby’s students as a young girl. “I always say… if I see Abby, that would be my question: ‘What happened?'” Brooke says. “What got us from point A to point B? One day you were the first person when I hurt my foot at my hospital bed, coming to our family parties, and then next thing you know, you’re in a physical altercation with my mom. What did we do to make you get to that point?”

The reality stars, now in their 20s, spent their childhoods on television. Kendall points out that they “all have really tough skin now” because of their experience on Dance Moms. “We have really thick skin. We learned a lot of time management with having to deal with our social life, our school, our dance, on top of filming a reality TV show. It taught us a lot of life lessons, and it also gave us a bond that will never go away.”

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The 'Dance Moms' Girls, Where Are They Now?

Brooke, Kalani, Kendall, and Paige have all graduated from Dance Moms (which you can watch on the Lifetime app and Disney+) and moved on to the next chapter of their lives. Kendall is currently in college at James Madison University. Paige graduated from West Virginia University with a marketing degree. Since graduating from Ohio University, Brooke has become a full-time content creator. Kalani is a dance teacher, and she is launching her own dancewear line on May 1. She also founded the self-care brand, Kare by Kalani.

Despite their complicated feelings about Abby, the Dance Moms stars learned “a lot of life lessons” from her. “She was really good at teaching us how to have good etiquette and be able to talk in a room, go to an audition. Confidence, obviously, at times was hard and she was rough, but I think that’s what made us become who we are,” Kalani reveals. Paige adds, “I do give her a lot of credit, aside from just dance. She was a great dance teacher, but she does teach you so much more about just life.”

Brooke, Kalani, Kendall, Paige, and co-stars Chloé Lukasiak and JoJo Siwa all got matching “dm” tattoos for Dance Moms while in New York together promoting the reunion. No matter what, Dance Moms will be a part of their lives forever, and the stars of the show have literally made sure they never forget it.

Dance Moms: The Reunion, May 1, 8/7c, Lifetime