Dance Moms alum Abby Lee Miller has fired back at former student Maddie Ziegler after the dancer described her studio environment as toxic during filming.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on E!'s Hot Goss, the 60-year-old studio founder questioned why Ziegler did not voice her concerns when she was seeking extra private lessons and competitive solos.
"When you wanted to win and you wanted to come in extra and you wanted more private lessons and you were the driving force, not your mother, she was looking for husband No. 3," Miller told hosts Eyal Booker and Lonnie Marts IIV, "why didn't you say it then?" Miller also noted that she supported Ziegler during her parents Melissa Ziegler and Kurt Ziegler's 2011 divorce.
"When your mother and father are screaming obscenities across the room and you're hugging me and you're holding on to me as tight as you can Maddie, why didn't tell me then you don't want to do a solo every week?" Miller continued. "You don't want to win every week. You don't want to be in the front. You could have said that easily to me."
The 60-year-old noted, "We were close enough that could have happened," adding of the Fitting In actress, "She wanted to win, she was a perfectionist." Addressing a potential reconciliation, Miller stated that she is waiting for Ziegler to make the next move: "I'm the elder, and you have to speak to your elders." E! News reached out to the Zieglers for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Former Students and Mentoring Projects
Miller also expressed shock over comments from Nia Sioux regarding her complicated experience on the show. Claiming dancers were not under contract, Miller told Hot Goss that Sioux could have exited stage left "just like" Ziegler and JoJo Siwa, adding, "They never left until they had a better offer."
Suggesting that former cast members who criticized her following the show's 2017 finale should eat a piece of humble pie, Miller said, "They're too big for their britches. They don't have time for their dance teacher. Or they think they did it, their mom and dad did it, they paid for the lessons." Miller, who now uses a wheelchair for mobility, reflected on supporting her dancers: "I know what I did for them in my studio. I drove them back and forth, I took them to the auditions, I took them to cocktail parties, I introduced them to the right people."
Beyond the former cast drama, Miller is ready to mentor a fresh crop of up-and-comers on her new star search series Abby vs. Cathy: Hit the 8!, which reunites her with former studio owner Cathy Nesbitt-Stein. Miller declared, "We were never rivals! I just shut her up real quickly. She sits next to me, she's like a little bug and I can just squash her." New episodes of Hot Goss air Thursdays at 11 a.m. PT on E! Online and @eentertainment YouTube.
Maddie Ziegler Career and Sister Kenzie
In the decade-plus since pirouetting for the Abby Lee Dance Company, Pennsylvania native Maddie Ziegler, now 23, expanded her career from electropop star Sia's music video darling into film acting. Her screen roles include Sia's directorial debut Music, the 2021 West Side Story remake, 2024 film My Old Ass, and 2026 flick Pretty Lethal.
Ziegler published her 2017 New York Times best-selling memoir The Maddie Diaries, judged So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, and danced alongside Addison Rae at her 2026 Coachella set. She also co-hosts the podcast Take 20 With Maddie and Kenzie with her sister Kenzie Ziegler. "I think we wanted to let our guards down and show something that wasn't so heavily produced," Maddie explained to E! News, "and, rather, just us having a pretty casual conversation." Looking ahead, she noted, "I would love to do my own line one day. I think that would be so amazing and something that I've dreamt of doing forever."
Her younger sister Kenzie Ziegler has built a music career alongside an Instagram following of over 14 million fans. After releasing her personal 2023 single "Anatomy" about her estranged father, she told People, "I definitely am stepping out of my comfort zone and being authentic in a different way that's not just on social media, I'm telling my story." She dropped her third album biting my tongue in July 2024 and her EP notes from the in between in April 2026. The She Dances actress told E! News in 2021, "I feel like this is just the first time where I can talk about things that have happened with my life and share some important things to me. I just want people to take away something from it, whether that be happy, whether that be sad or that they can relate to it."
Chloe Lukasiak and Nia Sioux Projects
Fellow original cast member Chloe Lukasiak, author of Girl on Pointe: Chloe's Guide to Taking on the World, launched Elevé National Dance Competition with her mother Christi Lukasiak and mother-daughter duo Diane and Brittany Pent. "I missed dance, and I wanted to find a way to get back to something I had loved so much," she explained. "But I wanted to help create something that was the exact opposite of what I had experienced. Something positive. I challenged myself to develop something to reignite my love of dance." Although the competition ended after one year, the Pepperdine University graduate now lives in New York City, creates online content, and told E! News in 2023 that she is writing her first fiction fantasy book, noting, "What I've learned the past couple of years is that everything works out exactly as it's supposed to do."
Nia Sioux graduated from UCLA with a degree in American Literature and Culture in June 2024 while advancing her career in music and acting. She starred in 59 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful, fronted web series Sunnyside Up, released singles "Low Key Love" and "IMMA CATCH", landed on Variety's 2023 Young Hollywood Impact Report, and published her memoir Bottom of the Pyramid in November 2025, telling E! News, "Storytelling is so powerful, and that's something I'm really, really passionate about." Following a May 2026 run in theatrical dance experience 11 to Midnight, she explained, "My first love was always dance, but, in addition to that, theater. So, at some point I want to get back into it."
Brooke and Paige Hyland Travel and Careers
Brooke Hyland, the eldest original cast member, traded group dance for group trips after graduating from Ohio University. Following a July 2023 trip to Costa Rica where she shared that "7 days took us from strangers to friends crying in the airport having to say goodbye to each other", she completed a six-day jaunt through Croatia, writing, "I explored beautiful places and cultures, while making lifelong friends in the process. It was the trip of a lifetime." Based in Pittsburgh, she married account manager Brian Thalman in February 2026 and utilizes her marketing degree for her Bite-Sized Foodie Instagram account and the Hyland Sisters brand shared with her sister Paige.
Paige Hyland graduated from West Virginia University in May 2023, drawing public congratulations from Christi Lukasiak who commented, "IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! Congratulations." Working as a model and influencer, she has traveled to the Hamptons, Colorado, and Wyoming alongside her long-time boyfriend, former college football player and fitness model Jayvon Thrift. Having previously written "Adore you in every kind of way", the pair marked five years together in July 2024 by signing their first apartment lease, writing, "new adventure coming soon."
Kendall Vertes and JoJo Siwa Endeavors
Kendall Vertes graduated from James Madison University as a political science major while winning dance championships with the college team. "Younger me would be so proud," she wrote in September 2023, prompting her mother Jill Vertes to reply, "I know I'm so proud of my little kendall." Joining in season two, she released music under the name Kendall K, acted in Rapunzel: A Princess Frozen in Time and Anastasia, and accumulated 11 million Instagram followers.
JoJo Siwa built a major brand following her two-season stint on Dance Moms after competing on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, securing a YouTube following, a Nickelodeon licensing deal, merchandise lines, and a spot on Time's 100 most influential people list in 2020. "One of the biggest things that I ever learned from Dance Moms was either to sink or swim," she once explained to Kelly Ripa. "Not, like, physically, actually in a swimming pool. But to really just be able to survive and to want it." She partnered with Jenna Johnson as the first same-sex couple on Dancing With the Stars in 2021 and dropped her EP Guilty Pleasure in July 2024.
Speaking on The Best Podcast Ever in August 2023 with Raven-Symoné and Miranda Pearman-Maday, Siwa shared, "My dream, dream, dream, dream is the Super Bowl, to do the halftime performance." She added, "Then I'll retire and have babies," while dating boyfriend Chris Hughes.
Kalani Hilliker, Asia Monet Ray and Team Updates
Season four arrival Kalani Hilliker launched her beauty line Kare in 2023. "I struggle with anxiety," she explained to E! News. "And I really wanted to create a brand that was inclusive to everyone to be able to just relax and take time for yourself and have a solid self-care routine to help you get through your day." The Arizona dancer married Nathan Goldman in September 2025 and opened Khaos Dance Studio in 2026, sharing, "I obviously have a very different teaching way than Abby does towards me. Or, honestly, most of my dance teachers. I like to be very kind, but also you've got to push them to be the best they can be."
Asia Monet Ray left television before age 10 after appearing on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, Dance Moms, and Raising Asia. "I genuinely had a great experience on it," she insisted to E! News in 2021. "There was nothing that I would change on my experience whatsoever." Graduating as high school valedictorian in June 2023, she wrote, "I'm extremely proud of myself for achieving a personal goal, and I can't wait to see what's next." She has appeared on Grey's Anatomy and American Crime Story, released an eponymous album, and told E!, "I really did enjoy the time I had out there and growing up on television. Even though it seems like a lot, it was something that really set me up for life that I would never take for granted."
Season seven addition Camryn Bridges has toured professionally with Kendrick Lamar across a 76-show stint, writing in December 2022, "I know this is only the beginning." The St. Louis native performed in Usher's Las Vegas residency and Super Bowl halftime show, joined Missy Elliott at the February 2023 Grammys writing "Beyond blessed!!!", danced in The Lion King 30th anniversary at the Hollywood Bowl, performed at the BET Awards with Chloe Bailey, and appeared at the 2025 VMAs with Tate McRae.
Brynn Rumfallo returned to high school after three seasons filling Maddie's shoes, graduating in 2021. "Wanted to go back to high school and I wanted to just be normal and have my friends," she explained in a 2023 YouTube video with Kelsey Millar. "High school sucked, but I'm glad that I did it. And now that I've experienced both lives, I know what I want. Which, there is a way to balance both of them in the middle." Based in Phoenix, she co-hosts the Out of Line podcast with Millar, shares trips to Coachella and Stagecoach with three million Instagram followers, remains close to Kenzie Ziegler, and recalled a young competitor asking, "Miss Brynn, you're famous?"
