19 Shocking And Heartbreaking Revelations We Learned From "Dance Moms: The Reunion"
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This post deals with topics like body image and suicide ideation.
Last night, Dance Moms: The Reunion aired on Lifetime, with several of the show's original cast members returning to reclaim their stories.
Chloé Lukasiak, JoJo Siwa, Paige and Brooke Hyland, Kalani Hilliker, and Kendall Vertes all returned, along with Paige and Brooke's mom, Kelly, Kalani's mom, Kira, Kendall's mom, Jill, JoJo's mom, Jessalynn, and a special appearance from Chloé's mom, Christi.
Abby Lee Miller was not present during this reunion.
The special was extremely heartfelt as the former cast shared their version of behind-the-scenes stories, even sharing things we never got to see onscreen. Here are the biggest bombshells from the reunion:
1.Early on in the reunion, a lot of the girls shared that they were nervous. Brooke said that she was especially nervous to meet JoJo in person after having a "little social media drama" with her. "I would say I'm most nervous to see JoJo just because of the history we have... Even though we've never really met in person," Brooke admitted. To which her sister Paige responded, "Yeah, you guys have never even met, but you have bad history."
JoJo and Brooke never actually met on the show because Brooke left the series the season before JoJo joined. Back in 2020, Brooke posted a TikTok where she cringed as Facebook suggested she add Abby Lee Miller as a friend. JoJo commented, "It's one thing to just not add her back, it's another to post." Brooke deleted the video shortly after.
2.The girls immediately got pushback from fans asking why Maddie Ziegler, Mackenzie Ziegler, and Nia Sioux weren't present. So, JoJo quickly made a statement on social media, saying, "Grateful for this day! For everyone wondering about the few people missing, everyone was invited today but only some wanted to be here."
In a recent TikTok, Nia made a statement saying, "I hate to break it to you guys, but the reason is quite simple. I didn't wanna do it."
3.Chloé, Paige, and Brooke acknowledge Maddie, Mackenzie, and Nia's absence but understand that they may still be "processing." "It's hard to talk about some of the stuff that we went through," said Paige. "It's an emotional thing," Brooke responded.
4.However, behind the scenes, Kira disagreed with the sentiments. "They chose not to be here. At the end of the day, they've done several interviews saying they don't even want this as a part of their life," she said. Then, Kendall left the rest of the girls speechless by saying, "But here's the thing, they're not here. So why are they still trying to make headlines? Don't talk about Dance Moms if you don't want to be part of it, right? Why are you talking about it if you don't want to be a part of it?"
JoJo also added that the absence was "sad to see," especially because she admired Kelly for showing up even after leaving Dance Moms on bad terms. "For you to be able to come here and be like, 'Look, I still care about this,' is really cool to see," she said, then turning to Kelly. "It's like you care about your past... Them not being here is kind of like, 'Let me erase my past, pretend that it never happened, shove it down the drain, and that's why you are who you are.'"
5.The night before the reunion was filmed, all of the original Dance Moms girls — Maddie, Mackenzie, Chloé, Paige, Brooke, Nia, and Kendall — hung out at Maddie's house. They'd actually had a surprise party for Paige's birthday, but Kalani and JoJo were not invited to the party.
6.Chloé shared that she almost didn't even show up to the reunion. She explained that she was nervous to speak about the rivalry that Abby created between her and Maddie. "I was so sick of like being put in this box that I've been put in since I was little, and then I realized that it's gonna scare me either way, whether I'm part of it or whether I'm not," she said. "So it's time to come back and set the record straight."
She also added that Abby's harsh words had stuck with her for years after the series ended. "I thought I wasn't enough, like, in every single way," she said in tears. "And it wasn't until about a year ago, I realized the way I felt about myself were her words still lingering with me. Ten years later, I realized that's not who I am. That's not my truth. She doesn't define me anymore. She doesn't keep that power over me, and I started to heal."
In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, she even shared that she wanted to use this reunion as a way to reclaim her narrative after all these years. "Honestly, and not in an arrogant way at all, but I knew they would be talking about all of the cast members, anyway," she said. "So I was like, I'd rather be there and be able to take control of my narrative. Because the reason I was against it is because I felt really anxious, and it felt like something in the past. I was like, 'Well, I'm gonna be anxious anyway,' you know? And I'd probably be anxious about what's going to happen even if I wasn't on it."
7.Kelly shared that she felt "guilty for the past 10 years" out of fear that she ended Brooke and Paige's careers. "We started dancing when we were 2 years old,” Brooke said. “That fight happened, and then we never danced again.”
Brooke and Paige abruptly left the series in 2014. At the time, Kalani was brought on to the team, and Kelly thought that was Abby's way of replacing Brooke. The two got into a very intense fight, and Kelly, Paige, and Brooke left ALDC.
“We never really talked about it,” Kelly said about their sudden exit from ALDC. “It was just kinda like, it just happened and… It was easier just not to talk about it.” She added that if given the chance, she would've handled the situation differently. "I feel like that’s my fault, that we left because I lost my temper. I pretty much felt guilty for the past 10 years of my life. Since that day happened," she said.
"I always said if that was me, if I was a mother, I think I would have been 10 times worse than you because I feel like I always know that you were only protecting us," Paige told her mom. She and Brooke also said they were both grateful they got to have normal high school experiences because of their departure from the dance studio.
8.Kelly also admitted that she thinks she would still be with her husband if it weren't for that fight with Abby. "It changed my whole world. I mean, I ended up getting divorced, separated from my husband," she said. And Kira asked if she thought she'd still be married if she was on the show. Kelly said, "I was happy. It just kind of changed me."
She added that if she hadn't fought with Abby, Brooke and Paige would still be dancing, too. "I think if that didn't happen, they would probably still dance. I mean, they would have been on the dance team in college or something. And they do not dance," she explained. "And that's sad to me. That was their life. I still feel like it's all my fault."
9.Kendall said that she "bawled" her eyes out when her mom told her she was leaving ALDC and going to dance with Cathy Nesbitt-Stein at Candy Apples Dance Center. "I bawled my eyes out in my bed when my mom told me I had to go to Candy Apples because I finally felt like I had my team. And of course, she comes in, and she's like, 'Okay, I can't do this, you're going to Candy Apples.' And I lost it."
She shared that once she came back to ALDC, she felt like there was a lot of pressure on her. "I think the stakes were a lot higher for me because I still had so much to prove to her," she said. "And I cried all the time, and I was a brat about it sometimes, but those were my true emotions."
10.Kalani said that during her time on the show she felt "emotionless" so that by the time of her departure, she suddenly felt "everything." "After the show, I could finally feel everything that I've never felt before," she said.
11.JoJo admitted that she thinks "Abby was always right." "This is gonna be a little controversial to say, I think, but — to me, Abby was always right," she said. "I did interrupt two adults talking. If I was a mess and a beat off, she wasn't just yelling at me because you want to yell at me. I actually was a mess and was a beat off. One thing that I’ve learned really working and staying in Hollywood is that — that’s normal. And it’s like, it’s scary that that’s normal, but that taught me how to survive in the industry. I mean, it truly is so tough."
"At the end of the day, Dance Moms is a dynamite empire that anyone who was lucky enough to just be a little bit of a part of is in the cool kids club," she added. "And if you want to shit on that, then that's your own fault."
12.And while JoJo said she never wanted to leave the show, Kendall confronted her about her departure in Season 6. It turns out that JoJo left Dance Moms because she got a deal with Nickelodeon. "You all know that so much more happened a few weeks prior. I had been offered a deal from Nickelodeon, and I had Dance Moms, but I wasn't able to do both," she said.
Jessalynn added that at the end of the day, it was her decision to pull JoJo out. "I kinda was a little paranoid that if Abby got wind of things that JoJo could be doing, she would really try to, like, [ruin things]," she explained. "I was like, we got to figure this out. We got to, like, sit down... You gotta be smart about it. It was hard, but ultimately, it was my decision, not JoJo's."
13.Chloé shared that she's not at the point where she can forgive Abby. "It's really complicated," she said. "I want to forgive her for myself; I'm not at the stage where I have forgiven her, but I am in the process of forgiving her."
Paige also agreed, saying, "It's hard to forgive her when she did so many nasty things to me."
14.The girls also opened up about their first reaction to hearing Abby was diagnosed with cancer. "It was definitely a shock," said Kendall. "It just felt unreal. I remember visiting her at the hospital. You have this vision of someone in your head, but then, to see them laying sick in a hospital bed," JoJo agreed. "It wasn't her, like, she wasn't there. She was sick. It's not the Abby that we knew," said Kendall.
"I don't think anybody can explain how complicated all of our relationships are with her," Kalani said. While Brooke said she didn't think Abby would've even wanted her to visit the hospital, "Like, I thought, like, oh if I showed up in the hospital, she'd probably be like, 'Security!'"
15.Kelly admitted that even after all the drama and how poorly Abby treated her daughters, she'd try to rekindle their relationship if Abby ever reached out to apologize.
16.JoJo took a moment to address her online drama with Christi. Back in 2020, Christi made headlines after claiming that Gia, one of ALDC's main choreographers, was "not nice." JoJo then responded with a lengthy TikTok saying that what Christi said was "disgusting and ignorant." "I think I was upset then because I thought that's something that Christi should have known is just don't say bad things about people online," JoJo explained.
"I think if you put something on TikTok, you need to be prepared for people to have an opinion on it," Jessalynn added, defending JoJo's response.
Chloé came in and defended her mom, explaining that Christi wasn't coming online and saying that about Gia; she was simply answering a fan question during a Zoom. She added, "She was stating her opinion, which she's entitled to, and it wasn't supposed to be a big thing. It's not a big thing. You know, like, I wouldn't sit there and be like, 'That's absolutely crazy that you have that opinion of Abby' because I know that's your experience with her. Everyone's entitled to their own experience."
JoJo said she didn't regret making the video, but she "possibly" would've worded it differently now.
17.Kalani said it was "really hard" to struggle with her body image while she was "growing up on the show." "I mean, maybe as a child, I had a dancer body, but as I started to go through puberty — which is something I did on the show — my body definitely changed first," she said.
"We all know what a 'ballerina' is supposed to look like, and I just never fit that. And I could eat nothing for the rest of my life, and it’s… I still just can’t get to that body type. And it’s something that I still deal with to this day," she added.
18.While reminiscing about some of the impactful dances the girls performed and watching footage from the dance "Suicide Hotline," Kalani shared that she's had suicidal thoughts in the past. "I really wasn't prepared to speak about what I'm going to talk about, but I have, like, personally have had suicidal thoughts," she explained. "And so watching the dance, obviously, like, triggers emotions, and it's one of my favorite dances, and I love it, but I think I connect to it, like, more than I ever have before."
19.Finally, Chloé shared Christi had a hard time learning that Chloé was dating a woman. "I think she was just really worried for me, like, the judgment I would face, but at the end of the day, that's their issue, not mine," Chloé said.
In a video message, Christi told her, "I would never, ever, ever, ever have you be on a Dance Moms reunion without a message from your mother. That little girl who was always so timid and kind, you're still the kindest person I know, but you're also the strongest person I know."
She added, "Like when you announce to the world that you are with Brooklinn [Khoury], that is just the most admirable thing in the world. And I'm so proud, and I'm very, very, very, very excited for what the next chapter for you looks like."
Chloé and Brooklinn publicly shared they were dating back in 2021, but have since split.
And if you haven't already, you can stream the entire reunion on Lifetime.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
