Abby Lee Miller confessed an attraction to 'high school football players.' Now she's backtracking
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Abby Lee Miller is backtracking after dropping something so disturbing that social media wanted to send her back to jail.
The former "Dance Moms" star closed out her recent appearance on Sofia Franklyn's "Sofia With an F Podcast" with an admission that she was attracted to high school football players. And now she's attempting to clarify the comments after being slammed online.
Miller took to Instagram on Monday afternoon to "set the record straight," beginning the video by saying, “I do like those hot, athletic, muscular types of guys — the jocks. I always have and I always will.
“And they must be able to go out to a club, gamble in Vegas, rent an ADA-compliant, handicapped accessible van,” continued the embattled television figure who has used a wheelchair since April 2018. “And they should also have a business, a bank account, success, and passion in their own right.
"Now if you saw the movie 'All The Right Moves' starring Tom Cruise playing a high school football star, then you will know exactly what I'm talking about," she said.
The statement comes after Franklyn, 31, asked Miller, 57, during Miller's podcast appearance last week if she was dating anyone. Miller, known for her aggressive manner of coaching young dancers, said no but that she was waiting for a call from Cruise. Miller asked Franklyn if she had watched Cruise's 1983 sports drama "All the Right Moves," telling her it's "the best movie" and that Cruise stars as a high school football player.
"That's my downfall. I like the high school football players," Miller said. "I still like them."
Franklyn countered Miller's statement, saying she prefers the "coaches," but Miller doubled down on her statement, saying, "Not one that used to be in high school, but one that is." Franklyn immediately thanked Miller for joining her and ended the show.
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Once social media caught wind of Miller's comments, people called for her return to prison.
@repmiIas wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that "this should be enough to send her to jail my god," referring to the 8½ months Miller spent behind bars in 2017 for fraud.
"Y'all continue to associate with abusers for clout," @Gigithehuman wrote on Instagram. "I promise no one wants to listen to Abby Lee try to gain sympathy for bullying children who don't associate with her anymore."
@siyyaninaas added, "she has seasons on seasons worth of child abuse recorded. is this a shock to anyone on planet earth."
Neither Miller nor Franklyn responded immediately to The Times' request for comment.
This isn't the first time Miller's love life has come into question. In 2017, the "Dance Moms" alumna told "ET" that she was still single because of her standards.
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"My problem is my standards are too high," she said. "I have really high standards, and in my mind, I'm young — I'm like 22, 23, 24. … That's like the age."
That same year, one of Miller's "Dance Mom" storylines included an episode in which Miller's alleged boyfriend "Jordy" Rodriguez stopped by the studio with vegan cookies and performed a rap song. Miller was in her early 50s at the time, and Rodriguez was in his mid-20s.
Throughout the episode, cast members hinted that the two were an item. Holly Frazier called him Miller's "boyfriend," and a few of the dance students joked that he was her "boy toy." Dancer Maesi Caes winked when a producer asked about Rodriguez and — when asked for more information about the nature of Miller and Rodriguez's relationship — said, "Miss Abby said I can't."
After the episode aired, Rodriguez denied that the two were romantically involved. "I'm friends with Abby Lee Miller," he told Radar Online. "I'm going to remind you that you were watching a television show."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
