“Dance Moms”' Abby Lee Miller Admits She Was Too 'Harsh' on Kids Who 'Didn't Have the Talent' (Exclusive)

In a rare interview with 'IMPACT x Nightline' about Lifetime's 'Dance Moms', Miller opens up about her treatment of her former students

Abby Lee Miller is not holding back as she reflects on Dance Moms.

In PEOPLE’s first look at IMPACT x Nightline’s episode on the reality show, the former dance instructor, 58, sits down with ABC News’ Juju Chang for a rare interview ahead of her attempted comeback. When asked whether she would walk back comments she made on the show, Miller answered, “Absolutely. Yes, I would.”

“No matter how harsh I was on the kid, they weren’t gonna get it,” the reality TV personality explained. “They just didn’t have the talent.”

“You’re saying you regret it not because you hurt the kids’ feelings, but because it was pointless,” Chang, 58, clarified.

Miller denies that she wanted to “hurt anyone’s feelings.” Rather, her frequently vitriolic criticism stemmed from a desire to “get them to be better and to be the best that they can be.”

Many former Abby Lee Miller Dance Company members have expressed polarizing opinions on the star’s infamously rigorous leadership.

Speaking to PEOPLE during New York Fashion Week, Kalani Hilliker admitted that she didn’t talk to Miller “for a long time” after the show ended. Despite the “trauma” she endured on Dance Moms, Hilliker, 23, was still “forever grateful” for Miller.

Related: Abby Lee Miller Addresses Possibility of Reconciling with Maddie Ziegler: 'A Lot of Ugly Darkness There'

Maddie Ziegler, the darling of Miller’s dance company for five years, opened up about the show’s “toxic environment” in a 2022 Cosmopolitan interview. The dancer left the studio in 2016, which she recalled left Miller “distraught.”

"I was like, 'This is not for me. I can't do this.' I haven't spoken to her since. I feel at peace,” Ziegler, 21, said.

For Lifetime’s upcoming Dance Moms two-hour reunion special, original cast members Hilliker, JoJo Siwa, Chloé Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland and Kendall Vertes reunite to talk about the show’s most controversial headlines, their current lives and “shocking revelations,” per a press release. An exclusive source informed PEOPLE that several girls agreed to the reunion under the stipulation that Miller would not attend.

Fellow alums Nia Sioux, Maddie and her sister Mackenzie Ziegler skipped out entirely. A trailer for Dance Moms: The Reunion saw Siwa, 20, calling out the three for their absence.

Related: Dance Moms' Chloé Lukasiak Says 10-Year Reunion Special Made Her Realize 'I Should Probably Go to Therapy' (Exclusive)

“Them not being here is kind of like, ‘Let me erase my past, pretend it never happened, shove it down the drain.’ When it’s like – that’s why you are who you are,” the singer said.

Out of the Dance Moms alum, Siwa has been Miller’s most vocal advocate. At the red carpet premiere of the reunion, she told PEOPLE that their relationship is “great.”

"I talk to her on a weekly basis. Great human in my life,” she said of Miller.

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Dance Moms: The Reunion airs May 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime. IMPACT x Nightline’s "Dance Moms: Behind the Curtain" starts streaming May 2 on Hulu.

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