Abby Lee Miller, the choreographer famous for manipulating fame-hungry, weak-willed mothers by punishing their children on the brilliant Lifetime hit Dance Moms, has quit the show ahead of her May 8 sentencing on charges of federal bankruptcy fraud.
Last summer, Miller, who launched the career of Sia favorite Maddie Ziegler, pled guilty to hiding $775,000 from a bankruptcy court when filing a Chapter 11. According to the Associated Press:
Miller posted on Instagram on Sunday that she will no longer take part in the show. She says that she has asked for creative credit for her ideas for the show for six years, but hasn’t received it. She says she has been “manipulated, disrespected and used.”
Representatives for A&E Networks, which includes Lifetime, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Anyone still following Dance Moms (basically just Jezebel Culture Editor Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, my mom back in Wisconsin, and I) could tell that Miller was on the outs with producers and was likely to soon exit the show with much of the seventh season built around her not showing up for rehearsals or—if she did—arriving in pajama pants and hair rollers (god bless).
Since—as Abby Lee always says—everyone is replaceable, I know one gal who’s raring to go if Lifetime happens to be looking for a new star: