Early life

Abby Lee Miller was born in Miami to Maryen Lorrain, a dance teacher, and George L. Miller. She was raised a Roman Catholic. During her school years, Abby studied dance and choreography.

Career in dance

Miller grew up around dance. She says she preferred to choreograph a dance, instead of performing it. Miller founded her own studio, Abby Lee Dance Company, at age 14. She later became director of her mother's business, the Maryen Lorrain Dance Studio, later renamed Reign Dance Productions. Both studios are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Career in reality television

In 2011, Miller began to appear in the Lifetime reality television show Dance Moms. The show is on its sixth season and has had 138 episodes so far. Dance Moms follows the practice sessions and performance competitions of young students of the Abby Lee Dance Company.

Three spin-offs of Dance Moms are Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, which ran for 2 seasons and 22 episodes, Dance Moms: Miami, and Dance Moms: Abby's Studio Rescue. The latter ran for only 7 episodes. Miller has also been a guest judge on Dancing with the Stars. In 2014, Miller published a book, Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class.

In 2015, Miller opened a new studio set up in Los Angeles called ALDC LA. The cast of Dance Moms moved to LA and are currently filming there.

Legal Issues

In 2014, one of the dancers on the show Dance Moms sued Miller, charging assault. The suit further claims the show's producers encourage a violent and combative atmosphere on the show as a way to attract viewers. A five million dollar lawsuit was filed against Collins Avenue Entertainment for staging disagreements that ended in a fight between Kelly Hyland and Miller. Paige Hyland also filed an emotional distress lawsuit against Miller. The charges were dropped on the emotional distress lawsuit, because the judge sided with Miller, as Miller had done nothing emotionally damaging to the child beyond what is normal of high quality dance instructors.

In December 2010, Miller filed for bankruptcy and owed more than $400,000 in taxes shortly before Dance Moms premiered.

On October 13, 2015, Miller was indicted for fraud for creating a secret bank account in 2012-2013 to hide income from masterclasses, TV deals, and merchandise sales. She is indicted with bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets and false bankruptcy declarations in hiding some $755,000.

If found guilty she could face a fine of $250,000 for each of the 20 counts she was indicted on and five years in prison. She pleaded not guilty in November 2015. In February of 2016, the case was delayed a fifth time.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]