'Dance Moms' Stars JoJo Siwa & Kalani Hilliker Discuss Their Relationship With Abby Lee Miller
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00 Also, if I'm in the back corner, it doesn't matter. If I'm on the bottom of the pyramid,
00:03 there's more air time than the top of the pyramid. So I always had like...
00:07 You're a nut. You're so funny though. You're so right.
00:10 It's valid!
00:11 I went in craving Abby's approval. Then I realized I was never going to get it.
00:16 Then I didn't care about it, but I did care about the show side of things.
00:21 I never really cared about being on ALDC. I didn't come in to be on ALDC.
00:27 I came in to be on Dance Moms. So for me, it was more of a I'm on a show perspective.
00:32 My mom would get so like, "I'm going to ask her to put you in the front of the group dance.
00:37 You should not be in the back corner." I was like, "Mom, it literally doesn't matter."
00:40 I would tell her that when I was 11. I was like, "I'm dancing with Kehlani.
00:44 I am not going to be front and center. It's not going to happen."
00:48 But also, if I'm in the back corner, it doesn't matter. If I'm on the bottom of the pyramid,
00:52 there's more air time than the top of the pyramid. So I always had like...
00:55 You're a nut. You're so funny though. You're so right.
00:58 It's valid. I don't know. Maybe it's just how I get myself through it.
01:02 But then, I mean, after for me, Abby's been very, very supportive of my career.
01:07 Of course, we've had our ups and downs and good moments on Dance Moms and off Dance Moms
01:12 and bad moments on and bad moments off.
01:14 But she's a massive part in why my career is what it is today.
01:19 And I would... Like what Chloe said, nothing that I went through could be different
01:25 because I would be different now.
01:28 I'm similar in the way that I know for me, especially Abby brought me in.
01:34 And Abby loves you. She loves Kehlani.
01:38 But she brought me in and I would not be where I'm at or have the career that I have without Abby.
01:44 I was never supposed to be on the show.
01:47 I really was there for the love of dance and because Abby loved me.
01:51 And I love to dance. That's the reason why I came on to the show and the team
01:56 is because I genuinely love dance.
01:58 So, different perspective from you in that sense.
02:01 I know you love dance, but you came on for the show.
02:03 No, I hated it actually. I really did.
02:05 But I loved to dance. And so, that's kind of the whole reason why I think...
02:11 You wanted to be on the dance side of the deal.
02:13 Yeah. I cared more about the dance side of everything.
02:15 I cared about being in the front. I cared about having to slow down.
02:18 You had the best legs and feet.
02:20 Yeah, I cared about having the best legs and feet.
02:21 And you did it. You had all the best legs and feet.
02:23 You were the best.
02:24 Thanks, guys.
02:25 But that was kind of more why I wanted to be there.
02:28 And I think that I just have to give a lot of credit to her.
02:32 I think as we grow up, we obviously have our times where I don't love how she maybe treated my friends.
02:38 She obviously didn't treat me the best at some times.
02:41 It happened to everybody. We all have our own experiences.
02:46 But I think I was able to heal from it and understand as I became an adult.
02:51 And it's not that I forgive her for everything.
02:54 And we can't go back in time and she can't change what she did.
02:58 But I'm able to kind of move forward from it.
03:00 So, yeah, I've seen her. I've worked with her occasionally.
03:04 It was really weird. I just did a meet-up with her.
03:06 And she was like, "Listen to Miss Kehlani."
03:08 And I'm like, "Miss Kehlani?"
03:10 And she was like, "Yeah, listen to Miss Kehlani."
03:12 And she was like, "Make sure you work really hard for her. You're being nice to me over this?"
03:17 So I think that she's also--I mean, she's the same.
03:20 But she's also kind of changed a little bit.
03:23 And our dynamic is more--we're adults now versus her treating me as a child.
03:28 So, you know, I have a good relationship with her.
03:31 And not that I forgive her for things that she's done to my friends or myself.
03:35 But I'm just able to move past it.
03:38 We've never sat down and talked about it.
03:40 It's time to set the record straight.
03:45 It's hard to talk about the stuff that we went through.
03:47 What do you guys think she was like in prison?
03:49 I've cried more today than I have on most episodes of Dance Moms.
03:52 See, I can't say the same.
03:53 Why are you always crying?
03:55 I just feel like there were so many mixed emotions going into it.
03:57 I know you said you were automatically a yes.
04:00 But I feel like for people from the original team, we went through so much.
04:04 So it definitely took a little bit for me to process.
04:07 If I wanted to do it or not.
04:08 So I understand why not everyone wanted to.
04:10 Because it's hard getting back into it and dealing with this stuff.
04:13 I think I was really hesitant at first.
04:15 I was like, "I don't even know if I'm ready for this."
04:18 And then honestly, I really reflected and I thought,
04:20 "It's a really good way to say--to close that chapter of my life."
04:23 And give my appreciation, show my gratitude to it, reminisce.
04:27 I mean, these are my closest friends.
04:29 Like, we're sisters. It's like an extended family.
04:31 And I just wanted to have that moment all together.
04:33 And now I just graduated. We had that moment.
04:36 And now I'm like, "Okay, it's a new adventure."
04:38 So, I think for all of us--I don't want to speak for everyone--
04:42 but it feels like a good closure.
04:44 It was very therapeutic.
04:46 We cried every segment.
04:48 [laughter]
04:50 There was a lot of tears, but also a lot of laughs.
04:52 I think it was really fun for all of us to get back together.
04:55 And I feel like it made us even closer now than we were before.
04:59 And I think, of course, we would love to have everybody there.
05:03 But everybody makes their own decision.
05:05 I'm happy that we chose ourselves that we wanted to be there.
05:08 And everybody can make their own choice.
05:10 And we chose to be here, and there's nothing wrong either way.
05:12 Yeah.
05:13 [music]
05:17 you