The Greatest Bombshells from Dance Mothers: The Reunion

The Dance Mothers reunion particular was jam-packed with drama, however this time, it largely got here within the type of reminiscences.

In a two-hour Lifetime particular that aired on Might 1, a number of of the unique stars of the hit collection reunited to mirror on their time on the controversial present underneath Abby Lee Miller, and patch issues up. 

Among the many forged who attended had been Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes, Kalani Hilliker and JoJo Siwa, together with a few of their mothers, Kelly Hyland, Jill Vertes, Kira Girard and Jessalynn Siwa.

There have been some main faces lacking from the particular — which followers had been instantly interested in — together with Dance Mothers OGs Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler and Nia Sioux. Miller was additionally not concerned within the reunion, and a supply advised PEOPLE that among the women explicitly requested that their former dance coach be absent for them to be “capable of converse their minds extra overtly.”

“At this level, everybody has gone via totally different eras, had time to mirror and there is been loads that Abby put them via emotionally and bodily they usually simply did not wish to relive that,” the supply mentioned.

From rehashing among the most talked-about moments to new secrets and techniques that had been revealed, listed here are the most important bombshells that the previous dancers shared on Dance Mothers: The Reunion.

Brooke felt ‘nervous’ to fulfill Jojo for the primary time after their web beef

As the ladies walked in to start filming the reunion particular, Brooke and Paige reminded viewers that they’d by no means met JoJo earlier than, as they by no means overlapped along with her time on the present. (JoJo joined in season 5 and departed halfway via season 6).

“I might say I am most nervous to see JoJo simply due to the historical past we now have… Though we have by no means actually met in particular person,” Brooke admitted.

“Yeah, you guys have by no means even met, however you could have dangerous historical past,” Paige mentioned of the dynamic, which Brooke then described as “our little social media drama.”

In 2020, Brooke posted a TikTok that she later deleted as she cringed at Fb suggesting her former dance trainer as a possible buddy. JoJo commented on the video, writing, “It is one factor to simply not add her again, it is one other to publish.”

After Brooke and Paige’s arrival, JoJo advised them and Chloe that she felt like she was at residence watching the reunion particular herself as she sat with them.

“It is wild to see you all. I really feel like I am in, like, a time warp, ‘trigger I imply clearly, I’ve by no means seen you guys. It is nearly like, I really feel like y’all are on a display proper now,” she mentioned.

The women tackle Nia, Maddie and Mackenzie’s absence

After the ladies posted a selfie saying their reunion, the Dance Mothers alums reacted to the flood of feedback from overjoyed followers.

“Everybody’s saying Nia, Maddie, Mackenzie query mark” Kendall quipped. “Benefit from the six that determined to do that.”

As the ladies reacted to the feedback filtering in, JoJo urged that they put out a press release addressing their lacking costars.

“As a lot as we’re grateful for this present day, everybody questioning concerning the few individuals lacking, everybody was invited immediately however just some wished to be right here,” JoJo wrote as the remainder of the ladies cheered her on. “[We] know find out how to be candy with slightly little bit of sass!”

Kendall and JoJo slam Nia, Maddie and Mackenzie’s absence whereas Jill and Kira accuse them of making headlines

Kendall and JoJo shared their robust opinions about Nia, Maddie and Mackenzie’s resolution to not take part within the reunion particular.

“Perhaps they simply do not assume they wanted this,” Kendall quipped earlier than Paige defended the trio and claimed some individuals “may nonetheless be processing” all the things that occurred whereas they had been on the present.

“They like closed the ebook they usually do not wish to backtrack,” Paige added. “It is an emotional factor, I really feel like.”

Backstage, Kendall’s mother, Jill, fiercely disagreed with any sentiment in favor of Maddie, Mackenzie and Nia’s absence.

“They selected to not be right here. On the finish of the day, they’ve accomplished a number of interviews saying they do not even need this as part of their life,” she mentioned whereas Kalani’s mother, Kira added, “However this is the factor they don’t seem to be right here. So why are they nonetheless making making an attempt to make headlines? Do not discuss Dance Mothers if you happen to do not wish to be a part of it, proper? Why are you speaking about it if you happen to do not wish to be part of it?”

JoJo, however, claimed that their absence was “sort of unhappy to see” and cited Kelly’s willingness to indicate up regardless of leaving the present on dangerous phrases.

“For you to have the ability to come right here and be like, ‘Look, I nonetheless care about this,’ is admittedly cool to see,” she defined, turning to Kelly. “It is such as you care about your previous… Them not being right here is sort of like ‘Let me erase my previous, faux that it by no means occurred, shove it down the drain and that is why you might be who you might be.'”

“It was actually the stepping stone into who we’re immediately. We’d not be right here with out Dance Mothers,” Kendall added.

Paige, Brooke, Chloe and Kendall frolicked with Maddie, Kenzie and Nia the night time earlier than filming the reunion

The producer referred to as it “the elephant within the room,” addressing the absence of the Zieglers and Nia, earlier than asking concerning the woman’s earlier night time, revealing that Paige, Brooke, Chloe and Kendall had been with Maddie, Kenzie and Nia the night time earlier than filming the reunion.

“There hasn’t been lots of contact, or loads hanging out, previously few years. Swiftly, final night time we now have — off-camera — a giant reunion at Maddie’s home,” a producer mentioned, elevating the subject of the lacking faces. 

Paige shared that the gathering was a shock occasion to have a good time her twenty third birthday. 

“You don’t assume there’s every other ulterior motives of getting you guys throughout there the night time earlier than a reunion the place they’re not gonna be right here to talk or to defend themselves?” the producer requested.

“We didn’t actually tackle any of it,” Brooke mentioned. 

Kendall then admitted, “I imply I really feel prefer it’s bizarre. We’ve by no means been invited like that.”

Within the dressing room, JoJo and Kalani laughed because the producer requested if “everybody within the constructing” had been invited, to which Chloe, Brooke, Paige and Kendall mentioned no, JoJo and Kalani weren’t invited to the occasion.

Christi Lukasiak accuses Melissa Ziegler of ‘taking part in everybody’

After Paige, Brooke, Kendall and Chloe mentioned their time with Maddie, Kenzie and Nia, within the dressing room, Kalani and JoJo weigh in — and so does Christi Lukasiak, Chloe’s mother, who was not on set on the day, however made certain to get her voice heard nonetheless.

“I wasn’t invited, by Melissa, trigger Melissa set this up, to make it possible for none of us mentioned something dangerous about them at this reunion,” Kalani mentioned, sharing her tackle the shock occasion.

Kelly, in the meantime, had dialed Christi in to offer her two cents.

“I agree with Kalani, 100%,” Christi mentioned. “Melissa has been orchestrating and taking part in everybody so long as I’ve recognized her. She noticed a chance to completely throw a fireplace blanket on any bomb that was gonna go off immediately and he or she took it. And anyone who thinks totally different – you’re delusional.”

JoJo agreed, after which Christi addressed her. “JoJo, you weren’t getting invited ‘trigger you threaten her youngsters ‘trigger you’re f—ing profitable.”

“Which means loads to listen to from you, Christi,” JoJo mentioned.

Kalani’s mother, Kira Girard, then weighed in too, as she mentioned of Melissa, “For somebody who doesn’t like ‘drama’ or doesn’t need battle, she certain orchestrates lots of it. After which she hides behind whoever.”

“I simply know, if it was me and JoJo, we invite everyone to all the things,” Kalani mentioned, earlier than quipping with amusing, “In any case, I’m not that upset.”

Chloe practically did not present as much as the reunion

To Paige, Brooke and Kendall’s shock, Chloe revealed that she was “very hesitant” to come back again and tackle the rivalry Abby created between her and Maddie.

“I used to be so sick of like being put on this field that I have been put in since I used to be little after which I noticed that it is gonna scare me both method, whether or not I am a part of it or whether or not I am not,” Chloe defined of her motives to take part. “So it is time to come again and set the report straight.”

As she watched a compilation of how Abby manufactured a rivalry between her and Maddie, Chloe admitted that the competitiveness “actually took me down” when she was a toddler.

“I assumed I wasn’t sufficient like in each single method,” she mentioned via tears. “And it wasn’t till a few yr in the past, I noticed the best way I felt about myself had been her phrases nonetheless lingering with me. 10 years later, I noticed that is not who I’m. That is not my reality. She does not outline me anymore. She does not preserve that energy over me and I began to heal.”

Whereas Chloe wiped away her tears, Kendall comforted her, “You do not have to compete with anybody. You’re your self. You are lovely and excellent. Simply the best way you might be.”

Kelly Hyland has felt ‘responsible for the previous 10 years’ over ending Brooke and Paige’s dance careers

Brooke and Paige famously exited Dance Mothers in 2014 in fairly an abrupt vogue when Abby introduced Kalani into the fold, and Kelly interpreted that as a transfer to interchange Brooke. Within the reunion, the ladies watched the scene the place Abby and Kelly acquired bodily with one another, leading to Kelly, Brooke and Paige leaving the collection and Abby Lee Dance Firm altogether. 

“We began dancing once we had been 2 years previous,” Brooke mentioned earlier than watching the clip. “That combat occurred after which we by no means danced once more.”

Chloe admitted she “forgot how intense” the combat was between Kelly and Abby after watching the clip, whereas Brooke turned overwhelmed with emotion.

“I’ve seen that clip one million instances and it’s at all times simply on social media,” she started, earlier than Paige stepped in for her, admitting, “It’s simpler to deal with once you simply chortle about it.”

“You see, that is how one can inform it actually affected her, ‘trigger she doesn’t cry and he or she’s gonna cry once more,” Paige mentioned as her older sister wiped tears from her eyes, and Kendall rubbed Brooke’s again soothingly. 

“It’s very unfair, what occurred to you,” Kendall mentioned. Kelly, who was watching the ladies from the dressing room, cried, too, as they watched the clip again.

“We by no means actually talked about it,” she admitted of the sudden departure. “It was simply kinda like, it simply occurred and… It was simpler simply to not discuss it.”

Jessalynn requested how Kelly feels trying again on it and if she would “do it in another way” if she may. 

“Sure, sure I might,” she replied. “I really feel like that’s my fault, that we left as a result of I misplaced my mood. I just about felt responsible for the previous 10 years of my life. Since that day occurred.”

Kelly defined that the combat started as a result of she knew that Paige and Brooke had been ready 10 years to carry out a duet as sisters. She claimed that Kalani’s entrance lit her fuse as a result of she knew Abby had purposely pitted her daughters towards Kalani and Maddie’s duet, figuring out they’d lose.

The mother of two later advised her daughters that she at all times felt like she “ruined your life and your dance profession.”

“I at all times mentioned if that was me, if I used to be a mom, I feel I might have been 10 instances worse than you as a result of I really feel like I at all times know that you just had been solely defending us,” Paige assured her as Kelly wiped away her tears.

“I’ve for the previous 10 years, been responsible each single day of my life,” Kelly cried. Regardless of her emotions of remorse and guilt, her daughters defined that their departure allowed them to have regular experiences like college dances and soccer video games.

“We’re nonetheless capable of have that due to once we acquired off the present,” Brooke smiled whereas hugging her mother. “I hope you realize that.”

Kelly says Paige and Brooke’s departure was the rationale behind her divorce

Kelly admitted that she believes that her daughters would nonetheless be dancing if she and Abby hadn’t fought.

“I feel if that did not occur, that they had been in all probability nonetheless there. I imply, they’d have been in faculty or one thing,” she defined. “And that is unhappy to me, that that was their life. I nonetheless really feel prefer it’s all my fault.”

“It modified my entire world. I imply, I ended up getting divorced, separated from my husband,” Kelly continued. When Kira requested if she believed her divorce would not have occurred if they’d stayed on the present, Kelly admitted that she thought they’d nonetheless be collectively.

“No, I used to be glad. It simply sort of modified me,” she confessed.

JoJo shares her tackle Abby’s harsh teaching type

Whereas it wasn’t the primary time JoJo has been outspoken about her love for her former dance coach, throughout the reunion, she shared it with the ladies, nearly all of whom have a really totally different opinion on the matter.

“That is gonna be slightly controversial to say I feel however — to me, Abby was at all times proper,” she admitted. “I did interrupt two adults speaking, if I used to be a large number and a beat off, she wasn’t simply yelling at me since you wish to yell at me. I truly was a large number and was a beat off. One factor that I’ve discovered actually working and staying in Hollywood is that — that’s regular. And it’s like, it’s scary that that’s regular however that taught me find out how to survive within the business. I imply it really is so robust.”

“On the finish of the day, Dance Mothers is a dynamite empire that anybody who was fortunate sufficient to simply be slightly little bit of part of is within the cool youngsters membership,” she added. “And if you wish to s— on that, then that is your personal fault.”

Regardless of the verbal beatdown she acquired from Abby for her shortcomings, JoJo mentioned that she “at all times wished to be there” and did not care if she was yelled at for her errors.

“I did not care if I used to be on the backside. I did not care if I used to be at the back of the group dance,” the “Boomerang” singer mentioned, and recalled how her mom Jessalyn would inform her she would pull her out if she did not wish to be there anymore.

JoJo left Dance Mothers for a cope with Nickelodeon

Shortly after JoJo claimed she did not wish to go away Dance Mothers, Kendall confronted her for bailing on their duet and leaving the present.

“You all know that a lot extra occurred just a few weeks prior. I had been provided a deal from Nickelodeon, and I had Dance Mothers, however I wasn’t capable of do each,” she defined.

In the direction of the tip of her run on the Lifetime collection, Jessalyn confessed that she did not need Abby to spoil JoJo’s profession by placing her in “silly” dances.

“I kinda was slightly paranoid that if Abby acquired wind of issues that JoJo may very well be doing she would actually attempt to like [ruin things],” she defined. “I used to be like, We acquired to determine this out. We acquired to love, sit down… You gotta be sensible about it.

“It was onerous, however finally, it was my resolution,” Jessalyn mentioned of JoJo’s departure.

The women recall listening to of Abby’s most cancers prognosis

“It was undoubtedly a shock,” Kendall confessed of studying about Abby’s most cancers.

“It simply felt unreal. I bear in mind visiting her on the hospital. You’ve this imaginative and prescient of somebody in your head however then to see them laying sick in a hospital mattress,” JoJo agreed to which Kendall added, “It wasn’t her like she wasn’t there. She was sick. It is not the Abby that we knew.”

Regardless of their difficult emotions for Abby, the ladies and their moms teared up whereas watching clips of her present process chemotherapy.

“I do not assume anyone can clarify how difficult all of {our relationships} are along with her,” Kalani defined, as the ladies wiped their tears away.

Brooke admitted that she “by no means” thought to succeed in out throughout her hospital keep as a result of she did not assume she would need her to be there. “Like I assumed like, Oh, if I confirmed up within the hospital, she’d in all probability be like safety,” she chuckled.

Watching backstage, Kelly agreed along with her daughter’s sentiments. She recalled how Abby tried to get her arrested and mentioned that her destiny was the results of “karma.” Even after all the things they’ve put one another via and the way she handled her daughters, Kelly admitted that she would rekindle her relationship with Abby if she ever reached out to apologize.

JoJo addresses her on-line beef with Christi

In December 2020, JoJo and Christi made headlines after the “Karma” singer referred to as her out for claiming that Dance Mothers choreographer, Gia, was a “imply” particular person throughout a Zoom convention. On the time, JoJo responded to her in a prolonged TikTok video.

“I feel I used to be upset then as a result of I assumed that is one thing that Christi ought to have recognized is simply do not say dangerous issues about individuals on-line,” JoJo defined. “I feel if you happen to put one thing on TikTok, it is advisable to be ready for individuals to have an opinion on it.”

Chloe defended her mom, claiming that the dialog wasn’t meant to be public and a fan had requested her to open up about her expertise with the choreographer.

“You already know, like I would not sit there and be like, ‘That is completely loopy that you’ve that opinion of Abby’ as a result of I do know that to your expertise the place everybody’s entitled to their very own expertise,” Chloe replied.

“I met twice and each instances she was not good to me,” JoJo continued. “She simply, she does not like me. We’re not going to be associates. I do not remorse it as a result of I do not I attempt to not remorse something. However would I phrase it in another way now? Probably.”

Kalani opens up about her physique picture struggles on the present

Kalani acquired actual about her difficulties accepting herself throughout her time on the present, as her physique was altering in entrance of her eyes — and on digicam. She mentioned it was “actually onerous” for her to juggle her struggles along with her physique picture whereas she was “rising up on the present.”

“I imply, perhaps as a toddler, I had a dancer physique, however as I began to undergo puberty — which is one thing I did on the present — my physique undoubtedly modified first.”

She continued, “Everyone knows what a ‘ballerina’ is meant to appear like, and I simply by no means match that. And I may eat nothing for the remainder of my life and it’s…. I nonetheless simply can’t get to that physique kind. And it’s one thing that I nonetheless cope with, to this present day.”

Kendall praised her buddy, calling her “essentially the most assured person who I do know,” as she advised her, “Confidence is essentially the most engaging trait {that a} girl can have.”

JoJo then jokingly acquired down on one knee to suggest to Kalani, encouraging her to “know that you just’re sizzling.”

Christi had a tough time with studying that Chloe was courting a lady

Chloe opened up about going public along with her relationship with Brooklinn Khoury. Whereas she acquired an amazing quantity of assist from her family and friends, Chloe admitted that the information was initially onerous for her mom Christi to swallow.

“I assume she was simply actually nervous for me just like the judgment I might face however on the finish of the day that is their situation, not mine,” Chloe shrugged earlier than the producers performed a particular message from Christi to her daughter.

“I might by no means ever, ever, ever have you ever be on a Dance Mothers reunion with out a message out of your mom,” she smiled in a pre-recorded video message. “That little woman who was at all times so timid and sort, you are still the kindest particular person I do know, however you are additionally the strongest particular person I do know.”

“Like once you announce to the world that you’re with Brooklinn, that’s simply essentially the most admirable factor on this planet,” Christi mentioned with thick emotion. “And I am so proud and I am very, very, very, very excited for what the following chapter for you seems to be like.”

Chloe wiped tears from her eyes as she defined how her mom “knew what sort of world we reside in.”

“She’s the sort of particular person to vary herself to make the world like her… that is who she was. I feel she’s actually grown into herself as an individual although,” Chloe defined. “However you realize, it was extra vital to me to simply be glad and be comfy with who I’m somewhat than like shoving all that down. And relating to it method afterward in life, you realize?”

In October 2021, Chloe and Brooklinn went public with their relationship however have since parted methods.

Kalani reveals she’s had suicidal ideas previously

Whereas reacting to the forged’s most impactful dances, Kalani excused herself and cried as she regained her composure within the toilet once they watched footage of a dance titled “Suicide hotline.”

Kalani revealed that she felt anxious about reacting to the dance as a result of she’s skilled suicidal ideas earlier than. When she returned to the stage, she wiped her tears and opened up about how the dance had affected her.

“I actually wasn’t ready to talk about what I will discuss however I’ve like personally have had suicidal ideas,” she defined. “And so watching the dance, clearly like triggers feelings, and it is certainly one of my favourite dances and I like it however I feel I connect with it like greater than I ever have earlier than.”

“I do assume that it is vital to speak about like, you’ll be able to name 988 they usually can assist you. I’ve referred to as they’ve helped me,” she added.

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Dance Mothers: The Reunion and all seasons of Dance Mothers are actually streaming on Lifetime.