‘Dance Moms’ Star Abby Lee Miller Doesn’t ‘Fly Off the Handle’ Anymore After Cancer Battle

Abby Lee Miller has learned a thing or two from her life experiences, and she’s admitted that following her time in prison and her recent battle with cancer, she has become less temperamental.

The Lifetime reality TV star and head of the Abby Lee Dance Company, who recently revealed that she is cancer free, had earned a reputation for being short-tempered and hot headed on Dance Moms, an attitude that frequently saw her butting heads with the parents of the children she was teaching. The reputation also didn’t settle well with some viewers of the show, who often criticized her tactics.

That tough love helped launch the careers of Jojo Siwa and Maddie Ziegler, though it also reportedly earned her an assault lawsuit filed against her in 2014.

However, following her time in prison and her battle with Burkitt lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Miller told Us Weekly that she has become less temperamental and has learned to remain patient even in the face of frustrations.

“I feel grateful. I feel alive and thriving when I’m back in the [dance] studio and I get in my zone and I’m just doing my thing,” Miller told the outlet. “I don’t think I get that upset over things. It’s hard to deal with the moms, all of that’s hard, but I don’t fly off the handle as quickly as I did…And when the kids don’t win, I’m like, ‘Yeah, but you were great.’”

Miller is set to return to TV with her new attitude on the Tuesday, June 4 special Dance Moms: The Return of Abby, an hour-long special that will catch Dance Moms fans up to date on what the reality TV star has gone through since she quit the series in March of 2017.

Miller is also expected to showcase her new attitude on the upcoming season of the TV series, Dance Moms: Resurrection, which is set to air in June, though fans will see her in a wheelchair, a result of her battle with cancer.

“It’s not difficult in the chair because I always sat there anyways, so that’s not a big deal,” Miller said. “What’s not good is while you’re shooting 12 hours a day, I’m not doing the exercises that I’m supposed to do. I’m missing lots of physical therapy appointments. … I’m not really taking care of myself like I did.”

Dance Moms: The Return of Abby airs Tuesday, June 4 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime. Dance Moms Season 8 premieres on Lifetime June 4 at 9 p.m. ET.