‘Dance Moms’ Fans Welcome Abby Lee Miller Back to TV After Prison, Cancer Battle

Abby Lee Miller is back, and the Dance Moms coach hasn’t changed a bit.

Tuesday’s Lifetime premiere of the reality show marked the first time Miller had been back on her own show since spending more than a year in prison on bankruptcy fraud charges, then learning she had been diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma.

While Miller had completed her chemotherapy regimen and declared cancer-free by doctors ahead of her return to the Abby Lee Dance Company studio in Pittsburgh, she still returned to coaching paralyzed from the waist down.

But that didn’t keep her from doling out the tough truths to her dancers, telling them to develop a thick skin before someone else “stabs” them in the heart.

“Everyone is replaceable,” she reiterated to the kids, as well as their mothers.

The dancers’ mothers did appear to have a little more sympathy for the coach upon her return than in the past, however.

“It’s kind of sad actually, she’s gone through so much,” one mom said. “I hardly even know the lady, but it’s just sad that one person has been through so many different things. Losing her team and going through her trial and jail, and then as soon as she got out, to learn that she’s got cancer.”

“I think what makes it worse is knowing that so many people still want to see her fail,” another added.

Dance Moms fans as well were more than happy to welcome the no-nonsense reality personality back.

Dance Moms airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

Photo credit: Lifetime