Abby Lee Miller: Dance Moms Star Reveals Why She Is Afraid Of Going To Prison, What Scares Her Most
Abby Lee Miller revealed what she is afraid of most about going to prison, and it’s not the specter of ten months of nasty food, or the possibility of being a victim of violence, or anything like that. Rather, she’s most afraid of what’s going to happen to her after prison, E! Online is reporting.
In an emotional interview with Jason Kennedy, a tearful Miller talked about facing the reality of having to spend ten months in prison and the fact that the world will likely be completely different when she is released.
“Dance Moms” star Abby Lee Miller is going to jail for bankruptcy fraud and other charges https://t.co/LpNH2VZ6sD pic.twitter.com/QBBejKPYzc
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 10, 2017
Perhaps most importantly, she’s considering the magnitude of the situation, and reminiscing on what got her there in the first place.
“It is surreal. How does a nice Catholic girl end up going to prison for a year? It’s crazy. I’ve made mistakes. I have to pay for those mistakes. I feel like the whole case could have been handled differently.”
Miller was sentenced last week to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud and other charges. In 2010, Miller filed for bankruptcy after her Pittsburgh dance studio began failing. Not long after, Dance Moms became a thing, and Miller started making money hand over fist. However, between 2012-2013, she hid those earnings from bankruptcy regulators, leading to criminal charges. In addition to her prison sentence, she’ll also have to pay a $400,000 fine.
As for how she’ll get by in prison, Miller tells Good Morning America that she’s going to pretend she’s somewhere else.
“I’m just going to pretend that I am shooting a movie, and we’re on set, and I am there for 10 months, and that’s the way it’s gonna be.”
She also plans to use her free time – and she’ll have a lot of it – reading, writing, and perhaps learning Spanish.
#BREAKING: #DanceMoms star Abby Lee Miller sentenced to more than a year in jail for bankruptcy fraud. https://t.co/4gRqFOeOWR pic.twitter.com/i1AsSqnGvs
— Tim Williams (@realtimwilliams) May 9, 2017
Miller has already requested, through her attorney, that she be placed in a facility near Los Angeles, according to ET Online. Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti agreed to make that recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons, which will have the ultimate say in where Miller does her time. And while the Bureau will consider the inmate’s requests when placing a federal prisoner, it’s just one factor in many factors that will be considered, and Miller may or may not have her wishes honored.
The thing that scares Miller most about prison, however, is not the experience itself, but what will happen to her after prison.
“What all [I’m] going to lose in the long run. Will I be right back where I started?”
While her worries are justified, Abby may find out that life after prison may suit her just as well as life before prison. For starters, she’s already lining up a job post-prison. TMZ reports that she’s planning to work on a new reality show while she’s behind bars. Of course, whether or not any network will pick up her show remains to be seen.
Abby Lee Miller is hardly the first female TV star to run afoul of the law and wind up in prison while her career was going strong.
Perhaps the most famous female celebrity to be convicted of white-collar crimes and serve time in a federal minimum-security prison was Martha Stewart. And while she doesn’t like to talk about her time in prison, it seems that for Martha, the experience, while not a positive one, wasn’t the baroque horror it could have been. In fact, as People reported in 2005, the other inmates even gave her the affectionate nickname of “M. Diddy.”
Not for nothing, but Martha Stewart has completely rebounded from her time in prison. Today, stock in her company is up, her products are selling, and she’s back on TV.
If the stars line up properly, and if Miller manages to keep her nose clean while in the clink, she may yet pull a Martha Stewart and emerge stronger than ever on the other side.
[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]
