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In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE during New York Fashion Week, Hilliker, 22, admits she’s “forever grateful” for everything Miller, 57, did for her.
Throughout her time on the show, Hilliker says she was traumatized and constantly criticized for her weight. This, she says, led her to develop body image issues and anxiety.
“Dance can be a very toxic for your body image just because there’s a specific way that a ballerina is supposed to look. There’s a specific way a dancer is supposed to look. I didn’t fit that stereotype,” she explains.
She continues: “I feel like I didn’t really have anxiety on the show. I was just suppressing all my emotions just to kind of get through. I really got my worst anxiety after the show, once I was able to finally sit down and take a breath and realize who I was and kind of what I went through."
Kalani Hilliker during a dance competition.Lifetime
Lifetime
As Hilliker got older, she says she started to develop a better relationship with Miller. She recalls being approximately 16-years-old, helping Miller and fellow dance coach Gianna Martello with choreography.
“I think more or less, everyone has their own different traumas,” Hilliker adds. “I think that aside from the trauma, there was so much good stuff too. I’m really grateful for it and for everything that I went through.”
Hilliker isn’t the only former cast member ofDance Momswho has spoken out about their experience on the show and their relationship with Miller.
Maddie Ziegler, who was on the show since its debut in season 1 but left with her sister Kenzie Ziegler after season 6, spoke out about her experience and decision to leave during an interview withCosmopolitanin June 2022.
“She trained me, she helped me, but also, I knew I would be okay without her and I was sick of being in a toxic environment," Ziegler, 20, explained to the outlet. “I was like, ‘This is not for me. I can’t do this.’ I haven’t spoken to her since.”
The cast of ‘Dance Moms’ at Nickelodeon’s 2016 Kids' Choice Awards. Ziegler is pictured second from left, while Siwa is second from right.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
JoJo Siwa, another former cast member from the show, also previously told PEOPLEMiller still swipes up on her social mediato give her dance advice all the time.
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone to her with choreography advice," Siwa, 20, told PEOPLE in December 2022. “Almost every time that I post something though of me dancing, she’ll swipe up and give me a correction on it or she’ll swipe up and give an idea on it.”
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“I do respect her choreography and I do respect what she’s done for the world,” Siwa said. “Whether the dance community wants to admit it or not, she changed the dance world for the better. I think that that’s really cool.”
source: people.com
