Abby Lee Miller Says Prison Time is ‘Why I’m in a Wheelchair’

Six years after her incarceration, Abby Lee Miller is sharing the reason she believes she’s in a wheelchair today.

During an appearance on Bethenny Frankel’s Just B podcast on May 7, the former Dance Moms instructor, 58, opened up about her time in prison for bankruptcy fraud in 2016.

While acknowledging that she “did things wrong” and “made bad decisions,” Miller claimed that the investigation into her finances was an “absolute witch hunt.” She went on to allege that the judge tied to the case had a wife who was a “super fan” of the Lifetime show.

With his wife’s prior knowledge of her and the ads circulating about her upcoming spinoff series at the time, Miller claimed that it had influenced his ruling and perpetuated the notion that she had “all this money” from working in television.

“But I filed [for bankruptcy] before the show ever started,” she said, before adding, “Oh, that’s why I’m in a wheelchair, because in prison I was punished and taken off all my medication, cold turkey.”

In October 2015, Miller was charged with attempting to hide $775,000 of income from her Lifetime series and its spinoff, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, as well as multiple other projects during bankruptcy proceedings. She allegedly hid the money in secret bank accounts between 2012–13. In June 2016, she pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud.

The reality star was also accused of divvying $120,000 – which she made in Australia during a tour – into separate plastic bags and having friends carry them in their luggage in August 2014, which is in violation of a law mandating people report if they are bringing more than $10,000 of a foreign currency into the U.S. As part of her plea, she promised to forfeit the $120,000 Australian.

“That was Melissa [Gisoni],” Miller alleged on the podcast, pinning the decision to divide the funds on Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler’s mother. “Melissa was all in charge of all the money. I taught the dance classes, they sold the merchandise.”

She recalled Gisoni allegedly saying, “‘Oh, we’re gonna bring this money home. And this is what we’re gonna do. Everybody’s gonna take 10,000, Abby. This is what we’re gonna do.’ Why, in God’s name? I was paying $650,000.” (Gisoni was never charged in connection to the bankruptcy fraud case and has not publicly addressed Miller’s comments.)

In May 2017, Miller received a sentence of one year and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. She was additionally fined $40,000 and ordered to pay the $120,000 judgment, as well as give a DNA sample. She reported to prison two months later in July.

While serving her sentence, Miller gave her fans an update into her life in prison alongside a photo that was posted to Instagram in January 2018.

“Sometimes in life you make mistakes. I trusted the wrong people and didn’t pay any attention to things I should of. I’m more than sorry for the mistakes I have made,” she wrote in the caption.

“My world flipped upside down when I had to enter prison,” she continued. “I did so with grace, the stories you read about me [being] a princess are untrue. I have made friends with both inmates and staff, I’ve tried to better myself, participated in anything offered to me and I am a better person for this experience.”

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By April 2018, after undergoing the emergency surgery for what was initially thought to be a spinal infection, the reality star was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In the year since, she underwent ten rounds of chemotherapy and months of rehabilitation in hopes of walking again.

“I have goals,” Miller told PEOPLE in 2019 after becoming cancer-free. “I have dreams and I want to see them come to fruition. I want to retire and want to be able to live out my days financially secure. That’s what everyone wants.”