--- title: Abby Lee Miller: Dance Moms Star on How She'll Handle Prison description: Abby Lee Miller, a former Dance Moms reality TV star sentenced over bankruptcy fraud, said she plans to treat prison like it’s a movie set. canonical: https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T14:22:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:56:53.869Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Dance Moms' Star Abby Lee Miller Says She’ll Treat Prison Like a Movie Set og:description: She was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud og:url: https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116629391c3c1540/6988ccb6cf40a800c4c479e2/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Nickelodeon's 2016 Kids' Choice Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Dance Moms' Star Abby Lee Miller Says She’ll Treat Prison Like a Movie Set twitter:description: She was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116629391c3c1540/6988ccb6cf40a800c4c479e2/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Dance Moms_ Star Abby Lee Miller Says She’ll Treat Prison Like a Movie Set  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan May 10, 2017 2:22 PM UTC  Abby Lee Miller arrives at Nickelodeon's 2016 Kids' Choice Awards at The Forum on March 12, 2016 in Inglewood, California. Abby Lee Miller arrives at Nickelodeon's 2016 Kids' Choice Awards at The Forum on March 12, 2016 in Inglewood, California.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin—FilmMagic  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan May 10, 2017 2:22 PM UTC [Abby Lee Miller](http://time.com/4771749/damce-moms-abby-lee-miller-bankruptcy/), a former _Dance Moms_ reality TV star who was sentenced for bankruptcy fraud Tuesday, said she plans to treat prison like it’s a movie set. Miller, known for being tough on young competitive dancers on the reality show, appeared optimistic during an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC’s [_Good Morning America_](https://www.yahoo.com/gma/dance-moms-star-speaks-prison-105339382.html) after she was sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison. “A year and a day. It sounds like a movie title,” she said. “I’m just going to pretend I’m shooting a movie and we’re on set, and I’m there for 10 months and that’s the way it’s going to be.” The 51-year-old pleaded guilty last year to fraud charges after prosecutors said she was trying to hide $775,000 worth of income despite filing for bankruptcy, according to the [Associated Press](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FDANCE%5FMOMS%5FBANKRUPTCY%5FFRAUD%5FPAOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-09-14-56-15). Miller said she will spend her time in prison reading and learning how to speak Spanish. She’s also already working on a new book. “I wasn’t ever trying to hurt anyone,” she said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/"},"headline":"Dance Moms Star Abby Lee Miller Says She’ll Treat Prison Like a Movie Set","datePublished":"2017-05-10T14:22:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:56:53.869Z","description":"She was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud","url":"https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/","keywords":["celebrities","Crime","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116629391c3c1540/6988ccb6cf40a800c4c479e2/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116629391c3c1540/6988ccb6cf40a800c4c479e2/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nickelodeon's 2016 Kids' Choice Awards","caption":"Abby Lee Miller arrives at Nickelodeon's 2016 Kids' Choice Awards at The Forum on March 12, 2016 in Inglewood, California.","creditText":"Axelle/Bauer-Griffin—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4773815/dance-moms-abby-lee-miller/","name":"Dance Moms Star Abby Lee Miller Says She’ll Treat Prison Like a Movie Set"}}]}] ```