Abby Lee Miller reported to the Victorville Federal Correctional Institution in California two weeks ago, where she is serving a 366-day sentence.
Before leaving to serve her prison term, she sat down with The View co-host Jedidiah Bila for one last interview, which aired on Tuesday night for her tell-all Lifetime special, Dance Moms: Abby Tells All Exclusive.
The former Dance Moms star said she’s made lots of mistakes but “the number 1 mistake being, trusting other people with my money.”
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Miller pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud last June. Miller also took $120,000 worth of Australian currency into the United States without reporting it, to which she also pleaded guilty last year.
Miller admitted to Bila, “I was stupid, uneducated, didn’t do the research myself. I was in the wrong. What I did was wrong.”
She said she’s afraid of what prison will be like. “I’ve been told not to talk about it because once they know, when they see this and they know, that’s what they’ll go after,” Miller said of what she’s fearful might happen to her in prison. “I’m petrified.”
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On the fears that she could be physically abused in prison, Miller admitted that “it’s definitely something that I’m terrified of, yes.”
“I hope it won’t be as bad as I imagine,” she said, but admitted, “if a whole gang of people wants to kill you, they’re going to do it.”
When asked about what mental place she was in before beginning her sentence, Miller said, “It feels like I’m being dropped into some dungeon and it’s going to be grey, it’s going to be cement, and it’s going to smell, and it’s going to be disgusting, and it’s going to be cold. And I’m going to get cramps in my feet and my legs every night because I’m going to be standing on cement.”
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After her initial jail time, she faces two years of supervised probation. She was additionally fined $40,000 and ordered to pay back the $120,000.
Prosecutors said she tried to cheat her creditors by hiding $775,000 worth of income and deserved to spend time in prison. Miller’s lawyers argued for probation, saying her creditors were made whole after the fraud was discovered.
According to the prosecutors, Miller hid the money in secret bank accounts. With the $120,000, she split the money up into separate bags and had friends carry them in their luggage in the summer of 2014. (By law, all travellers carrying in excess of $10,000 must declare it at customs. Miller failed to do so.)
— With files from Chris Jancelewicz