JoJo Siwa has received an outpouring of love from fans after sharing a genuinely terrifying Dance Moms footage.
JoJo starred on the fifth and sixth seasons of the show, which chronicled young dancers training and performing at Abby Lee Miller’s dance school, as well as the interactions between Miller, the dancers, and their frequently squabbling mothers.
While JoJo eventually left to explore other options, her time on the show saw her attacked not only by the notoriously harsh Miller, but also by the other young girls and their families.
JoJo, 19, has now uploaded a series of clips of herself receiving cruel criticism, which is difficult to watch.
Captioning the TikTok video ‘when people hate and attempt to hurt me but this was my childhood…’, JoJo watched the clips while dancing along with her hands in her pockets and laughing.
Miller told the other dancers in the first film to make a list of reasons why JoJo should not be a part of the Abby Lee Dance Company.
Some of the other ladies then read out their reactions to JoJo, with comments ranging from’sometimes she’s quite loud’ to’sometimes you take opportunities from those who have been here longer’.
As JoJo starts wiping tears away, Miller then tells her that she should be thankful to be there before utterly losing it, yelling: ‘You deserve nothing. Do not believe that you are entitled to anything in this life.’
She then chastises the young dancer for being upset as a result of being taunted.
Other clips show JoJo crying because she is afraid that ‘Abby is going to murder me’ after a routine, and another shows her being labelled a ‘greedy little monster’ for purchasing a new costume.
Another one saw a group of the other girls on stage slamming JoJo, with one saying: ‘Even if you pour water on her, she will never shut up.’
One of the final clips also showed one of the mothers calling her ‘one of the worst dancers on the team’.
JoJo captioned video with a quote from Miller that read: ‘You have to be ready to put your heart on a platter, and for someone to stab it.’
She was quickly inundated with messages of support, with one fan writing: ‘I never understood how the mothers just stood there!! I’d have ripped her hair out.’
‘I’m so sorry this happened to you,’ another added.
Many others pointed out the irony of the fact she has by far been the most successful from the programme, with one person telling JoJo that she converted ‘all that trauma into so much success’.
JoJo released her track Boomerang, which was about internet bullying, around the time she left Dance Moms.
It was a big success, having been viewed over 950 million times and receiving over 5 million likes.
She’s built her YouTube channel to over 12 million subscribers since then, has a tremendously successful music career, and has performed on Dancing With The Stars and The Masked Singer.
She was also named to Time’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2020.
