It's hard to believe, but it looks as though Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller was an even tougher dance instructor back in the day. The reality star makes the shocking confession in a new interview about her life before she was one of the most controversial figures on the small screen.

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According to The Huffington Post UK last week, Miller says that there are "two sides to every story" when it comes to rumors about how she's supposedly "attacked" her dancers.

She told the site, "What you don't see on the show is the laughter. The kids and I are united, and we're laughing all the time at the producers. You don't see the fun. I have spent the greater part of my life in a hotel room with seven or eight kids, looking after everyone, sorting out fights, wiping noses, handing out towels, not having a clean towel left for me. The only difference... now I have my own room and my own towel."

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Miller also says that her "tough love" has been successful and that she is shockingly far more easier on her students now than she was in the past. This is almost hard to believe, as many fans who have watched her show know that Miller spends the majority of her time pushing her dances to their limit - both physically and emotionally.

She explained, "This is me softened up, because now these kids have cell phones and they can text their parents and tell them what I said. Before, I was really mean at 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., but at 8:30 p.m., I'd say something nice so that was the last thing they remembered when they got in the car and went home."

Dance Moms airs on the Lifetime Network.

Tags: Dance Moms Reality TV lifetime