Abby Lee's most savage Dance Mom moments

Abby Lee Miller is one of the most polarising characters in reality television. While the Dance Moms instructor extracts incredible performances from her young students, she uses some pretty extreme methods to get them there.

From unbridled screaming in a five-year-old's face, to nasty "slut-shaming" and physical altercations with their mothers, Abby's done it all.

The Dance Moms star recently broke her silence after being handed a prison sentence for bankruptcy fraud and bringing $120,000 worth of Australian currency into the United States undeclared after visiting Australia for dance instruction trips.

Speaking to Good Morning America, the 50-year-old reality star said, "I wasn’t ever trying to hurt anyone".

A US Judge in Pittsburgh has sentenced Abby to one year and one day in jail, and now Abby has revealed how she intends to spend her time in prison.

"A year and a day; it sounds like a movie title," she told Good Morning America.

"I’m just going to pretend that I am shooting a movie, and we’re on set, and I am there for 10 months, and that’s the way it’s gonna be."

Also shedding some light on her intentions after being released, she said she wanted to "be a smarter businesswoman and also to worry about myself".

"I have spent so much time and so much energy making other people's children stars. I didn't have any children of my own," she also reflected on the successful dancing enterprise she built.

"These were my kids and I raised them like they were my kids."

Abby pleaded guilty to both cases last year, and was ordered to pay a whopping $54,000 and spend two years on probation after being released.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the US District judge said she felt compelled to send her to prison rather than give her the probation term she wanted. The judge said, "The sentence reflects a need to enforce respect for the bankruptcy process and the law."

"Somehow you got caught up in this world of fame and got sidetracked," the judge continued, "and you lost your moral compass."

Prosecutors said she tried to cheat her creditors by hiding $US775,000 worth of income and deserved prison.

When the dance teacher addressed the court, filled with a room full of supporters, she sobbed as she recounted her desperation in trying to save her dance school in Penn Hills.

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"I am very sorry for what I've done," she said. "I can only assure you that I will never be before a criminal court again."

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