Why Did Chloe Leave 'Dance Moms' — Was Abby Lee Miller to Blame?

Fans were devastated to see Chloe Lukasiak leave Dance Moms after Season 4, despite the seeming abuse she — and her mom Christi — endured regularly at the hands of Abby Lee Miller.

So what was the straw that finally broke the camel's back for Chloe and her mother? Why did the talented dancer decide to exit the show? Read on for the full details, with Chloe herself clearing up the reasoning behind her departure.

Anyone who watched the first four seasons of Dance Moms was well acquainted with how often Abby and Christi butted heads.

Of course, it's worth noting that Christi tended to argue with a lot of the other dance moms, too — and Abby was seemingly ready for a brawl with anyone, anywhere.

Beyond the adult drama that never ended, Chloe unfortunately was never Abby's favorite, which was another factor that built tension on the show. Instead, it seemed that Chloe could never live up to Abby's most prized dancer, Maddie Ziegler, despite her incredible skills on the stage.

Although Chloe endured four seasons under Abby's harsh microscope, the dance instructor finally took things too far when she poked fun at the young dancer's medical challenge.

“The reason I left Dance Moms was because my former dance teacher made fun of a medical condition I have,” Chloe explained in the years following her departure.

She went on to share that she has silent sinus syndrome, which according to the Cleveland Clinic "is a rare health condition in which a blockage in part of your sinuses causes them to sink, causing sunken eyes, displaced eyeballs, droopy eyelids and other symptoms."

Even though Chloe left Dance Moms on bad terms, she did decide to return for the reunion, and explained her reasoning this way: "Honestly, and not in an arrogant way at all, but I knew they would be talking about all of the cast members, anyway. So I was like, I'd rather be there and be able to take control of my narrative."

She went on to say, "I wanted to be able to just go and speak my mind and address some of the issues that we never got to talk about before."

For what it's worth, Christi did not return for the reunion. Maybe she'd had enough bickering to last a lifetime already!

As for where Chloe is today, she created Elevé dance competition, explaining about why she went in this direction, "I always knew I'd come back to dance in some way. I just didn't know what way that was."

Although she is involved in dance, interestingly, the former reality star says, "I couldn't really see myself turning around and dancing again. Honestly, I think that's just something I have to come to on my own, not really, like I've done it before. It's just a natural progression, eventually, maybe, or never."