Published: 02:44 BST, 8 August 2026 | Updated: 03:05 BST, 8 August 2026<\/p>\n
Abby Lee Miller is famous \u2013 or, perhaps infamous \u2013 as the iron-fisted dance instructor at the center of the hit TV series Dance Moms.<\/p>\n
Week after week, she demanded perfection from her young pupils, reducing some to tears as she relentlessly picked apart every mistake.<\/p>\n
But behind the sequins and glittering jewelry, Abby, now 60, was privately fixated on a perceived flaw in her own appearance \u2013 her earlobes.<\/p>\n
After getting her ears pierced age 10, she says she became instantly 'obsessed' with earrings. Her collection quickly swelled to more than 500 pairs \u2013 two pairs of each because she'd always lose one.<\/p>\n
'I always had big earrings so you could see them because I have a lot of hair,' says Abby, speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail. 'My hair's dark around my face so, if I wore little earrings, you'd never see them.'<\/p>\n
Growing up, she says she noticed her mother, also a fan of big earrings, started to complain her earlobes were sagging, but ignored her. Then, as Abby grew older, she noticed the same thing was happening to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
'My mother used to complain about her ears all the time and always wanted earrings that covered her earlobes,' she said. 'I really didn't until recently, in the past six months. I thought, "Oh my god, it's happening to me!".<\/p>\n
'I started noticing I was trying to buy earrings that covered the flat part of my ear because I thought, "I'm getting crepey skin, and the holes in my ears are getting too big".'<\/p>\n
Abby Lee Miller, 60, from Dance Moms, said she got her earlobes restored using a cutting-edge technique<\/p>\n
Her earlobes had previously sagged, but she got them lifted using filler injections. Shown above before and after the procedure<\/p>\n
She adds: 'They just looked droopy. I have good ears, they're flat against my head, they don't stick out. Then all of a sudden I got droopy earlobes.'\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
From our mid-20s onwards, the body gradually produces less collagen and elastin \u2013 the proteins that keep skin firm and springy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over time, skin loses its structure and begins to sag.<\/p>\n
The earlobes are no exception. Sun exposure, gravity and the gradual loss of collagen and fat leave them thinner, looser and more crepe-like, while years of wearing heavy earrings can stretch them further.\u00a0<\/p>\n