Friend decide to buy a soccer team . I got a call from rob saying, how would you like to partner up in this financially stupid but emotionally immersive project . Ryan reynolds and Rob Mcelhinney infusing the struggling wrexham fc with heart and hard work. Were back. Its rocky metamorphosis trapped in welcome to wrexham. How two guys with exactly no experience took the club from underdog to cinderella story. And the profession the president says gives america hope about the future honored tonight at the white house. And cache in, at cache creek casino resort, to rock and to roll. To go all out or. Go all in. With four stars and rising stars, northern californias premier casino resort is the perfect place. To do as much or as little as you want. Make your get away now and cache in at cache creek casino resort. Good evening. Im phil lipof. Abby lee miller says shes ready to be back in the spotlight. The former dance moms star has been both celebrated and denounced for her strict disciplinary approach to training young dancers. She served time in prison for tax evasion and battled cancer. Can abby lees comeback be greater than her setbacks . Heres nightline coanchor juju chang. Hello, everybody. Right here, make a circle. Hurry up music, go ahead. Five, six, seven, and lift forward, go juju Abby Lee Miller still knows how to command a room. Now were down to the chosen few. Here we go. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Going to let you go. 478, youre done. 276, youre done juju now 58, the disgraced former star of dance moms, the reality show that seemed to pit stage moms against each other and abby. Whore juju abby became a cultural phenomenon. Now shes trying to make a comeback. Abbys changed in so many ways. Surviving a stint in prison followed by a Cancer Battle that left her in a wheelchair. But in other ways, shes exactly the same. Ding dong, look one, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight would be the second juju do you ever feel like you crossed the line . Sure, sometimes. It was what was called for in the moment. Reporter 13 years after dance moms burst onto the scene, the obsession remains. The girls are more famous than ever with tens of millions of followers on social media. Abby herself, the ultimate meme. This poor daughter has no stability juju theres a whole new generation rewatching and reexamining dance moms through a modern lens. You were 25 minutes late to the bust your bomb competition juju often shocked. A lot of things dont fly in 2024. Juju her former students, now adults looking back at time spent under abbys rule. I just was doing everything i could to make my Dance Teacher like me. Why is this not working . Why does she hate me so much . The name of your routine is trouble. Youre in trouble today. The environment was very much about putting us down. We went through some drama together, and we survived it. You and i both know that lazy gets you nowhere. Reporter their opinion of abby, even years later, is complicated. Abby bred winners. Her dance studio was very, very good. She has so many dancers on broadway, so many dancers in movies. And when it comes down to the way she treated us, it was tough love. I know when i go to sleep at night that i have done my job. And i have made the world a better place for children. And those kids that youre talking about, that tough love, theyre doing great. Juju the woman at the center of it all in a rare interview speaking out. What do you think is the biggest misconception about you . If they were really devoted, they probably saw it. If they just watched a little here and there, they thought i was this awful, horrible, heavy ogre being mean to these little girls. Why in gods name would you an dance teach fer you didnt live children . Juju any regrets . Always. I regret signing the contract, thats the biggest pun. Juju premiering on lifetime in 2011, dance moms sashayed onto our screens and became appointment television. Abby miller known for harsh oneliners at the helm. Youre 16 years old. Everybodys watching you cry. Save your tears for the pillow. I dont care if they like me or not, theyre fabulous, and they have a better life than they had in a little town called penn hills in pittsburgh. Juju the show debuted with seven dancers ages 6 to 13 and their moms were there for it. Divas in their own right. Their clashes with abby, legendary. Ive been here all day making costumes for you while you were down the road eating stop eating. Thats why youre fat juju the girls competed in every style of dance, from lyrical oh how good it feels to be juju to jazz juju chloe lou years old when dance moms premiered. Paige highland was 10. Older sister brooke was 15. Hi so tan. At the beach. Yes. I think that our previous Dance Teacher creates really strong dancers, really beautiful dancers. In any competitive sport, youre going to have people who will push you really hard so you can reach the potential that they can see in you. I think theres a way you can do that in a kinder way than what we experienced. Theres a delicate balance between wanting to push a kid in a way that brings out the best in them, and then using tactics like shame, fear, humiliation, to bring out something out of them. Juju when you look back out, what stands out in your mind as being the trauma that you lived through . I was having panic attacks on the show. I cant breathe. Juju do you remember what brought on the panic attacks . The pressure. I think my Dance Teacher not liking me i think mentally i realized, this isnt for the cameras, she actually is out to get me. I was having panic attacks just being in the room with her. Just got very difficult mentally. Juju you have trouble saying her name . Yeah, i have trouble just talking about it in general. Juju at the height of her fame, abbys career tack took a tumble. October 2015, she was indicted on bankruptcy fraud charges. Her legal drama playing out for all of america to see in season six and seven of the show. The court and the judge, they think im hiding money. So it doesnt show up anywhere. Thats bull [ bleep ]. Juju after initially proclaiming her innocence, abby ultimately pled guilty to concealing income she earned after file fog bankruptcy, sentenced to a year in prison and served eight months. To this day, abby denies she knowingly did anything wrong. Then in 2018, shortly after leaving prison, she began experiencing pain and went to the doctor. I had lost 127 pounds. In prison i read 150 books. And i exercised every day. I was in the best shape of my life. So when i walked in she was like, oh my god, you look fabulous, whats going on . I said, i have this pain in my head, in the back of my neck, its killing me. Juju she was diagnosed with burkett lymphoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. She says now shes cancerfree but she cant easily walk on her own because a tumor caused damage to her spine. Whats it like teaching dance from a chair . I kind of always sat on my ass, so im pretty good. Juju despite her dramatic fall from grace and all the detractors, a few minutes with abby is still in high demand. I like big hair. The bigger the hair, the smaller the ass, right . The bigger the hair, the closer to god. I have a big day today with 170 kids, 100 mothers observing, watching me, and then i have a q a for children that dont dance, that are just fans of the show, that want to meet me a all that. So the hair has to stay, you know . Juju today shes prepping for a dance workshop, one of the hundreds of master classes she teaches across the country, promoting them to her millions of followers on social media. At the studio, an army of young girls eager to impress. Look at me. You, parallel turquoise top, parallel. Juju abby Holding Court and coaching with her signature style. Parents if you own one of the kids out there thats not in a split, whats wrong . Maybe they just came today to see me and have fun, and thats great. Maybe theyre lazy. Purple, you might want to know your right from your left. Youre on the wrong leg, honey. Juju for the girls who know what its like to be under abbys watchful eye, looking back isnt always easy. What would you say to your preteen selves . Give her a hug. Yeah, i would say, everythings going to be okay. Looking at us now, we all made it out. Were all successful, grounded people. Just know its going to be okay. I think i really did love dance in the beginning. Then i came to hate it because at that moment, it represented everything hard in life. So i needed to take a break. And now im like every once in a while, ill dip my toe in the water. Maybe one day ill go back to it. Phil our thanks to juju. The full episode of impact by nightline dance moms, behind the curtain now streaming on hulu. When we return, two hollywood stars with no Sports Experience buy a struggling Welsh Soccer Team and the redemption story is television gold. If youre living with hiv, imagine being good to go without daily hiv pills. Good to go off the grid. Good to go nonstop. With cabenuva, theres no pausing for daily hiv pills. For adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, longacting hiv treatment you can get every other month. Its two injections from a healthcare provider. Just 6 times a year. Dont receive cabenuva if youre allergic to its ingredients or if youre taking certain medicines which may interact with cabenuva. Serious side effects include allergic reactions, postinjection reactions, liver problems, and depression. If you have a rash and other allergic reaction symptoms, stop cabenuva and get medical help right away. 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Join the Neuriva Brain Health challenge. Join the millions whore feeling the power of osteo biflex®, the 1 pharmacist recommended joint care supplement. Find our coupons in sundays paper. Phil welcome back. Ryan reynold is is a bone 92 guide marvel superhero, headlining the deadpool franchise and starring in huge hollywood action movies. Maybe thats why the idea of buying a struggling soccer team didnt seem daunting. Not only did reynolds and his friend buy the team, they gave it a second chance. Heres abcs rhiannon ally. I have to ask, first of all, are we calling it soccer . Or football . We say football. We generally are just using feet in this sport. But then american football, youre not really using feet that much. Reporter its an underdog story made for tv, literally. Wrexham afc, the beloved and historic uk soccer team, now on a spectacular rise. Unbelievable for wrexham. Reporter after a longtime losing streak, the club scooped up by celebrity backers Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Mcelhinney in 2021. If i were going to go bankrupt with anybody on earth, it would be rob. Were well on our way. Reporter the dual ownership, a reversal of fortunes for the team both on and off the field, documented in the critically acclaimed tv show, welcome to wrexham back for its third season on fx, streaming on hulu. I wake up, i think weve been taken over by two hollywood superstars. I love building things and growing things and telling stories. But nothing occupies the space in my mind, heart, and soul more than wrexham. Reporter actor Ryan Reynolds has been telling stories for over 30 years. From starring in the proposal oh my god, what is that . Its the morning. Reporter to portraying the sarcastic superhero deadpool. Did i leave the stove on . Reporter as a businessman for ventures like mint mobile. Reynolds joining forces with fellow funny guy, writer and actor Rob Mcelhenney of its always sunny in philadelphia. Are you ready . Bam. I reached out to rob, i dmd him. I got a call from rob a year later. How would you like to partner up in this extremely outside the box, risky, financially stupid but emotionally immersive project . I had this idea for the football team. I thought, wow. There was very few people that i know who are as entrepreneurial as ryan, who i believe i could get along with, yet we each brought Something Different to the table. Reporter slid into the dms, taking your shot, a modernday love story. It really is. Reporter from inbox to goalie box, the idea taking them to a small town in wales. Why wrexham . How did you find them . What drew you . We wanted a town that we could identify with. For me, the community i grew up in in philadelphia and for ryan, he grew up in a very bluecollar, workingclass family and background. We knew we wanted to find people who we knew, or felt we knew. It sort of checked every box. Reporter checking every box. But first, they say, they had to earn the towns trust. Its just a footballing town. Its hard to describe if youre not from here, i guess. They welcomed us with a healthy sense of skepticism, which we expected, but not cynicism, which we really respected. Its the way weve always approached wrexham. Lets go in and listen before we talk. Lets try to understand what the community wants, what the club wants. Lets give them the resources and the exposure to get that. Reporter wrexham afc has been around over 150 years. The thirdoldest soccer team on earth. My family watch wrexham. My family before that watched wrexham. Thats how its always been. Reporter in recent decades, the mens team losing their way to their lowestever ranking in the 20192020 season. In late 2020, reynolds and mcelhinneys purchase of the club bringing in muchneeded cash and hollywood flash. The emmywinning welcome to wrexham now documenting the dreams and dramas of this workingclass citys team. Our star player wound up in the emergency room. Reporter was it difficult to let these cameras in, to let them see not only the highs but the lows as well . I struggled with it a little bit, yeah. At the beginning. When we sat down to look at documentary footage, theres been so many times i see myself and im humiliated by the way i acted in a particular moment. I realize, that has to go in. Because it happened. Its real life. Reporter wrexham now winning more than they have in two decades. Its easy to focus on the wins in life. But its really important to make sure that kids also see that you lose. That loss today, that extends that feeling of authenticity. Reporter the show and its soccer stars captivating audiences around the world, drawing parallels to the hit scripted show ted lasso. Now i know at least one thing about football. Reporter even earning the town a visit from king charles and queen camilla. If this club does well, the town will do well. The two are inextricably linked. Reporter what does this Community Mean to you after three years . How have they embraced you . Ive had to start changing my sheets, my bedsheets, more often. Because i sweat at night, okay . Im having a physiological reaction to this, wanting so badly to deliver what weve promised this town. What theyve done for us is welcome us into their community. I hope that weve delivered on each one of our promises. And each time we do that, we get a little bit more welcome in the community, and i sweat a little bit less. One of the kindest things anybodys ever said was that we were honorary welshmen. Wales has really captured a huge piece must have heart. To be considered part of that group and the community on some level, any level, means more to me than anything, any of it. Phil our thanks to rhiannon. When we come back, they came from all over the country. The profession honored tonight at the white house. To severe s or crohns disease. Put it in check with rinvoq. A once daily pill. When symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief. And reduced fatigue with rinvoq. Check. When flares kept trying to slow me down. I got lasting steroid free remission. With rinvoq. Check. And when my doctor saw damage,. Rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. Check. For both uc and crohns rapid symptom relief. Lasting steroid free remission. And visibly reduced damage. Check. Check. And check. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. People 50 and older with a Heart Disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. Put uc and crohns in check. And keep them there with rinvoq. Ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq and learn how abbvie can help you save. Not flossing well . Then add the whoa of listerine to your routine. New science shows listerine is 5x more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gumline. For a cleaner, healthier mouth. Ahhhhh. Listerine. Feel the whoa pain means pause on the things you love, but. Green. Means. Go cool the pain with biofreeze. And keep on going. Biofreeze. Green means go. Phil finally tonight, the teachers of the year at the white house. You all are the reason why we have hope about the future. Phil the firstever state dinner to honor educators. Teacher of the year Missy Testerman calling teaching pivotal. We make democracy possible. Both by educating the generation in front of us, but we also make all professions, every single one of them, possible. Phil more than 50 others also honored. More with those educators on gma. For now, thats nightline. You can watch full episodes on hu hulu. Well see you right back here same time tomorrow. Thanks for staying up with us. Good night, america