JoJo Siwa sheds light on new reality show with Chris Hughes as she opens up about Dance Moms childhood ‘trauma’

SHE was just nine years old when she was catapulted to fame on the extremely popular, but often cruel, reality show Dance Moms.

While the show was traumatic, it helped launch her £14m career and made her a global superstar – and now, in her latest chat with The Sun, she sheds light on her new reality show with beau Chris Hughes and insists there will be nothing ‘sad about it’.

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Dance Mom fans were left heartbroken for JoJo Siwa as she was repeatedly picked on by notorious dance teacher Abby Lee Miller and even her peers – so it came as a huge surprise when it was revealed she would be starring in another reality show.

But this time round it’s set to be very different as former child star JoJo will be working with her “soulmate” Chris Hughes  – and the 22-year-old couldn’t be more excited.

She tells us: “I can’t speak so much on it because there’s a lot of conversations and I’m not authorised.”

Explaining how different it will be from her previous foray into reality shows, she shared: “I just like to have fun. 

“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, do you really want to do this? Will you be sad on it?’

“I’m like, ‘No, no, no. It’s all just fun. It’s light.’ 

“We will have a good time, and just get to share a little more of life with the world.”

While working with a loved one might not be at the top of everyone’s list, it’s nothing new for JoJo having appeared alongside her mum Jessalynn.

JoJo explained: “I worked with my mum my whole life, and so I understand navigating family dynamics within a work dynamic.

 “You should never work with your partner unless you can do that.

“Me and Chris met working, and that’s how we got to know each other.

“And I think when you’re that designed to be with somebody, it doesn’t matter if you’re working.

“But we have worked together and we work very well together – we get along very well.

“I think for Chris, his closest friends are his managers. And so I think he also understands navigating friendships and work dynamics.

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“Obviously he and I aren’t friends, so it’s a little different, but it is similar in a way.”

Her tumultuous time on Dance Moms, which ended in 2016, really took its toll on the star, and she says she is still learning to deal with the trauma to this day.

It might have been a difficult time but it launched JoJo’s incredible money-spinning career.

After countless offers from companies, JoJo and her mother agreed to partner with children’s TV network Nickelodeon – and she now has over 500 successful products across the world.

JoJo’s signature bows have arguably been her biggest seller, with a whopping 80 million sold to date and she counts Kim Kardashian‘s daughter North as one of her biggest fans.

But despite her staggering success, she previously revealed she was left with a bald patch because of the stress of the show.

She said: “When I was little, I had a really bad stress rash right here on Dance Moms, and I would pick at it all day long. I damaged every single hair follicle that has ever been right there.”

It’s perhaps no surprise to fans that JoJo struggled – in one famous scene, dance instructor Abby raged: “She[JoJo] deserves nothing! Don’t have an attitude that you are entitled in this world, you deserve nothing.” 

On another occasion, she turned the other girls against young JoJo, telling them: “I asked each of you to do a homework assignment, I wanted you to write about JoJo; reasons she should not be part of the Abby Lee Dance Company.”

And JoJo has since said how hard she found it without the support of her fellow dancers, and in particular, how she struggled with being left out. 

She admits: “I think that’s the s**t that shaped me as a kid, the stuff Abby said to me that would go in one ear out, but that s**t. No, that’s stuff that sticks with me for life.

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But fast forward to now and things couldn’t be better for JoJo – largely down to her romance with Love Island star Chris. 

Prior to them entering the Celebrity Big Brother house earlier this year, no one would have ever thought a romance would blossom between the unlikely pair.

Indeed, when JoJo and Chris met on the ITV reality show, she was dating Australian content creator Kath Ebbs.

Kath claimed they had talked about marriage together before JoJo spent 19 days on the show with Chris.

But their relationship wasn’t to last – and JoJo dumped Kath at the show’s wrap party.

Now, she’s head over heels for Chris, and the couple are currently milling over which continent they may want to settle on long term.

Speaking at the Promise2Live 4th Annual Global Livestream Show in Los Angeles, she said: “We’ve had our conversations. We’ve had our conversations. It’ll all come together.”

JoJo, who attended the event to support and honour reality star Allison Holker, the wife of late dance icon Stephen Twitch Boss, feels that holding down a long-distance relationship has been simple.

The star added: “We do a very good job at being there for each other, no matter where we are in the world, and we’re very lucky. Our careers allow us to have flexibility. We’re two of the lucky ones.”

Despite the past trauma, the abuse she gets over her relationship with Chris, and her constant fight to be taken seriously as a musical artist, JoJo’s mental health is great – so much so that a return to a telly show seems entirely manageable. 

She says: “My year has been unpredictable, absolutely unpredictable. But it’s been lovely. I have had the greatest year.

“I have grown so much this year. I have fallen in love with somebody who I think is my forever.  And yeah, my mental well-being is stronger than ever before. It really is.”

We’ve got a feeling her year is only going to get better still.