The Biggest Scandals That Completely Rocked Lifetime

If you've ever spent an afternoon bed rotting and binge watching the Lifetime channel, then you understand the strangely addictive appeal of shows like "Dance Moms," "Dr. Pimple Popper," or "Married at First Sight." The channel's often campy, sometimes cringey programming makes for entertaining television, but behind the scenes there have been some serious scandals that rival the drama of a "Ripped From the Headlines" movie. Affairs, arrests, and accusations of sensationalism, racism, and more have turned Lifetime from a guilty pleasure into one of the most controversial channels on the air that critics (and some viewers} love to hate. 

Lifetime started innocently enough in 1984 as a low-budget channel geared toward women, featuring plenty of talk shows interspersed with syndicated series. The fledging channel struggled until it dipped a toe into the made-for-TV-movie world, dove headfirst into the reality realm, and never looked back. "We kind of had a push-pull internally, from tabloid to classy. And many times we erred on the tabloid side, or things that were a little more salacious; a little more women-in-jeopardy, because that was really doing it for us in the ratings," Arturo Interian, vice president of original movies, told The Washington Post. "Ratings-wise, we were addicted to the 'Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?' sort of thrillers." The channel continued to grow and evolve, and today it is a well known for the antics of its stars as it is for its lineup of shows. 

Abby Lee Miller of "Dance Moms" was a master of dance and drama, but even she couldn't side step the bankruptcy fraud charge that landed her in jail. The harsh dance taskmaster who made students cry and parents scream was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, along with two years of supervised release. In addition to losing her freedom, Miller also lost a chunk of change when she was ordered to pay $160,000 total in fines and judgements. In an appearance on the podcast "Just B with Bethenny Frankel," the Lifetime star admitted to wrongdoing but claimed she was the victim of an "absolute witch hunt."  

Miller was accused of hiding nearly $775,000 of her income during the bankruptcy filing. In a bizarre twist, she was also charged with smuggling $120,000 in income from an Australian tour into the U.S. to avoid reporting it. Miller claimed that the scheme was the brainchild of Melissa Gisoni, mom of Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler. "Melissa was all in charge of all the money. I taught the dance classes, they sold the merchandise," Miller said. Despite that accusation, Gisoni was never formally charged, and Miller served her time. In a since deleted Instagram post, the reality star expressed her remorse. "Sometimes in life you make mistakes," she captioned a photo from prison (via People), adding, "I'm more than sorry for the mistakes I have made." 

After serving her prison sentence, Abby Lee Miller returned to the "Dance Moms" studio for another season, with plans to launch a spin-off, "Abby's Virtual Dance Off," were in the works. It seemed like Miller was back on top, until she wasn't. Before the new show could get off the ground, Lifetime announced that not only was it cancelled, but Miller would not be returning for another season of "Dance Moms." It was later revealed that the real reason Lifetime pulled the plug on Miller's new show was due to allegations of racism from some former "Dance Moms." 

The scandal started with an Instagram post from Adriana Smith, whose daughter Kamryn danced during season 8. In her comments, Smith recounted remarks made by Miller, including when she told her to "LOOK in the MIRROR! That's the only reason you are here." She added that Kamryn overheard Miller say "they need a sprinkle of color." Smith left the show, but her allegations prompted other moms, including Camille Bridges, mom of Camryn, and the show's producer, Kori Kingg, to speak out. In a private Facebook post, Kingg wrote, "Seeing a 7-year-old little Black girl be put in a box in a corner and treated so violently because of the color of her skin was heartbreaking" (via E! News). Miller apologized via her own lengthy Instagram post and promised to "do better," but it wasn't enough to save her show.

R. Kelly was no stranger to accusations of improper sexual behavior, specifically with minors. For years, the famous rapper was the subject of countless lawsuits and charges, yet he always seemed to escape any real retribution. Then Lifetime aired "Surviving R. Kelly" and the star's world turned upside down. Called "one of the most-viewed programs in the history of the Lifetime network" in The New York Times, the show provided a platform for Kelly's accusers to share all the details about his abusive behavior — and this time people listened. 

 Kelly was quickly dropped by his record label and found himself arrested for multiple charges that included, among other things, child pornography. The visibly upset rapper denied the charges in an interview on CBS This Morning and told host Gayle King, "I didn't do this stuff, this is not me, I'm fighting for my f**king life." Kelly was convicted in two separate trials, in New York and Chicago, and sentenced to a combined 30 years in federal prison for his crimes that included sex trafficking and racketeering. The truth about what R. Kelly's guilty verdict really means is that the victims got justice. "The damage Mr. Kelly inflicted on his victims is immeasurable," said U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr. in a statement  following Kelly's Chicago trial. "I want to thank the victims for their strength, perseverance, and courage in coming forward to testify at trial."

The ostentatious and outspoken Chrisley family was living large and riding the high of their successful USA network shows, "Chrisley Knows Best" and "Growing Up Chrisley," when Julie and Todd Chrisley were sentenced for tax fraud in 2022. Rather than back away from the drama surrounding the family, Lifetime came calling and offered viewers a front row seat with a brand new show, "Chrisleys: Back to Reality." "This series delivers an unfiltered, deeply personal look at their journey and introduces the real Chrisleys as they navigate this new chapter," Lifetime said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. 

The new show was originally created to show how the Chrisley kids, led by eldest daughter Savannah, navigated life while their parents were behind bars. However, it took a different turn when Julie and Todd were pardoned by President Donald Trump and made their triumphant return to the real world — and the world of reality. "It was the ultimate comeback story," Julie said in an interview on the Tamron Hall Show, adding that no one at Lifetime knew when, or even if, a pardon was coming. "It just happened, the perfect timing." Todd Chrisley has continued to profess his innocence throughout the ordeal and has claimed that he has done nothing wrong. In a 2025 press conference following his release, the Chrisley patriarch said, "The corruption that went on in our case is going to continue to unfold." Hopefully, Lifetime is ready for it.

"I Was Sued by an Axe Murderer" sounds like the title of one of Lifetime's early made-for-television movies, but it actually happened to the network not once, but twice. In something straight out of a horror movie, Christopher Porco made headlines when he was arrested for killing his father and disfiguring his mother with an axe. The then 21-year-old University of Rochester student proclaimed his innocence, but it took a jury only six hours to unanimously find Porco guilty, and he was handed a prison sentence of 50 years to life. Lifetime seized on the headline-making story and made the docudrama "Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story," but Porco successfully sued the station to prevent the movie from airing, claiming that it was a "substantially fictionalized account" (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Lifetime successfully appealed and the movie aired, but Porco wasn't finished with the station. He sued again, this time in the New York State Supreme Court for violation of the state's Civil Rights Law. A judge agreed and the case moved forward, but ultimately Lifetime came out on top thanks largely to the fact that it presented a disclaimer at both the beginning and end of the show, which reminded viewers that it was a dramatization based on a true story, with some fictional elements. According to Justice Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald, per The Hollywood Reporter, the movie "presents a broadly accurate depiction of the crime, the ensuing criminal investigation, and the trial that are matters of public interest."

People love a good makeover show, as has been evidenced by the success of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "The Biggest Loser." In an effort to capitalize on the trend, Lifetime created "Girlfriend Intervention." The idea seemed innocent enough: Take the recipe for "Queer Eye," and mix in four outspoken Black women and one frumpy white woman who needs to get her groove back. "Trapped inside of every white girl is a strong Black woman ready to bust out," a teaser for the show promised. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty! 

Before the show aired, it was getting roasted for what some critics perceived as racial stereotypes. The show's stars disagreed, and Tiffiny Dixon even claimed that the real racism lied in the fact that the show was being labeled before anyone had actually seen it. "I think the fact that they're criticizing it shows more racism on their side than our side, because a lot of the criticism came out before they saw us, before they heard us speak, before they had any sort of idea about what the show is really about," she said via a conference call with reporters, per Bustle. Costar Tanisha Thomas agreed and said that the show's message was universal to all women. "Yes, we made over Caucasian women the first season, but that can all change the second season." she said. Lifetime pulled the plug after Season 1, so it seems we'll never know. 

Known for airing the dirty laundry behind some of the most public scandals, Lifetime shared tragic details about Courtney Stodden in "I Was A Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story." The made-for-TV tale recounted how, at just 16-years-old, the child beauty pageant contestant (who has since identified as non-binary) married actor Doug Hutchison, a man 35 years their senior. As with many Lifetime movies, disclaimers reminded audiences that what they were watching was only based on a true story. Even so, Stodden's mother, Krista Keller, was not prepared for how she was portrayed as not just supporting but actually talking Stodden into the union. She went public to set the record straight. "It's showing me really strong-arming her and going, 'Yes Courtney, you want to do this, right? Right, Courtney?' And that just never happened," Keller told The U.S. Sun. "I did not force or even manipulate my daughter into this marriage." 

While she might not have encouraged the marriage, Keller did inadvertently put the wheels in motion when she signed Stodden up for Hutchison's acting workshop. "Courtney was working with him, and then things just kind of spun out of control," she confessed. "I did not make the right decision to let her marry him. And that's really sad for me," she continued. "I don't know what her life would be like if this hadn't happened. I just don't know. We'd all be in different places right now."

"Operation Varsity Blues" was a headline making scandal that exposed the shady dealings of parents, including Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, who were paying Rick Singer millions to buy their kids' admissions to top colleges. Lifetime jumped on the opportunity to present the story, and the movie "College Admissions Scandal" was born. Interestingly, the network didn't mention Loughlin, her daughter Olivia Jade, or Huffman in the story. According to the show's director, Adam Salky, the omission was not an oversight. "The film is not about any of the real families," he told Los Angeles Magazine. "We looked at all the families involved and we kind of said to ourselves, 'What kind of people were part of this? There were people connected to Rick, people who want the kids to go to those kinds of schools, people who had a certain socioeconomic level,' and we really actually tried to avoid any similarities to anyone specific with regards to the families."

Even with the usual Lifetime dramatization, some critics felt like the show failed to convey the real life drama that surrounded the story — namely the larger social issues. "The college admissions scandal was so galling, jammed so hard on the hot buttons of race and class and opportunity in America that it was probably never going to fit in the frame of a Lifetime movie," one reviewer in The Guardian noted. Both Loughlin and Huffman served jail time, and both were offered prison life advice from Abby Lee Miller.

The transformation of Gypsy Rose Blanchard from a murder co-conspirator to an overnight social media star had many people criticizing Lifetime for playing a part in her celebrity status. After the success of "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard," the station announced a new show, "Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup." A trailer for the show posted on Instagram in 2024 drew criticism from Lifetime followers. "Stop helping her make millions," one commented, while another remarked, "Do better." 

Gypsy Rose Blanchard was sentenced to 10 years in prison for convincing her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. For most of her life, Gypsy Rose was abused by Dee Dee, who was diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy. After suffering at her mother's hands for many years, Gypsy Rose decided to do something about it. "I wanted to be free of her hold on me," she testified at Godejohn's 2018 trial, per NPR. Gypsy Rose was released from prison after only eight years. As Gypsy Rose returned to society and the public eye, some saw her as a hero, while others saw her as a cold-blooded killer who shouldn't be celebrated. Lifetime stood by its decision to air the program in spite of the backlash. "Millions have followed Gypsy's story and are invested in seeing what is in store for her next," said Elaine Frontain Bryant, executive VP and head of programming, in a 2024 press statement.

When country superstar LeAnn Rimes and actor Eddie Cibrian teamed up to film the Lifetime movie "Northern Lights," sparks flew. Sounds romantic, right? It would've been except that both Rimes and Cibrian were both married to other people. Rumors of an affair began to circulate in March 2009, and while they both denied it, the truth became clear when the costars divorced their spouses several months later and made it official. The fallout was brutal. "I realized very quickly that there are a lot of women who've been hurt. Like, I've been on both sides of that coin — I've been cheated on, too, so I know that feeling," she told Flow Space in 2025. "But so many women don't know what to do with that anger ... I was a target that was just easily projected upon."

Back in 2010, Rimes admitted that her actions were selfish. "I did one of the most selfish things that I possibly could do, in hurting someone else," she told People at the time. "I take responsibility for everything I've done. I hate that people got hurt, but I don't regret the outcome." Cibrian echoed Rimes sentiment during an interview that same year. "The truth is that we're human beings," he told ABC's Robin Roberts (via People). "We make mistakes and we learn from them, but we're human. We fell in love." If you are wondering what LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian's relationship is like now, despite the controversial beginning, their love is still going strong. 

Lifetime can't seem to help itself when it comes to capitalizing on real life tragedies like the one that befell Gabby Petito. The 22-year-old vlogger was on a cross country road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie when he allegedly killed her before taking his own life. Petito had been gone less than a year when Lifetime had the 2022 TV movie "The Gabby Petito Story" wrapped and ready to release, which sparked outrage from viewers online. "Lifetime has been making movies based on true events for forever but [I don't know], something about that Gabby Petito movie feels extra icky to me," wrote one X user. "Y'all are ruthless and should be ashamed of yourselves for profiting off a girl's death and a family who's still traumatized and grieving," another X user directed at the network.

Speaking of the family, the Petitos made it very clear that they did not support the Lifetime movie. In a statement shared by The AWARE Foundation, Petito's mom Nichole Schmidt said, "We thought our followers should know that the Lifetime movie on Gabby Petito has no connection to the Petito family nor did they give their approval" (via Newsweek). She added, "Lifetime took it upon themselves to make the movie." Actor and director Thora Birch commented on "The Gabby Petito Story" in an exclusive interview with The List, saying said she hoped it would serve as a "cautionary tale."