Back when Dance Moms star Nia Sioux was livin’ on the dance floor, she wasn’t making much of a living. Among the revelations in her new book Bottom of the Pyramid, is the actress’ surprising salary.
A spot at the top of Abby Lee Miller‘s pyramid is nice and all, but Dance Moms alum Nia Sioux may have been happier with a chance to build up her bank account.
Because when the elementary schooler and her mom Dr. Holly Hatcher-Frazier signed that first six-week contract to appear on the Lifetime series filming at her Pittsburgh dance studio, they were set to earn “less than $1,000 for the week for the both of us before taxes,” the now-24-year-old detailed in her newly released memoir Bottom of the Pyramid.
At the time, she wrote, their attorney “did warn us that it was a bad contract. There was nothing in it that protected the talent. We had no rights to the content and could not use or say anything in correlation with the show without the network’s approval.”
Basically, she summed up, “We were not in the driver’s seat, and it would be a while before we could amend the contract.” (E! News has reached out to Lifetime, but has not heard back.)
And, yet, given just one day to review the paperwork and make some moves, the mother-daughter pair joined the rest of the cast—Maddie Ziegler, Kenzie Ziegler, Chloé Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, Vivi-Anne Stein and their moms—in signing on the dotted line.
“We thought we were signing a contract for a six-week documentary,” explained Nia. “What did we have to lose?”
Nia didn’t imagine at the time, she wrote, that the network would take advantage of the clause “that extended the term to seven seasons—the longest time you can contract someone for work in this business—if the series was picked up.”
Years in, the UCLA grad revealed, she had to listen to Abby “gloat sometimes that she was being paid $20,000 an episode.” Meanwhile, wrote Nia, “We were working overtime and not making half of that. I wouldn’t even be able to pay for college tuition with what I’d made from Dance Moms.”
Not that the discrepancy had her saving tears for her pillow.
Nor does she harp on the fact that when she got a raise ahead of the seventh and final season, the network bumped up her costars as well.
“I can’t pretend that I wasn’t upset,” wrote Nia, who’d watched all her fellow day ones exit stage left by that point. “I was the only OG left. My seniority and dedication to the show throughout the years should have resulted in a certain level of respect.”
But while she never ascended to the top of Abby’s famed pyramid (a process that took three hours to film each time), “I don’t have any regrets doing the show,” Nia insisted in an exclusive interview with E! News. “Honestly, I really don’t. All of my experiences have led me to exactly where I am right now. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Among the moves she’s made since her days in an Abby Lee Dance Company leotard include a six-week run in an off-Broadway show and a 59-episode stint on The Bold and the Beautiful.
And then there’s the slew of impressive entries for her resumes she added through her on-campus advocacy work, a gig that led to her interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris and enjoying a tour of the Oval Office conducted by then-President Joe Biden.
“I have already lived so much life where I feel like I can take on anything,” Nia explained to E!. “So, yeah. No regrets at all.”
With more bucket list items to check off and some 5.8 million fans following her on Instagram, she’s focused on storytelling on screen, online and on paper.
“I have so much that I want to do, and that I know I can do,” said Nia. “And no one’s holding me back.”
And she’s not the only star to offer a peek insider her bank account. See which other celebrities have shared their surprising salaries.
Lil Tay
The content creator said in an August 2025 Instagram post that she earned over $1 million on OnlyFans in three hours, less than a week after turning 18.
Tay shared a photo of her alleged earnings, in which she earned $1,024,298: $486,558 from messages, $511,003 from subscriptions and $26,736 in tips.
Miriam Ezagui
Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson
However, he explained that he mostly doesn’t keep that money for himself.
“In my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars,” he explained during an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast at the time. “I just like to reinvest it all.”
Sophie Rain
JoJo Siwa
The Dance Moms alum revealed that she made “six digits a month, easy” on YouTube videos as a 13-year-old. She added in the 2024 documentary Child Star that she now posts up to 300 times a day on Snapchat as part of her influencing career.
Chris Olsen
The TikToker revealed he has a net worth of over seven figures.
“You guys can keep calling me annoying,” he quipped in a July 2024 video. “Being annoying has made me a millionaire.”
Jeffree Star
The makeup artist revealed he earns $50,000 when he hosts a TikTok live—which he does four or five times a week—through selling cosmetics and gifting from fans.
“I’ll make bacon in the morning and make $50,000,” Jeffree told the Cancelled podcast in November 2024. “There’s some times where I don’t sell at all, and I’ll just make bacon in my kitchen, in my bathrobe, in my little slippers, we’ll just hang out and I’ll just chat and I’ll do a Q&A.”
Other times, he’s making bank by offering discounts on his own branded makeup products.
“It’s a niche market but it’s massive,” he added. “We’re the No. 1 or 2 beauty store.”
Lily Phillips
The OnlyFans model—who made headlines in December 2024 for sleeping with 101 men in one day—told E! News that she earns a “good amount” off of creating NSFW content on the subscription-based platform.
As for a ballpark figure, she said, “Oh, we’re in the millions.”
Markell Washington
Markell—known for his dance videos—told Salary Transparency Street in 2023 that he earns between $500,000 and $700,000 a year, mostly from brand deals and Snapchat’s mid-roll program.
Deepti Vempati and Natalie Lee
After appearing on Netflix’s dating show Love Is Blind in 2022, the pair pivoted to social media stardom and said they each made $500,000 in less than two years as influencers.
Julia
The ASMR influencer—known as @itsblitzzz on YouTube —admitted in January 2024 that she scores about $56,400 a year on ad revenue from old videos, without creating new content.
King Caitlin ASMR
Makayla Samountry
The Minnesota YouTuber made over $193,000 on the adult platform OnlyFans from January 2020 to December 2022, she shared in a Medium article.
Morgan Presley
As explained on The Really Good Podcast in 2023, the content creator has scored $50,000 on a single sponsored video.
Gigi Robinson
The chronic illness advocate told Salary Transparency Street in 2023 that she earns about $150,000 a year with less than 40,000 Instagram followers.
Ben Brainard
Kamillah Rae
The YouTuber shared that she made $4,746.94 from monetization on the platform from August 2023 to January 2024 (from a total of 923,700 video views), with under 30,000 subscribers.
Source: www.eonline.com