Susan Powter

Last updated

Susan Powter
Susan Powter.jpg
Powter in the 1990s
Born
Susan Jane Powter

(1957-12-22) December 22, 1957 (age 67)
Occupations
  • Nutritionist
  • motivational speaker
  • writer
  • television personality
Years active1988–present
Spouse
  • Nic Villarreal
    (m. 1982;div. 1988)

    Lincoln Apeland
    (m. 1989;div. 1995)
Children3
Website susanpowter.substack.com

Susan Jane Powter (born December 22, 1957) [1] is an Australian-born American motivational speaker, nutritionist, personal trainer, and author, who rose to fame in the 1990s with her catchphrase "Stop the Insanity!", the centerpiece of her weight-loss infomercial. Powter has been described as a cross between Richard Simmons and Betty Friedan [2] and "the Lenny Bruce of Wellness". [3]

Contents

She hosted her own talk show The Susan Powter Show in the 1990s. [4]

Early life

Powter, who was born in Sydney, Australia on December 22, 1957, immigrated to the United States at the age of 10. [5] She left school in 9th grade, eventually obtaining a GED. [5] In 1980, her family relocated to Dallas, Texas. A year later, she met her first husband, Nic Villarreal; they married in 1982 and had two sons. A month after giving birth to their second son, Powter discovered that Villareal had been having an affair. The couple separated in 1986 and Powter turned to food to alleviate her stress. She went from 130 pounds to 260. Powter turned to diet books and workout tapes and found neither to be helpful. She eventually managed to slim down to 114 pounds by walking and cutting out sugar and processed foods. With the money she inherited after the death of her mother in 1988, Powter opened her own fitness studio in Dallas. [6] [7] In 1990, Powter approached Dallas publicity representative Rusty Robertson with hopes of promoting her business. Robertson was struck by Powter's charismatic personality and began booking her on radio talk shows, eventually securing her a book deal. The pair put together an infomercial for Powter's Stop the Insanity (based off of a catch phrase that would become her trademark) health and wellness kit, which reached an audience well beyond the Dallas area. The kit included audio cassettes, an exercise video, and recipes. [8]

Career

Television

In 1994, Powter starred in her own talk-show style television program called The Susan Powter Show , which ran for one season. On the show, she discussed nutrition and fitness as well as other topics with her guests. [9] She was also a special guest on the first episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast , titled "Spanish Translation". [10]

It was planned for Powter to become a regular on the television sitcom Women of the House in 1995. The series was cancelled after just one season with Powter appearing in one episode. [11]

Motivational speaker and nutritionist

Advocate of a whole-foods, organic, low-fat diet, and regular cardiovascular and strength-training exercise, Powter also condemned the diet industry. [12]

Her platinum-white close cropped haircut, aggressive speaking manner, and habit of being barefoot while speaking in public became elements of her celebrity. [13]

Powter was originally based in Dallas, Texas, at the height of her fame. In 2012, she moved into an earthship-style home in Taos, New Mexico. More recently, she lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico. [14]

Author and blogger

Powter is an author of several books, three of which became New York Times best-sellers in the 1990s. In 2002, she returned to writing with The Politics of Stupid, a stream-of-consciousness, self-published manifesto encouraging women to take control of their brains and bodies from food manufacturers, corrupt governments, and fitness/diet industries. She puts out The Monthly Flow, a subscription-based multi-media e-zine. Powter released her memoir, And Then Em Died... Stop the Insanity! A Memoir, in October 2024. [15]

Personal life

On January 3, 1995, Powter filed for personal bankruptcy. [4]

Powter has been married twice. She has two sons from her first marriage, Damien and Kiel. She adopted a third son Gabriel, after her second marriage. [16] She later came out as a lesbian, and in a 2004 interview with Curve magazine, she described herself as a "radical feminist lesbian woman". [17] She dated comedian Jessica Kirson in 2008. [18]

In October 2024, Powter revealed that due to a series of lawsuits in the 1990s and poor financial planning she had been left virtually destitute, living in an RV, and delivering food for Grubhub and Ubereats. After a health scare, she enrolled in Medicaid. [15] An upcoming documentary about her life, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, co-produced by actress Jamie Lee Curtis, has been filmed. [19]

Bibliography

Home media

Video cassettes

DVDs

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotesRefs.
1993Shopping with SusanSelfVideo
1994 Space Ghost Coast to Coast SelfEpisode: "Spanish Translation"
The Susan Powter Show SelfTelevision series
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air SelfEpisode: "Will Steps Out"
1995 Women of the House Representative Kirby SeizmoreEpisode: "Dear Diary"
1996 Diagnosis: Murder Janet BlockEpisode: "Murder by the Book"
2007 The Simple Life Self2 episodes
2008 RuPaul's Drag Race SelfEpisode: "Totally Leotarded"; Guest judge
TBAStop the Insanity: Finding Susan PowterSelfDocumentary [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Simmons</span> American fitness personality (1948–2024)

Milton Teagle "Richard" Simmons was an American fitness instructor and television personality. He was a promoter of weight-loss programs, most prominently through his television show, The Richard Simmons Show and later the Sweatin' to the Oldies line of aerobics videos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack LaLanne</span> American fitness and nutrition guru and motivational speaker (1914–2011)

Francois Henri LaLanne, the "Godfather of Fitness", was an American fitness and nutrition guru and motivational speaker. He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was 15 years old. He also had behavioral problems but "turned his life around" after listening to a public lecture about the benefits of good nutrition by health food pioneer Paul Bragg. During his career, he came to believe that the country's overall health depended on the health of its population, and he referred to physical culture and nutrition as "the salvation of America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WW International</span> American Health and Weight Loss Firm

WW International, Inc., formerly Weight Watchers International, Inc., is a global company headquartered in the U.S. that offers weight loss and maintenance, fitness, and mindset services such as the Weight Watchers comprehensive diet program. Founded in 1963 by Queens, New York City homemaker Jean Nidetch, WW's program has three options as of 2019: online via its mobile app and website, coaching online or by phone, or in-person meetings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jillian Michaels</span> American personal trainer (born 1974)

Jillian Michaels is an American fitness expert, nutritionist, businesswoman, media personality, and author. She is best known for her appearances on NBC series such as The Biggest Loser. She has also made an appearance on the talk show The Doctors. In 2015, she hosted and co-judged a series on Spike titled Sweat, INC. In 2016, her reality television series Just Jillian premiered on E!.

Jeanette Jenkins is an American fitness trainer and author of The Hollywood Trainer Weight-Loss Plan - 21 Days to Make Healthy Living a Lifetime Habit book and of various training programs on fitness exercises and healthy eating. She is the founder of The Hollywood Trainer company, which also provides fitness programs and personal coaching for athletes, artists, and entertainers. Jeanette has appeared in training videos on social media, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of exercise</span> Overview of and topical guide to exercise

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to exercise:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Vale</span>

Jason Beau Vale, also known as The Juice Master, is an English author, motivational speaker, and lifestyle coach.

Anthony Little is an American television fitness personality and businessman, who is best known for his fitness infomercial products.

<i>Supersize vs Superskinny</i> 2008–2014 UK television series

Supersize vs Superskinny is a British television programme on Channel 4 that featured information about dieting and extreme eating lifestyles. One of the main show features was a weekly comparison between an overweight person, and an underweight person. The two were taken to a feeding clinic, and lived together for five days, swapping diets while supervised by Dr Christian Jessen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooke Burke</span> American television personality

Brooke Lisa Burke is an American television & fitness personality, model, author, actress, and businesswoman. She is known for hosting the E! Network travel show Wild On! (1999–2002), CBS's Rock Star (2005–2006), and TV Lands' She's Got the Look (2010). After winning the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars, Burke served as co-hostess of the show from season ten to season seventeen (2010–2013). In 2017, Burke launched "Brooke Burke Body", a fitness app with workout videos featuring her. Since 2023, Brooke has served as the host of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, joining the series in its 10th season.

<i>The Susan Powter Show</i> 1994 American TV series or program

The Susan Powter Show is an American talk show broadcast in syndication from 1994 to 1995 and hosted by diet guru Susan Powter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Nicole Lee</span> American fitness model

Jennifer Nicole Lee is an American fitness model, motivational speaker, and author. She is known for losing 70 pounds and launching a career as a fitness guru after bearing two children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zumba</span> Exercise program

Zumba is a fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. It was founded by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001. It currently has 200,000 locations, with 15 million people taking classes weekly, and is located in 180 countries. Zumba is a trademark owned by Zumba Fitness, LLC.

Jamie Eason is an American fitness model and writer. She is also a former NFL cheerleader and winner of the World's Fittest Model competition. She has been the featured subject and cover girl on many fitness and women's magazines. She is currently a full-time spokesperson for Bodybuilding.com, and is developing a line of swimwear and recently launched a supplement line with Labrada Nutrition. Eason is known as representing healthy fitness and femininity.

The Beachbody Company, which is now Bodi, is a publicly traded American fitness and health company based in El Segundo, California. It operates the brands Beachbody On Demand, Team Beachbody, MYXfitness and Openfit. The company also sells dietary supplements such as Shakeology and Beachbar through direct response infomercials and multi-level marketing via independent Team Beachbody "coaches" who serve as sales consultants. In 2023, the company changed its name to BODi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lulu Hunt Peters</span> American physician

Lulu Hunt Peters (1873–1930) was an American physician and writer who wrote a featured newspaper column entitled Diet and Health, which she followed up with a best-selling book, Diet & Health: With Key to the Calories. She was the first person to widely popularize the concept of counting calories as a method of weight loss. It was also the first weight-loss book to become a bestseller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassey Ho</span> American social media fitness entrepreneur

Cassey HoVinh is an American social media fitness entrepreneur with a YouTube channel and a website that sells fitness apparel. In 2013, she received a Shorty Award in the category of social fitness, and was listed in Time's third annual list of "The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet" in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Kang</span> American fitness advocate, coach and blogger

Maria M. Kang-Casler, is an American fitness advocate, coach, blogger, and founder of the No Excuse Mom movement, a nonprofit organization which promotes a healthy lifestyle, centered on diet and exercise, for mothers. Residing in the Sacramento, California area, Kang began competing in beauty and fitness competitions as a teenager, winning several including Miss Petite Teen International, Miss Philippines USA, and Miss Bikini California.

Fat: The Fight of My Life is a television series where obese people lose weight. Each episode follows a year in the life of an obese person trying to lose weight. Trained by host Jessie Pavelka. It was originally aired in the United Kingdom. The personal trainer John Cammish worked with Leanne Probert for eight months so that she would lose weight. In Probert's episode on the show, the producers checked in with her every other months, giving her challenges to determine what progress she made in losing weight. In another episode, the personal trainer Jade Heath worked with Geoff Trainer, who used to be a taxi driver, for a year to help him lose weight. Trainer's weight loss plan included gym workouts, swimming, walking, and dieting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th century women's fitness culture</span>

The 20th century saw multiple trends and changes in women's fitness culture.

References

  1. "Susan Powter". Infoplease. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  2. "When Susan Powter Tried to Stop the Diet Insanity". Mental Floss . June 7, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  3. "Susan Powter". Simon & Schuster . Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Anderson, Stephanie (January 22, 1995). "Susan Powter's Wallet Gets A Nasty Workout". Bloomberg L.P.
  5. 1 2 Wichel, Alex, "The Powter Principle; Eat More and Lose Weight" The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia), January 30, 1994. LexisNexis Academic, February 17, 2011
  6. Stein, Jeannine (September 14, 1994). "Powter Keg: She's no longer satisfied with merely stopping the insanity. The, uh, passionate health maven blasts into your home next week on her own TV talk show". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  7. Witchel, Alex (October 31, 1993). "Susan Powter". The New York Times . Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  8. "Susan Powter Delivers Message Loud and Clear". Chicago Tribune . August 9, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  9. Novak, Lauren (November 2024). "Whatever Happened to '90s Fitness Icon Susan Powter of 'Stop the Insanity!'?". Remind Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  10. "Women of the House – Season 1, Episode 13". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  11. "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast – Season 1, Episode 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  12. Witchel, Alex (October 31, 1993). "Susan Powter". The New York Times.
  13. "A Fitness Guru for the '90s: Punk Hair, Heartfelt Message". Orlando Sentinel . September 15, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  14. York, Eve Sherrill (September 14, 2013). "Stop the Insanity!". Bubblews. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  15. 1 2 Finan, Eileen; Sheeler, Jason (October 23, 2024). "'Stop the Insanity!' '90s Fitness Guru Susan Powter Lost Empire Worth Millions and Survived by Delivering Grubhub: 'Scary as S---' (Exclusive)". People .
  16. Gemelli, Zoe (December 1, 2004). "Infomercial queen Susan Powter comes out to play". Curve . Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  17. Biography for Susan Powter at IMDb
  18. "Episode 1076 - Jessica Kirson–WTF with Marc Maron". WTF with Marc Maron . January 12, 2019.
  19. 1 2 Finan, Eileen; Sheeler, Jason (October 24, 2024). "Susan Powter's Wallet Gets A Nasty Workout". People .