‘Today’: Fitness Guru Susan Powter Details Her Life Now in Rare TV Appearance
What To Know
- Susan Powter made a rare TV appearance on Today to discuss her new documentary, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter.
- The film chronicles her rise to fame and subsequent withdrawal from the public eye after financial and personal setbacks.
- Powter reflected on her past, as well as expressed her desire to make a well-managed comeback.
Susan Powter is returning to the spotlight with her new documentary, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter.
The former fitness guru opened up about her personal and professional journey on the Tuesday, November 18, episode of Today. “I appreciate how beautifully it’s told and [how] respectfully it’s told, ‘cause it’s a heck of a story,” Powter told Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin of the documentary.
As Guthrie described in a prerecorded intro, Stop the Insanity tells the story of how Powter went from being a popular fitness star, author, and motivational speaker to dropping out of the public eye. “Bad business deals, devastating lawsuits — by 1995, she declared bankruptcy,” Guthrie said via voiceover.
When asked what happened to her, Powter explained, “Quite simply, the ‘90s was a different game. … There was managers after managers after agents. There were layers. You couldn’t get to information then. You couldn’t get to analytics then. And I was running like a racehorse. I was raising my children, commuting back and forth, going to the big meetings, and then, going to the baseball games. I take full responsibility. I never checked. I never said, ‘Where’s the money?’ I never said that.”
NBC
After losing her fortune, Powter said she “intentionally” walked away from the spotlight. She initially turned down director Zeb Newman and executive producer Jamie Lee Curtis when approached about the documentary. “I wasn’t Susan Powter. That was gone,” she stated.
Though Powter was “broken” before agreeing to the documentary, she said she has always been proud of her work ethic. “I’m a worker bee. So, I have never stopped working, not one moment. That’s why my children are so proud,” Powter, who currently works as an Uber Eats driver, told Guthrie and Melvin. “Nothing is beneath me. I will work, I’ll do anything, and I have.”
Powter says “everything has changed” because of the documentary, which has given her “real hope” and “real possibility.” She added, “I’m proud that I survived. I didn’t think my being would make it. I didn’t think my energy would survive. … Jamie Lee is the one who said to me, ‘You are alive. You survived.’”
Powter already has her sights set on making a comeback. “I want to be able to do what I’ve done once before, which was miraculous, in and of itself. And this time it will be properly managed,” she declared. “And Savannah said before we came on, ‘You deserve good people around you this time.’ So, I want to do my work and I want to have a chance.”
Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m./6c, NBC
Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, In Select Theaters, Wednesday, November 19
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