On January 8, fitness guru Jillian Michaels appeared on Buzzfeed’s morning show “AM to DM” on Twitter.
During the segment, host Alex Berg praised singers like Lizzo for “preaching self-acceptance.” This led to the following exchange between Berg and Michaels:
MICHAELS: I love her music, yeah, 100%. I don’t know anything about her. I’m sure she’s a cool, awesome chick.
BERG: Yeah, and I love that they’re putting images out there that we normally don’t get to see of bodies that we don’t get to see being celebrated.
MICHAELS: But why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That’s what I’m saying. Why aren’t we celebrating her music? Because it isn’t going to be awesome if she gets diabetes. I’m just being honest. I love her music, like, my kid loves her music, but there’s never a moment when I’m like, “And I’m so glad she’s overweight.” Like, why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?
Well, that’s the clip that blew up on social media. There’s actually some more context. The full exchange between Berg and Michaels about fat acceptance and the unhealthy nature of obesity can be read at the end of this piece.
Following the interview, Michaels got smacked on social media for her comments about Lizzo. The fitness guru received backup as well.
On Wednesday, Michaels posted a photo to her Instagram from when she was 14 years old and 175 lbs. She captioned the image: “Here’s me at 5’0 tall and 175 lbs. If I can do it – anyone can. Share your story…”
View this post on Instagram
Here’s me at 5’0 tall and 175 lbs. If I can do it – anyone can. Share your story…
Some indeed shared their stories below the post.
User Kimberspores wrote: “I was close to 180lbs at 5’3″ at one point. Now I’m at 145 and working on losing more with your help. I honestly have never felt more inspired than when you’re yelling at me from my tv screen.”
User Thesarahsaurus13 wrote: “You helped me go from 165 to 120 lbs! But better than that, you give me the motivation to get up and care about myself every day! Thank you!!”
Others thanked Michaels for not backing down.
User irrevelry wrote: “Started following you after your comments about heavy entertainers…nothing personal against overweight people it’s just the truth. Thank you for standing by your statements. Gravitas for sure. We need more of your voice of reason.”
Michaels replied:
Honestly – I was asked a question [if] I celebrate her being overweight. Had zero intention to involve her. I don’t celebrate ANYONE overweight because it kills people. BUT it doesn’t mean I don’t celebrate the actual person. Sorta like if your best friend was a smoker – you love them, celebrate them, but certainly wouldn’t celebrate the fact that they smoke… @prettybitches_bychloe I’m looking at you.
As of publication, Michaels’ throwback photo has over 25,600 “likes” on Instagram.
Below is the full exchange between Michaels and Berg from “AM to DM”:
BERG: Well, you’ve said before that you think political correctness has gone too far in the health and fitness world. What did you mean by that?
MICHAELS: Political correctness has just, like, come so – I can’t even – I think it’s insane, and it’s like, the pendulum, just, as far as it swings in one direction, it swings back in the other, right? And you’ve got these crazy extremes whereas, “Oh, she’s, you know, she’s too fat to be a pop star!” Well, you say things like that, and you know, then there’s gonna be, you should never be able to say things like that, right? But for years, people were. They could fat-shame, and they could exclude people, and they could make people feel less than in all forms of media, and we should always be inclusive, but you cannot glorify obesity. It’s dangerous. It kills people. It’s the number one cause of bankruptcy in our country.
So, there’s a middle ground here. Now it’s like, “Oh, that woman is 250 pounds! Good for her!” and it’s like, it shouldn’t be one way or the other. It’s really no one’s business to comment. It’s not something you should judge. It’s not something you should celebrate. That woman’s health is up to her – but, I mean, 250 pounds, I would say 999 times out of 1,000 is going to mean heart disease, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune issues, and early death.
BERG: I have to say, I personally found, and I love celebrities like Lizzo or Ashley Graham who are really preaching self-acceptance.
MICAHELS: I love her music, yeah, 100%. I don’t know anything about her. I’m sure she’s a cool, awesome chick.
BERG: Yeah, and I love that they’re putting images out there that we normally don’t get to see of bodies that we don’t get to see being celebrated, and…
MICHAELS: But why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That’s what I’m saying. Like, why aren’t we celebrating her music? ‘Cause it isn’t gonna be awesome if she gets diabetes. I’m just being honest. I love her music, like, my kid loves her music, but there’s never a moment where I’m like, “And I’m so glad that she’s overweight!” Like, why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?
BERG: For a lot of people, that image resonates that they feel good enough, and actually, I want to get to a tweet about this that was in response to your conversation with Wendy Williams yesterday when you spoke a little bit about body positivity, and Cocoa Popps tweeted: “Saw Jillian Michaels talk about people ‘celebrating obesity.’ Body positivity isn’t about celebrating being unhealthy. (and you can be overweight and be healthy.) It’s embracing yourself without society’s permission. Very disappointed by what she said and the presumptive tone.” So, what do you say to a response like that?
MICAHELS: Okay, I would say, first of all, most people that are that are morbidly obese are not healthy. Now, if they’re working on losing weight – and because they’re working out and they’re eating right you can reverse that stuff pretty quick – but I mean, I’ve been doing this a real long time. I have yet to meet a person that’s gotten themselves to 200, 250, 300 pounds, and the doctor goes, “Looking good!” I mean, no. Just no. Just no. So, I would say to Cocoa Popps, like, first of all, this isn’t what you do, so you don’t know. You haven’t been to the doctor with person after person after person after person that’s 100 lbs overweight and looked at their labs – like, you just, you don’t know. That’s not what you do.
I’m not saying, and never have I said, that we shouldn’t be inclusive and accepting. I’m saying that I don’t love Lizzo because she’s overweight. I like her because of her music – and by the way, if you said to me, like, “Hey, Lizzo can live to be 90 and motivate people, or she can die at 60 and motivate people,” why wouldn’t I say, like, “I really hope she’s as healthy as she can be”? It’s not about saying that I don’t respect her, [that] I don’t think she’s awesome. I absolutely do, but I also would hate to see her get sick, and I mean … it’s the number one cause of bankruptcy in the country, like, come on! It’s a problem. These are facts.