| Jillian Michaels | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 18, 1974 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Personal trainer |
| Height | 5 feet 2.5 inches (158.8 cm) |
| Weight | 117 pounds (53 kg)[1] |
| Website | |
| jillianmichaels.com | |
Jillian Michaels (born February 18, 1974) is a celebrity personal trainer, reality show personality, direct-response television pitchwoman, and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California.[2] Michaels is most widely recognized for her appearances on NBC's The Biggest Loser and Losing It With Jillian.
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Michaels began her career in exercise because she was overweight as a teenager. In 2009, on the television show The Doctors, Michaels showed a photograph of herself when she was twelve years old, saying she weighed 175 pounds (79 kg) and was 5 feet (150 cm) tall. When she was thirteen, her mother enrolled her in a martial arts class.[3]
She uses a blend of strength training techniques with her clients, including kickboxing, yoga, Pilates, plyometrics, and weight training.[4]
Michaels serves as an adviser to the National Day of Dance for Heart Health, an organization that encourages people to make exercise fun and to laugh, learn and dance to a healthier heart. She has released several exercise DVDs, the most popular of which is '30 Day Shred'.
Michaels hosted a Sunday talk radio show on Los Angeles' KFI (640 AM) from 2006 through 2009.
On October 21, 2008, she launched a new video game for the Wii, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009[5][6] A year later, she launched a sequel called Fitness Ultimatum 2010.
Michaels' business partner and manager is Giancarlo Chersich. Together they operate Empowered Media, LLC.[7]
Michaels was the Red Team trainer on The Biggest Loser when it premiered, in 2004. She was replaced in 2006, by Kim Lyons. She returned to the show in 2007 as the Black Team trainer, competing against Lyons' Red Team and Bob Harper's Blue Team. Lyons did not return for the spring 2008 season, leaving Michaels as the only female trainer. Along with Bob Harper, Michaels was also a trainer in the Australian version of the show.
On December 7, 2010, Michaels announced via Twitter that the eleventh season of the show would be her last.[8]
On June 1, 2010, NBC debuted a spin-off reality series entitled Losing It With Jillian. Michaels focuses on one family per episode, visiting their home to work one-on-one with them for a week. Then, for six weeks, the family works out with a different trainer, provided by the show. In the final five minutes of each episode, Michaels returns to the family's home to gauge their progress.[9][10]
David Hinckley, of the New York Daily News, says the show uses "tacky overdramatic music and silly staged scenes" and is somewhat over-produced, and that he would like to see a show "with less extreme cases and less melodramatic packaging".[11]
On May 6, 2011, CBS Television Distribution announced that Michaels had signed a multi-year deal to join the panel-discussion show The Doctors, as well as serve as a special correspondent on the CTD program Dr. Phil.[12] She left The Doctors in January 2012.[13][14]
In February 2010, lawyer Melissa Harnett filed suit against Michaels, alleging that the Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control dietary supplement was ineffective, and saying that "telling people you can take two magic pills and then eat chocolate cake all day is a deception." Michaels subsequently released a statement saying that "some of the leading weight loss experts in the world" had reviewed the supplement before she endorsed it.[15]
Also in February 2010, a class action suit named Michaels, Thin Care and Basic Research and Walgreens over the potential toxicity of ingredients contained in Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Fat Burner. According to that suit, the supplement contains citrus aurantium, an ingredient that allegedly causes high blood pressure and cardiac problems in certain individuals.[16]
In August 2010, a $10 million class action suit was filed against Michaels and Thin Care International over the ingredients in Triple Process Total Body Detox and Cleanse. The plaintiff in the case is a registered dietician who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.[17] According to the suit, the supplement in question contained ingredients that could allegedly cause gastrointestinal ulcers, digestive distress and even irreversible liver damage. The suit also alleged that these ingredients represented a "potentially lethal combination." The Courthouse News Service reported that the plaintiff claimed that the suit was not about the money, but that "she simply wants [Michaels and Thin Care] to stop poisoning the public and give consumers their money back."[18]
While experts interviewed about the supplements doubted that they could prove fatal, they agreed that they were ineffective. Lynn Willis, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Indiana University called one of the supplements "an absurdity" and "completely bogus." Dr. Keith Ayoob, director of the Nutrition Clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine also suggested that "if you have any of these problems or need help losing weight, see your physician, not Jillian Michaels."[19]
A highly critical and widely circulated,[20][21] October 11, 2010, Los Angeles Times op-ed article, by certified strength and conditioning specialist James S. Fell, questioned her credentials and alleged that: "Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer — she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs." Fell also quoted other experts who claimed, among other complaints about Michaels' technique: "It's just wrong ... in every way. All of it. Every single thing she does is wrong." [22] In response to the article, Michaels reportedly threatened legal action against the LA Times. Said Michaels, "Shame on the Los Angeles Times for saying I'm a fraud and not a trainer." She was also quoted in US Weekly saying, "I developed my own continuing education program for trainers, with sports medicine doctors. I've been a trainer since I was 17-years old for 19 years. I'm going after them." [23][24] However, no lawsuit was ever filed by Michaels against the LA Times.
Jillian Michaels was born in Los Angeles, California on February 18, 1974.[2] As of the late 2000s or early 2010s, she lives in Los Angeles.[25]
Michaels is bisexual. When asked about her dating life (in the January 2010 issue of Ladies' Home Journal), she stated "Let's just say I believe in healthy love. If I fall in love with a woman, that's awesome. If I fall in love with a man, that's awesome."[26]
In an interview in the May 2010 issue of Women's Health, she was asked if she would ever consider having children. Michaels's response was: "I'm going to adopt. I can't handle doing that to my body."[27] In response to criticism that she had insinuated that pregnancy ruined a woman's body, Michaels explained in a later interview that she felt her words had been misunderstood.[28] In an effort to provide context, she explained that pregnancy would be hard on her body because she had suffered from endometriosis and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) since she was 16.[28] She said that she had not previously disclosed her conditions for reasons of privacy.[28] She has been struggling with ADHD since childhood.[29]
In an August 4, 2010 interview with Kate Meyers of Parade's Healthy Lifestyle, Michaels revealed that she has a tattoo of her grandmother on her ankle, has 'no communication with her father,' is 'obsessive,' has been in therapy since she was five years old, wants to have two children within the next five years (she was an only child and doesn't want one to be alone), and had a nose job.[30]
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by first female trainer |
Female trainer on The Biggest Loser 2004-2005 |
Succeeded by Kim Lyons |
| Preceded by Kim Lyons |
Female trainer on The Biggest Loser 2007-2011 |
Succeeded by Anna Kournikova |
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