Jillian Michaels defended herself after she was widely condemned online for body-shaming Lizzo during an interview on Wednesday, January 8. The Biggest Loser trainer talked about the “Truth Hurts” singer during an interview with BuzzFeed’s AM to DM talk show and a clip went viral on Twitter. Jillian, 45, spoke to host Alex Berg about celebrities promoting self-acceptance.
The trainer said about Lizzo, 31, “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.”
She continued, “I’m just being honest. I love her music, my kid loves her music, but there’s never a moment when I’m like, ‘I’m so glad she’s overweight.’ Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?” The Slim For Life author also said people should not “glorify obesity.”
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Fans were quick to slam the controversial trainer on Twitter, calling out her comments as fatphobic and ableist. “All this time it turns out Jillian Michaels was the biggest loser,” one person wrote.
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Others still pointed out that health and weight aren’t correlated and that Jillian’s practices on
The Biggest Loser have been widely condemned. Most of the show’s contestants have reported that they now weigh more than they did before the show.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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Another added, “Jillian Michaels can no more predict Lizzo’s future health — or speak on her current health — then she can walk upside down on the ceiling. Not only is this well outside of her skill set as an overpaid aerobics teacher, it’s just a prejudice-based guess built on stereotypes.”
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One fan wrote, “Lizzo is celebrated because not only is she talented, she shows other girls to love themselves no matter what.” Others said that Jillian’s focus on diabetes was a scapegoat, since many thin people develop diabetes and many plus size people do not.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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Photo credit: INSTARImages
Fans were quick to slam the controversial trainer on Twitter, calling out her comments as fatphobic and ableist. “All this time it turns out Jillian Michaels was the biggest loser,” one person wrote.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Others still pointed out that health and weight aren’t correlated and that Jillian’s practices on
The Biggest Loser have been widely condemned. Most of the show’s contestants have reported that they now weigh more than they did before the show.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Another added, “Jillian Michaels can no more predict Lizzo’s future health — or speak on her current health — then she can walk upside down on the ceiling. Not only is this well outside of her skill set as an overpaid aerobics teacher, it’s just a prejudice-based guess built on stereotypes.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
One fan wrote, “Lizzo is celebrated because not only is she talented, she shows other girls to love themselves no matter what.” Others said that Jillian’s focus on diabetes was a scapegoat, since many thin people develop diabetes and many plus size people do not.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Jillian responded in a Twitter post. She wrote, “As I've stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy and equally deserving. I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with obesity—heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few. I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies."
This isn’t the first time Jillian has been slammed online. In 2019,
she got into a fight with Al Roker about the keto diet. The
Today host, 65, tweeted, “So [Jillian Michaels] says #Keto is a bad idea. This from a woman who promoted on-camera bullying, deprivation, manipulation and more weekly in the name of weight loss. Now those sound like bad ideas.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
