Susan Powter’s reach across the nation in the 1990s earned her the honor of being an icon for healthy, approachable lifestyle changes. Her book Stop the Insanity! sparked a fitness empire encompassing an infomercial, fitness tapes, nutrition programs, and additional books. But the road to get there was constrictive, boring, and dictated by media executives. “They controlled everything,” she says. “I was taking horrifying corporate business meetings with people that made millions of dollars, never told the truth, and edited in every word out of my mouth.”
But her humble beginning as a single mother who couldn’t fund a babysitter or gym membership was relatable to the public. “I didn’t like the way I felt. I didn’t like the way I looked,” she says. “When I changed [the way I looked], nobody cared, and I didn’t say ‘now I’m going to write a fitness book to tell the world how to change the way they look.’” Instead, the catalyst behind her inspiration to write the first book came from experiences such as one in a Texas Piggly Wiggly grocery store. With two babies in tow, Powter looked strong and healthy after her transformation. Another mom noticed and asked Powter what she can do to look more like her. More people gathered around as Powter detailed exactly what lifestyle changes she implemented. The rest is history. “And everybody thinks, ‘Hey, she just tells people how to lose weight.’ Ha! That is not what I did or do,” she says.
Now, after having what seemed like everything, Powter is back in headlines. Producer and director Zebariah Newman reached out to Powter after wondering where the fitness guru had been after years in the dark, finding her in a rough neighborhood in Las Vegas delivering food to pay the bills.
This sparked a larger conversation with Powter about her life and her October 2024 book, And Then Em Died…: Stop the Insanity! A Memoir. As a result of Newman’s curiosity, a new documentary, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter — produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and directed by Newman — premiered at the Bentonville Film Festival earlier this year. “It’s really good fun,” Powter says, “worth your time.”
This journey has led Powter to Palm Springs, where she will be the subject of a live Q&A at Oscar’s on Oct. 2. No topic is off limits for the star. “You can ask anything if you’re respectful,” she says. “Back in the day, I would do an appearance, talk to thousands of people and didn’t learn any names. So that’s why I’m so excited about doing [the Q&A] the way we’re doing it. It’s really personal, real vibrant. Literally, it’s the best content ever from me.” Join the conversation and hear for yourself exactly what Susan Powter has been doing lately.
What’s up next for the fitness phenom? “After Oscars, what’s coming up is everything,” she says. “I do not for a moment, take one iota of what’s going on for granted.”
