What happened to Susan Powter? '90s fitness icon's bankruptcy and comeback explored 

Susan Powter, the '90s most popular fitness icon and best known for her 'Stop the Insanity!' fitness infomercials, is now reportedly an Uber Eats driver after declaring bankruptcy.

Powter appeared on the TODAY show last night to promote her new documentary, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, which is directed by Zeberiah Newman and executive produced by Jamie Lee Curtis. Powter shared,

“Everything has changed, and I’ll tell you why. Because I have hope — real hope. Possibility. Real possibility. And I’m proud that I survived. I didn’t think my being would make it. I didn’t think my energy would survive.”

The fitness mogul shares her journey from a life of fame to living paycheck to paycheck in the new documentary. Continuing her conversation on the TODAY show, Powter added,

“My teeth didn’t. The skin looks different. My face looks different. But Jamie Lee is the one who said to me, ‘You are alive. You survived.’”

Her appearance on the TODAY show is available on YouTube.

Susan Powter rose to fame after developing her own fitness regimen following her divorce and subsequent weight gain.

Where is Susan Powter now?

At the peak of her fitness influencer career in the mid-90s, Powter had the luxury to choose from countless brand associations. However, it was a combination of bad deals, lawsuits, and a second divorce that pushed her to financial ruin.

She continued, in her sit-down on the TODAY show,

“I take full responsibility. I never checked. I never said, ‘Where’s the money?’ So it’s not that there was no money. ... There was a little bit of money, but not the amount of money that was generated. And I just walked away. I literally walked away. I did it very intentionally.”

In her conversation with PEOPLE Magazine last year, Powter shed light on her first tryst with fame. Her first contract post her 'viral' fame was with her manager and an investing partner establishing her company, "which was an exercise studio and maybe a clothing line". However, her appearances on multiple nationally syndicated daytime talk shows, a $2 million advance for her first book, weren't something she or her partners expected.

Unfortunately for Powter, her excitement was short-lived. She continues in her interaction with PEOPLE Magazine,

“I wasn't running my company; it was a 50/50 deal. They started to produce the 'me' out of me.”

Frustrated with Hollywood and her business partners' shrewd tactics, Susan Powter moved to a cabin in Seattle with her children. She took on multiple jobs as a fitness instructor, but she eventually found herself 'penniless' in 2018, unable to secure a job. She says,

Trending

“Try to get a job as a 60-year-old woman...”

After working as an Uber Eats and GrubHub driver for six years, Powter released a memoir last year. Her documentary will screen in select theatres in the country from today.

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