Personal Trainer Jillian Michaels has dedicated her life to helping people be fit and healthy. She has worked with some morbidly obese people as many of us have seen on The Biggest Loser. So it should come as no real surprise that she found herself under scrutiny after she claimed that she found no reason to celebrate the body of R&B/Pop Singer Lizzo. To be clear it’s not that she was looking to point that out it, it just came up when the interviewer praised Lizzo for being so body positive. So of course Lizzo fans and PC nazis alike attacked Michaels for telling the truth.
It all came out during an interview with AM to DM with Alex Berg.
“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.
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, 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?
MICHAELS: 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.”
Watch The Interview Below.
The overzealous PC Police claimed she was fat-shaming and bashed Michaels for her comments. Michaels had many supporters as well, but she is right and it doesn’t take a doctor to see that Lizzo is overweight. But this is the problem with the PC Culture, where even when you are just being factual, whether it be about Gender, jokes, or in this case health, you can be berated for it as if you are somehow in the wrong for pointing out the truth.
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