How Jillian Michaels’ Shocking Transformation Is Rewriting The Rules Of Fitness Forever
Ever wonder what it’s like to swap spandex for a suit and step behind the prime-time news anchor desk? Jillian Michaels, the fitness powerhouse who once had us sweating it out on our couches, is making moves you wouldn’t expect — and she’s not slowing down any time soon. Picture this: less than an hour before going live, she’s in hair and makeup, multitasking like a pro, typing furiously on her laptop, debating whether to say “psilocybin” or “magic mushrooms,” all while curling her hair and prepping to dive headfirst into the hot seat of NewsNation’s centrist news show. But Jillian’s journey is far more than a career change; it’s a fierce evolution fueled by a determination to challenge the health status quo in America, tackling heavyweight issues from psychedelic treatments to the broken healthcare system and the rising obesity epidemic. It’s raw, it’s real, and yes, it’s a little bit wild — just like Jillian herself. So, how does a fitness legend become a bold voice in the political wellness arena, unafraid to ruffle feathers while still keeping it 100? Let’s unpack the story behind the headlines, the controversies, and the relentless drive of a woman rewriting the health narrative one candid conversation at a time. LEARN MORE
21 min readIt’s less than an hour to showtime, and Jillian Michaels has not stopped moving. Seated in a chair for hair and makeup, she pulls a computer onto her lap, thick-rimmed glasses resting on her nose as she furiously edits a carefully crafted script. Today she is filling in as the prime-time anchor of On Balance with Leland Vittert on NewsNation, a channel that bills itself as having a centrist stance and offering an unbiased take on the news.
Jillian is deleting and typing and reciting lines as curlers slide through her hair. She doesn’t pause when makeup starts, reading and clacking keys in between dabs of foundation and brushes of blush. It’s a whirlwind of motion, with her makeup artist dancing around the chair as Jillian continues to prep with the producer until the last possible minute.
As they debate talking points and phrasing, thoughts flow out of her at warp speed. “Let me mess with this a little bit. I think this part is too long. Should I say ‘psilocybin’ or ‘magic mushrooms’? ‘Magic mushrooms’ is more layman’s terms.”
She bounces questions off the producer, who encourages her to write the script in a way that feels authentic to her voice. The topics du jour? The merits of psychedelic treatments, debate over the credibility of California’s governor, and issues with the broken health care system in America.
At her hotel, Jillian Michaels preps for one of her many recent televised appearances commenting on the health of America.
As a self-proclaimed independent, Jillian, 51, feels right at home at NewsNation. “I’ve never believed in bashing people over the head with your personal beliefs,” she tells me. “I think that the goal is to find common ground.” Yet she’s tied herself to the MAHA movement—an alliance that’s raised eyebrows, to say the least, due to its far-right political undercurrents and controversial figurehead, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Jillian’s involvement in the MAHA of it all, however, is rooted in her own personal mission, one that she says transcends politics.
“The words are going to be really big on the teleprompter, right?” Jillian asks the producer, noting that none of the experimental interventions (namely, peptides) she’s tried have reversed her deteriorating vision. And although she’d love to see if stem cells could offer a solution, stem cell drops or treatments have not been broadly approved or regulated by the FDA in the U.S. Jillian throws around fringe health practices like this extremely casually—fitting, given the considerable overlap between MAHA and the biohacking wellness world.
“I’m probably going to grow a third nipple from all the shit I’m fucking around with,” she says. Does she recommend said interventions to everyone? Never. Jillian considers minimally studied biohacks the “Everest” of wellness, reserved for a niche group of health fanatics—herself included—who are willing to experiment on themselves in the hope of a longer, healthier life.
Though she’s new on the scene, Jillian wants to carve out a space alongside big-time media figures like Joe Rogan and Bill Maher.
Still in her sweats, makeup half complete, Jillian is pulled into the studio by the crew for some quick video tests. Before she walks through the door, she mouths to me: “I have no business doing this.”
But as I watch the rehearsal, Jillian runs through the segment with confidence, articulating and enunciating each word precisely, and I think about something she told me the day before, while we conversed over charcuterie in a Santa Monica wine bar: “I never would have thought my life would have taken [this] kind of a turn. But, you know, I’m extremely curious about everything going on, and being able to ask brilliant minds about it is fun. I’m not pretending to be something that I’m not.”
It’s true. She’s still the same Jillian Michaels—with the same Jillian Michaels mission of helping people get healthy—that we met on the television screen decades ago. It’s just that now, she’s in a suit, talking to cameras about the future of our country’s health, instead of coaching out-of-shape Americans in spandex workout gear.
Her approach has changed too. “Earlier in my career, it was all about self-agency. It was this idea that nobody is coming to save you, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, we got this, etc. But the obesity numbers are still rising, which means I’m failing somewhere,” she tells me. She’s determined to change that—and, as Jillian sees it, talking publicly about what she sees as America’s biggest barriers to health is integral to that plan.
With the clock ticking, Jillian finally gets into wardrobe: a blue and white striped shirt, beige vest, and jeans. “Does anyone here know how to tie a tie?” she asks, holding up a red-patterned necktie. No one does, so she pulls up a YouTube tutorial on her laptop, places it on her chair, and takes a wide stance in front of the screen while teaching herself this brand-new skill in real time.
This NewsNation appearance marks Jillian’s first time anchoring for a station, but she makes plenty of appearances on political programs that skew every which way. She’s saying yes to just about every invite that comes along—in particular, when she’s asked to be a guest on a notable podcast or TV show. They’re all great opportunities to establish her voice in the political space, she says.
So now she’s a regular on podcasts like Club Random with Bill Maher and has been a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience and The Adam Carolla Show, among many others. Jillian also has her own podcast: Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels, where, by her account, she aims to “just get the information in the world and let people make a decision.”
As Jillian looks to carve out a space alongside big-time media figures like Rogan and Maher, she is keenly aware of what sets her apart. “I’m not a comedian, I’m not a political pundit, I’m not a historian, and I’m not an economist. But I educate myself and devour the information,” she says.
And although she admits to feeling insecure—despite not showing it on air—about jumping headfirst into something so firmly outside her comfort zone, she’s committed to becoming a member of this (often, boys’) club. “I think if you’re continuing to evolve and grow, you’re gonna be uncomfortable,” she says.
The Making of Jillian Michaels
While this current career trajectory may seem vastly different from her activewear-clad, dumbbell-toting days of old, upon closer inspection, it’s not so much a pivot for her as an evolution. Sure, it’s an evolution that comes with a fair number of controversial, only-in-2025 health opinions, but an evolution nonetheless.
At this stage, Jillian feels more connected to her work than ever. “To be totally honest, this is the first time in my life that I’ve actually wanted something,” she says, referencing the fact that she’s trying to use her platform to reshape public health policy. As for her original ascension to fitness fame, she thinks that was serendipitous—something she just fell into. Of course, it helped that she had an interesting, relatable origin story to tie to her rising star.
Jillian hops into a car outside the Fox News building as she heads to her next taping at CNN during a summer stint of appearances.
Growing up, Jillian was a self-described “overweight kid” who used food as a coping mechanism for her anxiety, especially amid her parents’ divorce in her early teen years. “It was something I felt I could control, look forward to, and be comforted by—so all of those clichés around overeating, I had every single one of them.” She also had trouble relating to her peers and was grappling with her sexuality.
Her mom enrolled her in martial arts in the hope that it would empower her and provide an outlet for everything she was going through. “Physically, I’m a terrible athlete, but emotionally and psychologically, I loved it. It was a place to belong.”
During her teen years, as Jillian worked her way up to a black belt, she learned about fitness education and common-sense eating—things like calories and managing portion sizes. She was also placed in therapy at a young age , which Jillian credits for helping her understand the psychological components of fitness and weight management. “I also began to appreciate the transcendence of fitness, in that when you feel strong physically, you’re feeling stronger and more empowered in pretty much every facet of your life.”
School was hard—Jillian struggled with pretty severe ADHD—so she dropped out of college after one year and started spending copious time in the gym. In fact, she spent so much time working out that people began approaching her for training, not realizing she wasn’t actually a professional.
Eventually, Jillian began training clients for real, but it felt like a stopgap rather than a long-term plan. So she faked a college diploma and landed a job at a talent agency in Los Angeles, where she worked a few years before being laid off. Back at square one, she found herself training again, this time at a physical therapist’s office. But ambition kicked in, and she decided to open her own business. After securing some loans and maxing out her credit cards, Jillian launched a sports medicine facility with physiatrists and physical therapists and chiropractors.
In 2004, when Jillian was 30, a client she’d met through her talent agency work told her that NBC was looking for trainers for a new show. She threw her hat in the ring—and landed the job. “By the way, I hate reality TV,” she says. It’s a stance she held before her reality stardom and in which she remained steadfast during and after. “I don’t watch it. I don’t get it. It’s just so manufactured.”
Still, Jillian thought it might be a good way to brand her business and attract new clients. “But of course, the brand was not the gym,” she says. “It ended up being me.”
The Biggest Loser’s Shining Star
To really understand Jillian Michaels in 2025, you have to understand the cultural moment that was The Biggest Loser and its ongoing aftermath. No one could have predicted the way the show would take off when it first aired in 2004. It was one of the most popular shows on NBC for years, with Jillian as the main face of it for almost 10 years, then jumped to the USA Network for its final season in 2020. (Jillian departed after season 15, which aired in 2013–2014.)
Still, Jillian says she never actually experienced the kind of jarring rise to stardom some Hollywood celebs do. “You know what’s weird? I don’t remember feeling different. It was just so gradual, almost like a frog in boiling water—you don’t notice it’s getting hot,” she says. “Here’s the thing you have to remember: I was actually training those people. There just happened to be cameras.”
As a gay woman, however, she discovered that her newfound position in the Biggest Loser spotlight came with some trepidation—and the decision to come out publicly wasn’t an easy one, especially after she’d watched other queer celebrities face challenges after doing so. “I probably could have gone the rest of my life without sharing that information. I didn’t want to be a canvas for anyone’s projected hatred of gays,” she says.
Jillian initially found fame as a trainer on The Biggest Loser.
But then, in 2012, Jillian adopted her daughter, Lukensia (Lu), from Haiti with her then partner, Heidi Rhoades, while fights for gay marriage and the right to adopt were raging in the U.S. She didn’t feel she could stay silent. It was finally time to speak up. “I thought, My kids can’t be living some sort of weird secret.”
Jillian had no intention of politically engaging with the fight; she just wanted to state her truth and move along. And, for the most part, that’s exactly what happened. “I don’t think anyone actually cared,” she says.
Now that she regularly sits across the table from conservative voices (particularly those who have perpetuated anti-queer ideology and rhetoric), I ask if she’s faced any backlash. “I keep looking for it. I keep waiting for someone to take my head off, but it hasn’t happened,” Jillian says, but she also notes that she isn’t afraid to call out bigotry if she sees it. And she certainly isn’t hiding who she is or who she loves.
In fact, these days, she smiles as she talks openly about her wife of three years, fashion designer DeShanna Marie Michaels, and their dinner plans for that night. “[She’s] gonna make me a grass-fed, grass-finished burger, with avocado and lettuce and tomatoes—all organic.”
Still, the entertainment industry is notoriously brutal, and Jillian is no stranger to controversy—which has prepared her for this polarizing new MAHA chapter. “It’s going to ebb and it’s going to flow, you’re going to be hot and then you’re going to be freezing, you’re not going to work and then you’ll work a ton,” she says. “They’ll build you up and aim to tear you down. You can count on it—it’s clockwork. You can do no wrong until it’s time for you to be shoved off the mountain. Even before cancel culture was cancel culture, if you were too popular, they’d try to bring you to your knees.” I ask her who we are talking about here. The court of public opinion? “It’s just what we do as a culture,” she says. “We build people up, and then we seek to destroy them.”
Indeed, toward the end of her Biggest Loser tenure, the longtime trainer began to feel that the show was painting her as ruthless and cruel, warping her public perception. By 2014, it had become a magnet for controversy, which hit a peak when contestant Rachel Frederickson lost a shocking, arguably unhealthy amount of weight during season 15.
“I was deeply disturbed when she walked out on the stage that day, and I never went back,” Jillian says, referring to how dangerously thin Frederickson appeared. “There was just a limit in regard to what the platform could bear as times change and evolve, and in regard to my control of my image on the platform.”
Many aspects of the show did indeed raise eyebrows. As Jillian puts it, in real life, you don’t eliminate the person who’s working the hardest or incentivize weight loss at all costs. Yet she still stands by the core goal of the show—helping individuals get healthier through a combination of diet and exercise—which is a stance she has never wavered on after all these years. “If you say it’s unrealistic, I totally agree. But if you say it’s unhealthy, I’d disagree, and I have the data to back it up.” (Note: A documentary series called Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser just premiered on Netflix. Jillian was not involved.)
Entering Her Purple MAHA Era
Over the past two decades, Jillian has had a concerning revelation: The most straightforward health and weight-loss tenet, which she describes as “eat less and move more,” is no longer hitting for her audience. “It’s not that it’s not working because it’s not accurate—it’s called physics, it’s the first law of thermodynamics,” she says, referring to the scientific principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed and it can only be converted to one form or another—meaning weight loss comes down to burning more calories than you consume.
But with rates of obesity continuing to climb in the U.S., despite our ever-greater understanding of the science behind health and fitness, Jillian suspects other variables beyond diet, exercise, and effort are sabotaging people’s health goals. “You have to look at what the fuck happened,” she says. Her money is on the country’s food and health care systems.
Jillian’s concerns grew while she was on the precipice of parenthood to daughter Lu and son Phoenix. She vividly remembers noticing that her partner’s prenatal vitamins were packed with ingredients that troubled her (namely, trans fats and red dye 40) and wondered why anyone would prescribe this to a pregnant woman.
These personal and professional frustrations are a major reason Jillian was drawn to the policies and agenda of the new U.S. secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his MAHA movement.
In recent years, Jillian has come to support health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Most notably, MAHA initiatives center on chronic disease prevention, holistic wellness and integrative medicine, and reducing the influence of pharmaceutical companies on public health policy. In MAHA world, ultra-processed foods are the devil, while raw milk and dietary supplements (ideally, without those harmful additives and ingredients) are the way to health and wellness.
RFK Jr. also advocates for reforms such as expanding Medicare to cover fitness and nutrition, banning direct-to-consumer drug ads, and removing synthetic additives from food. However, he has been widely criticized for his controversial appointments to health advisory panels and for actions (like disbanding the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and cutting federal vaccine funding) that many experts say have undermined trust in science-based public health—particularly amid rising measles outbreaks (we’ve recently seen the highest case count in 33 years). This current administration has also faced backlash for quietly removing the recommendation that pregnant people and children receive the COVID-19 vaccine, a move that public health experts warn could put vulnerable populations at greater risk.
And then, of course, there’s the scrutiny RFK Jr. has received for spreading debunked conspiracy theories and misinformation—for example, that Wi-Fi radiation causes cancer, antidepressants are linked to school shootings, and, most notably, certain vaccines cause autism.
But while he and MAHA at large are associated with the Republican Party, Jillian, a steadfast Democrat until 2019, is now an independent. She’s a “purple person,” as she puts it. “People don’t really like purple people because they want us to pick a team. But I really do see valid points in both parties, and I think it’s important to hold both sides accountable,” she says.
To that effect, Jillian says she isn’t afraid to call out people on either side of the aisle if they say something she believes is harmful or misguided. In fact, although she mostly aligns with RFK Jr.’s policies (and staunchly claims he’s not “anti-vax” but rather pushing for more vaccine transparency: “He’s advocating for gold standard studies on this stuff”), Jillian says she’d be first in line with a pitchfork if he were to ever ban vaccines.
One vaccine she’s not so down with, though, is the COVID-19 vaccine. After initially endorsing it, she’s since rescinded her approval, calling it “experimental gene therapy” on Rogan’s show. (Two of the COVID vaccines use mRNA, or messenger RNA, to code for viral proteins that trigger your body’s immune system to create antibodies. Experts report that they do not affect your DNA. The technique, invented in the 1990s, is not considered “experimental,” having been subjected to rigorous clinical trials and having obtained full regulatory approvals.)
From her vantage point, RFK Jr. isn’t a “crazy person” but a political leader trying to fight what she refers to as the “bad guys” in her line of work: namely, Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Agriculture. She believes these powerful industries have created a vicious cycle of health issues for Americans—where processed foods fuel chronic illness; pharmaceutical companies rush in to sell lifelong treatments; and agricultural giants prioritize high-yield, low-nutrition crops that lead to rampant use of refined grains and cheap oils (particularly in processed foods).
Jillian is especially fired up about the way she believes Big Food is riding the body-positivity wave of “healthy at any size” while continuing to market addictive, ultra-processed food products. Then you have Big Pharma, which she thinks is responsible for labeling obesity a disease not to help people but to sell expensive drugs for weight loss, cardiovascular health, blood pressure, and more. (Obesity was recognized as a disease by the American Medical Association in 2013, and 93 percent of physicians agree with that classification, per a 2021 survey, although the percentage often varies.) “The narrative is exceptionally dangerous because it’s disempowering,” Jillian says. “ ‘Listen, you’re obese. This is a disease, but don’t worry, we’re gonna save your day with a shot.’ ”
Jillian in the revolving doors of the CNN building, where she did tapings in July 2025.
The shot she’s referring to is a GLP-1 agonist medication, including semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), drugs that Jillian adamantly opposes. She’s been outspoken about her distaste for the current Ozempic era we find ourselves in, citing potential long-term health consequences like pancreatitis and intestinal blockage as her main concerns (particularly for individuals who don’t really need the medication for health reasons in the first place). Indeed, the FDA warns about these potential side effects on the drugs’ labels, but they are considered rare. And for many people, especially those with type 2 diabetes or obesity-related health issues, the benefits of taking the drugs may outweigh the risks.
“Ultimately, rapid, accelerated weight loss has a host of downsides that doing it through diet and exercise does not,” she says definitively. “It’s also an eating disorder in a pen.”
Her controversial views on obesity aren’t exactly new. Who could forget the cataclysmic moment in 2020, when Jillian said to BuzzFeed News that she didn’t understand why people were celebrating Lizzo’s body: “Why does it matter? Why aren’t we celebrating her music? ’Cause it isn’t gonna be awesome if she gets diabetes.” The Internet swiftly—and loudly—ripped her apart. “I felt that the world had become crazy,” she says. “It’s nuts that it’s not okay for somebody to say, ‘I don’t celebrate obesity because it kills people’ and you can be demonized and canceled over it.”
Jillian chats with guest Peter Attia, MD, on her podcast, Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels.
Jillian still doesn’t understand why any of these health opinions are controversial or tied to a political “side”—much less the right, considering that many of these views were previously associated with the “crunchy granola left,” she points out. “It should be utterly nonpartisan,” she says. “It’s so unfortunate because I thought, Surely we can all get behind this.”
As the Internet bashed Jillian for her comments about obesity, other people, like Bill Maher, publicly came to her defense. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Maher recalled how surreal it was to see someone get vilified for saying that obesity isn’t healthy. The moment stuck with Jillian. “I remember thinking: How do I become one of those guys?” she tells me. “How do I get into that club where I can tell the truth unapologetically and fearlessly and have it matter?”
And then came the pandemic. Jillian was living in Los Angeles at the time and grew increasingly skeptical about government health policies, which she felt were inconsistent or even contradictory. She was ready for a shift, one that involved distancing herself from what she viewed as a culture of ideological conformity and embracing a version of herself that was more vocal and unapologetically less filtered.
Unsurprisingly, stepping into the political space hasn’t been smooth sailing. “As a fitness personality,” Jillian tells me, “your goal is to just be a blank tablet and provide information.” Being political, on the other hand, alienates so many people, she says. “So from a business perspective, it’s a bad idea. But I started to feel more and more concerned, [and] I became more outspoken.”
A New Kind of Health Script
MAHA aside, Jillian’s own health nonnegotiables are simple: sleep, a healthy diet (she defaults to Mediterranean), and, of course, exercise. Although “I can actually get away with not working out—this is terrible, because it’s the number one form of preventative medicine and slowing aging—but I can go weeks without working out and be okay, because I control my diet,” she admits. She doesn’t eat sugar, drinks very little alcohol, and avoids ultra-processed foods.
Besides the “obvious stuff,” which Jillian considers “90 percent of the equation,” she is diligent about using a reverse osmosis water filter and a HEPA filter. “I also supplement aggressively. And I mean aggressively. I’ve got the B complex, two prescription fish oils, collagen peptides, human strain probiotics, NAC—the list goes on.”
She’s particularly focused on brain and cognitive health (Jillian has a family history of Parkinson’s, and an Alzheimer’s gene, and she’s struggled with ADHD her entire life). “I take a lot of things for cognitive function, like creatine, nicotine, caffeine, and lithium orotate. Is it working? I think so? Which one? I don’t know.”
What about the other wellness-world darlings, like cold plunging and red-light therapy? I ask. Those are what Jillian calls “the fun shit.” “My wife the other day was like, ‘You look like an asshole.’ I had a magnet on my nose and tape on my face, with my blue blockers, watching The Handmaid’s Tale,” she says. “I just figure, why not try it?”
Despite the deep experimental biohacking toolbox she regularly pulls from, her advice to the general public is, stunningly, the opposite: Don’t get too crazy; keep it simple. But that doesn’t mean she always follows that. “Personally, do I get crazy? Yeah, I’m crazier than ever.” If your produce picks are from the Clean 15 (the fruits and vegetables that typically contain the lowest levels of pesticide residue, according to the Environmental Working Group), then that’s a win, according to Jillian. “If you’re getting enough fiber, if the meat you’re eating is clean, grass-fed and grass-finished—win.” Her bottom line: Don’t eat “evil foods,” and move your body. She avoids bashing trends or diets (this only leads to “infighting within the community,” which Jillian hates, because, as she puts it, “there are bigger fish to fry”).
Similarly, with her two teenagers (Phoenix is 13, and Lu is 15), Jillian tries not to overcomplicate things. She isn’t too controlling about what they eat—instead, she educates them on nutrition, just as she would any client, and trusts them to make healthy choices. Still, teenagers are teenagers, and in the Michaels household, rebellion looks like eating processed food.
During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Jillian shared that her daughter will sneak sugary cereal at school instead of packing a homemade lunch, knowing her mom’s aversion. “I try to give them enough freedom now at these ages to make some of their own decisions, so not everything is a pushback,” Jillian says. “But I truly think there is an addictive component.” In fact, she believes food companies target children specifically. “[They think,] How do we addict them? How do we profit off them? Because a sick child is extremely profitable.”
This is where we find the Jillian Michaels of today: grabbing the megaphone and leveraging her platform to shout about the issues she deems most pressing. “I want people to take the information and make the right choices for themselves and their family. Just listen, do your own homework, take what you want, and leave what you don’t.”
Of course, this bootstrapping is easier said than done for most Americans—considering that the health care system is full of obstacles and so much “health” information online is rife with inaccuracies.
On Air with Jillian
Back in the NewsNation studio, Jillian sits in her anchor chair. “I just need to spit out my nicotine gum,” she says, noting that she’s been taking a one-milligram nicotine gum five times a week because she’s heard it’s supposed to be neuroprotective. “People see me with it and say, ‘I didn’t know you smoked,’ ” she tells the producer. “Of course I don’t smoke—I’m Jillian Michaels!” she shouts, then laughs at the absurdity.
Before the cameras roll, she excitedly greets every guest: Ana Kasparian (journalist and political commentator), Marty Makary, MD, MPH (FDA commissioner, surgeon, professor, author, and medical commentator), Adam Carolla (radio personality and comedian), and Patrick Bet‑David (businessman and podcaster). After all, they’re friends of hers in this burgeoning political chapter, guests she’s carefully hand‑selected for this segment to make her feel a bit more relaxed in a brand-new environment.
From where I’m sitting, in a corner of the recording studio, I can’t hear what the guests are saying—only Jillian. It’s like I’m in some kind of Jillian Michaels echo chamber, trying to fill in the other half of the dialogue.
Jillian says that she’s replying yes to most segment opportunities that come her way as she builds this new career.
I think about something Jillian said to me at the wine bar: how so many of us have tunnel vision, unwilling to have conversations with the “other side.” We immediately dismiss viewpoints if they’re associated with the other political team, without actually taking a moment to consider our true feelings on the matter.
“Let’s presume you’re on the left. I’d say, ‘Really, when was the last time you watched Tucker [Carlson]?’ You probably vomit into your cheese plate,” she told me over our literal plates of cheese. “People are fed the shit that they’re leaning towards because it validates you…. When you hear it, it’s hard to listen to.”
She’s not wrong. It’s difficult to listen to opposing viewpoints, especially when they feel like direct attacks on our identity or those of the people we love.
“People are so polarized and they’re not talking, and they are completely blinded by narratives of such shit,” she says. This is the very thing Jillian says she tries to rectify on her own podcast, by inviting folks from the political right and left to chat. And while she’s been criticized for disproportionately featuring conservative voices, she claims it’s not for lack of effort. “Do you think I didn’t invite them?” she asks, in reference to left-leaning guests. “It’s not that I’m not platforming them because I don’t want to. They don’t fucking show up.… I wish they would engage more.”
The prep work never stops: Before appearances, Jillian tends to do a lot of it, editing scripts and practicing lines.
As the NewsNation cameras cut and the crew’s commotion quiets, Jillian exhales. “Oh my god, we did it, team,” she says, sliding off her YouTube-assembled tie and furiously unbuttoning her vest. “I felt so robotic at first, but then I felt like I warmed up a bit.”
The day may be over, but for Jillian Michaels, the work of her new life never stops. In one week, she’ll be at the White House in service of the MAHA initiative, interviewing Lee M. Zeldin, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. She’ll mention the disturbing findings of the MAHA Commission Report: overmedicalization, ultra-processed food, and chemicals in the air and water.
“The odds are stacked against us, not because of time, but because, quite honestly, of the pitfalls that are inherent in modern life,” she recalls telling Zeldin in so many words.
Agree with her or not, Jillian is making one thing clear: She isn’t slowing down, she’s accelerating. “There’s no question in my mind that it is now the next chapter for me, to try to fight back, even though you end up alienating people when you do it.”
So if that next chapter ruffles feathers, well, that’s never stopped her before.
Kristine Thomason is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience creating content for print and digital publications. Previously, she was the health and fitness director at mindbodygreen, and the fitness and wellness editor at Women’s Health. Kristine’s work has appeared in Men’s Health, Travel + Leisure, Health, and Refinery29, among others. She holds a journalism degree from New York University, and is certified in personal training by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
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$9.59 (as of October 12, 2025 02:53 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
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