Susan Powter
Susan Powter | |
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| Born | December 22, 1957 |
| Occupations |
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Susan Powter (born December 22, 1957)[1] is an Australian-born American motivational speaker, nutritionist, personal trainer, and author, who rose to fame in the 1990s with her catchphrase "Stop the Insanity!", the centerpiece of her weight-loss infomercial.
She hosted her own talk show The Susan Powter Show in the 1990s.
Early life
[edit]Born in Sydney in 1957 (some sources give her birthdate as December 12 and others as December 22), Powter immigrated to the United States at age 10.[2] She left school in 9th grade.[2]
Career
[edit]Television
[edit]In 1994, Powter starred in her own talk-show style television program called The Susan Powter Show, which ran for one season. On the show, she discussed nutrition and fitness as well as other topics with her guests. She was also a special guest on the first episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, titled "Spanish Translation".
It was planned for her to be a regular on the TV sitcom Women of the House in 1995. The series was cancelled before the single episode she appeared in was shown on TV.
Motivational speaker and nutritionist
[edit]Advocate of a whole-foods, organic, low-fat diet, and regular cardiovascular and strength-training exercise, Powter also condemned the diet industry.[3]
Her platinum-white close cropped haircut, aggressive speaking manner, and habit of being barefoot while speaking in public became elements of her celebrity.
Powter was originally based in Dallas, Texas, at the height of her fame. She eventually sold her studio in Dallas and moved to Seattle, Washington. In 2012, she was living in an Earthship in New Mexico. More recently, she lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico.[4]
Author and blogger
[edit]Powter is an author of several books, three of which became New York Times best-sellers in the 1990s. In 2002, she returned to writing with The Politics of Stupid, a stream-of-consciousness, self-published manifesto encouraging women to take control of their brains and bodies from food manufacturers, corrupt governments, and fitness/diet industries. She puts out The Monthly Flow, a subscription-based multi-media e-zine. Powter released her memoir, And Then Em Died... Stop the Insanity! A Memoir, in October 2024.[5]
Personal life
[edit]On January 3, 1995, Powter filed for personal bankruptcy.[6]
Powter has been married twice. She has two sons from her first marriage, Damien and Kiel. She adopted a third son Gabriel, after her second marriage.[7] She later came out as a lesbian, and in a 2004 interview with Curve magazine, she described herself as a "radical feminist lesbian woman".[8] She dated comedian Jessica Kirson in 2008.
In October 2024, Powter revealed that due to a series of lawsuits in the 1990s and poor financial planning she had been left virtually destitute, living in a camper van, and delivering food for Grubhub and Ubereats. After a health scare, she enrolled in Medicaid.[5] An upcoming documentary about her life, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, co-produced by actress Jamie Lee Curtis, has been filmed.[9]
Bibliography
[edit]- Stop the Insanity! (1993) ISBN 0-671-79598-8
- The Pocket Powter (1994) ISBN 0-671-89456-0
- Food (1995) ISBN 0-671-89225-8
- C'mon America, Let's Eat (1996)
- Sober…and Staying That Way: The Missing Link in the Cure for Alcoholism (1997)
- Hey, Mom! I'm Hungry!: Great-Tasting, Low-Fat, Easy Recipes to Feed Your Family (1997)
- The Politics of Stupid (2002)
- And Then Em Died... Stop the Insanity! A Memoir (2024)
Video cassettes
[edit]- Moving With Susan (1992)
- Shopping with Susan (1993)
- Lean, Strong and Healthy with Susan Powter (1993)
- Building Strength with Susan Powter (1994)
- Burn Fat & Get Fit with Susan Powter (1994)
References
[edit]- ^ "Susan Powter". Infoplease. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
- ^ a b Wichel, Alex, "The Powter Principle; Eat More and Lose Weight" The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia), January 30, 1994. LexisNexis Academic, February 17, 2011
- ^ Witchel, Alex (October 31, 1993). "Susan Powter". The New York Times.
- ^ York, Eve Sherrill (September 14, 2013). "Stop the Insanity!". Bubblews. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
- ^ a b Finan, Eileen; Sheeler, Jason (October 23, 2024). "'Stop the Insanity!' '90s Fitness Guru Susan Powter Lost Empire Worth Millions and Survived by Delivering Grubhub: 'Scary as S---' (Exclusive)". People.
- ^ Anderson, Stephanie (January 22, 1995). "Susan Powter's Wallet Gets A Nasty Workout". Bloomberg L.P.
- ^ Gemelli, Zoe (December 1, 2004). "Infomercial queen Susan Powter comes out to play". Curve. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
- ^ Biography for Susan Powter at IMDb
- ^ Finan, Eileen; Sheeler, Jason (October 24, 2024). "Susan Powter's Wallet Gets A Nasty Workout". People.
External links
[edit]
- 1957 births
- Living people
- Australian exercise and fitness writers
- Australian exercise instructors
- Australian feminist writers
- Australian health and wellness writers
- Australian motivational speakers
- Australian motivational writers
- Women motivational writers
- Australian lesbian writers
- Australian lesbian actresses
- American feminists
- American lesbian writers
- American television actresses
- American television talk show hosts
- American LGBTQ broadcasters
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American women writers