Jillian Michaels (personal trainer)
Encyclopedia
Jillian Michaels is a celebrity
personal trainer
, reality show personality, direct-response television pitchwoman, and entrepreneur
from Los Angeles
, California
. Michaels is most widely recognized for her appearances on NBC's The Biggest Loser and Losing It With Jillian.
, Michaels showed a photograph of herself when she was twelve years old, saying she weighed 175 pounds (79.4 kg) and was 5 feet (152.4 cm) tall. When she was thirteen, her mother enrolled her in a martial arts class.
She uses a blend of strength training techniques with her clients, including kickboxing
, yoga
, Pilates
, plyometrics
, and weight training
.
Michaels serves as an adviser to the National Day of Dance for Heart Health, an organization that encourages people to make exercise fun
and to laugh
, learn
and dance
to a healthier
heart
. She has released several exercise DVDs, the most popular of which is '30 Day Shred'.
Michaels hosted a Sunday talk radio show on Los Angeles' KFI
(640 AM) from 2006 through 2009.
On October 21, 2008, she launched a new video game for the Wii
, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009
A year later, she launched a sequel called Fitness Ultimatum 2010
.
Michaels' business partner and manager is Giancarlo Chersich. Together they operate Empowered Media, LLC.
. She returned to the show in 2007 as the Black Team trainer, competing against Lyons' Red Team and Bob Harper
's Blue Team. Lyons did not return for the spring 2008 season, leaving Michaels as the only female trainer. Along with Bob Harper, Michaels was also a trainer in the Australian version of the show.
On December 7, 2010, Michaels announced via Twitter
that the eleventh season of the show would be her last.
debuted a spin-off
reality series entitled Losing It With Jillian. Michaels focuses on one family per episode, visiting their home to work one-on-one with them for a week. Then, for six weeks, the family works out with a different trainer, provided by the show. In the final five minutes of each episode, Michaels returns to the family's home to gauge their progress.
David Hinckley, of the New York Daily News, says the show uses "tacky overdramatic music and silly staged scenes" and is somewhat over-produced, and that he would like to see a show "with less extreme cases and less melodramatic packaging".
Also in February 2010, a class action suit named Michaels, Thin Care and Basic Research and Walgreens over the potential toxicity of ingredients contained in Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Fat Burner. According to that suit, the supplement contains citrus aurantium, an ingredient that allegedly causes high blood pressure and cardiac problems in certain individuals.
In August 2010, a $10 million class action suit was filed against Michaels and Thin Care International over the ingredients in Triple Process Total Body Detox and Cleanse. The plaintiff in the case is a registered dietician who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. According to the suit, the supplement in question contained ingredients that could allegedly cause gastrointestinal ulcers, digestive distress and even irreversible liver damage. The suit also alleged that these ingredients represented a "potentially lethal combination." The Courthouse News Service reported that the plaintiff claimed that the suit was not about the money, but that "she simply wants [Michaels and Thin Care] to stop poisoning the public and give consumers their money back."
While experts interviewed about the supplements doubted that they could prove fatal, they agreed that they were ineffective. Lynn Willis, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Indiana University called one of the supplements "an absurdity" and "completely bogus." Dr. Keith Ayoob, director of the Nutrition Clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine also suggested that "if you have any of these problems or need help losing weight, see your physician, not Jillian Michaels."
A highly critical and widely circulated, October 11, 2010, Los Angeles Times
op-ed article, by certified strength and conditioning specialist James S. Fell, questioned her credentials and alleged that: "Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer — she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs." Fell also quoted other experts who claimed, among other complaints about Michaels' technique: "It's just wrong ... in every way. All of it. Every single thing she does is wrong." In response to the article, Michaels reportedly threatened legal action against the LA Times. Said Michaels, "Shame on the Los Angeles Times for saying I'm a fraud and not a trainer." She was also quoted in US Weekly
saying, "I developed my own continuing education program for trainers, with sports medicine doctors. I've been a trainer since I was 17-years old for 19 years. I'm going after them." However, no lawsuit was ever filed by Michaels against the LA Times.
, California
on February 18, 1974. As of the late 2000s or early 2010s, she lives in Los Angeles.
When asked about her dating life (in the January 2010 issue of Ladies' Home Journal
), she stated "Let's just say I believe in healthy love. If I fall in love with a woman, that's awesome. If I fall in love with a man, that's awesome."
In an interview in the May 2010 issue of Women's Health, she was asked if she would ever consider having children. Michaels's response was: "I'm going to adopt. I can't handle doing that to my body." In response to criticism that she had insinuated that pregnancy ruined a woman's body, Michaels explained in a later interview that she felt her words had been misunderstood. In an effort to provide context, she explained that pregnancy would be hard on her body because she had suffered from endometriosis
and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) since she was 16. She said that she had not previously disclosed her conditions for reasons of privacy. She has been struggling with ADHD since childhood.
In an August 4, 2010, interview with Kate Meyers of Parade's Healthy Lifestyle, Michaels revealed that; she has a tattoo of her grandmother on her ankle, has 'no communication with her father,' is 'obsessive,' has been in therapy since she was five years old, wants to have two children within the next five years (she was an only child and doesn't want one to be alone), and had a nose job.
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
personal trainer
Personal trainer
A personal trainer is a fitness professional involved in exercise prescription and instruction. They motivate clients by setting goals and providing feedback and accountability to clients. Trainers also measure their client's strengths and weaknesses with fitness assessments...
, reality show personality, direct-response television pitchwoman, and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Michaels is most widely recognized for her appearances on NBC's The Biggest Loser and Losing It With Jillian.
Career
Michaels began her career in exercise because she was overweight as a teenager. In 2009, on the television show The DoctorsThe Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, Michaels showed a photograph of herself when she was twelve years old, saying she weighed 175 pounds (79.4 kg) and was 5 feet (152.4 cm) tall. When she was thirteen, her mother enrolled her in a martial arts class.
She uses a blend of strength training techniques with her clients, including kickboxing
Kickboxing
Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....
, yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, Pilates
Pilates
Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany, the UK and the USA. As of 2005, there were 11 million people practicing the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States....
, plyometrics
Plyometrics
Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports. Plyometric exercises may also be referred to as explosive exercises...
, and weight training
Weight training
Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...
.
Michaels serves as an adviser to the National Day of Dance for Heart Health, an organization that encourages people to make exercise fun
Play (activity)
Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
and to laugh
Laughter
Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...
, learn
Learning
Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
to a healthier
Physical fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...
heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
. She has released several exercise DVDs, the most popular of which is '30 Day Shred'.
Michaels hosted a Sunday talk radio show on Los Angeles' KFI
KFI
KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...
(640 AM) from 2006 through 2009.
On October 21, 2008, she launched a new video game for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 is a video game developed by 3G Studios, Inc. and published by Majesco Entertainment for the Wii console. It is an exercise game which makes use of the Wii Balance Board peripheral and features Jillian Michaels, a fitness expert also seen as a trainer on...
A year later, she launched a sequel called Fitness Ultimatum 2010
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2010
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2010 is a fitness game and a sequel of Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for the Wii and Nintendo DS....
.
Michaels' business partner and manager is Giancarlo Chersich. Together they operate Empowered Media, LLC.
The Biggest Loser
Michaels was the Red Team trainer on The Biggest Loser when it premiered, in 2004. She was replaced in 2006, by Kim LyonsKim Lyons (personal trainer)
Kimberly Lyn "Kim" Lyons is an American athlete, personal trainer, nutritionist, and fitness model who has appeared several times on the covers of many health and fitness magazines and has also starred on the United States version of the competitive reality television show, The Biggest Loser...
. She returned to the show in 2007 as the Black Team trainer, competing against Lyons' Red Team and Bob Harper
Bob Harper (personal trainer)
Robert "Bob" Harper is a personal trainer, who appears on the television series The Biggest Loser .- Career :Harper has worked as a personal trainer for celebrity clients, including Jennifer Jason Leigh...
's Blue Team. Lyons did not return for the spring 2008 season, leaving Michaels as the only female trainer. Along with Bob Harper, Michaels was also a trainer in the Australian version of the show.
On December 7, 2010, Michaels announced via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that the eleventh season of the show would be her last.
Losing It With Jillian
On June 1, 2010, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
debuted a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
reality series entitled Losing It With Jillian. Michaels focuses on one family per episode, visiting their home to work one-on-one with them for a week. Then, for six weeks, the family works out with a different trainer, provided by the show. In the final five minutes of each episode, Michaels returns to the family's home to gauge their progress.
David Hinckley, of the New York Daily News, says the show uses "tacky overdramatic music and silly staged scenes" and is somewhat over-produced, and that he would like to see a show "with less extreme cases and less melodramatic packaging".
The Doctors
On May 6, 2011, CBS Television Distribution announced that Michaels had signed a multi-year deal to join the panel-discussion show The Doctors, as well as serve as a special correspondent on the CTD program Dr. Phil.Lawsuits
In February 2010, lawyer Melissa Harnett filed suit against Michaels, alleging that the Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control dietary supplement was ineffective, and saying that "telling people you can take two magic pills and then eat chocolate cake all day is a deception." Michaels subsequently released a statement saying that "some of the leading weight loss experts in the world" had reviewed the supplement before she endorsed it.Also in February 2010, a class action suit named Michaels, Thin Care and Basic Research and Walgreens over the potential toxicity of ingredients contained in Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Fat Burner. According to that suit, the supplement contains citrus aurantium, an ingredient that allegedly causes high blood pressure and cardiac problems in certain individuals.
In August 2010, a $10 million class action suit was filed against Michaels and Thin Care International over the ingredients in Triple Process Total Body Detox and Cleanse. The plaintiff in the case is a registered dietician who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. According to the suit, the supplement in question contained ingredients that could allegedly cause gastrointestinal ulcers, digestive distress and even irreversible liver damage. The suit also alleged that these ingredients represented a "potentially lethal combination." The Courthouse News Service reported that the plaintiff claimed that the suit was not about the money, but that "she simply wants [Michaels and Thin Care] to stop poisoning the public and give consumers their money back."
While experts interviewed about the supplements doubted that they could prove fatal, they agreed that they were ineffective. Lynn Willis, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Indiana University called one of the supplements "an absurdity" and "completely bogus." Dr. Keith Ayoob, director of the Nutrition Clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine also suggested that "if you have any of these problems or need help losing weight, see your physician, not Jillian Michaels."
A highly critical and widely circulated, October 11, 2010, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
op-ed article, by certified strength and conditioning specialist James S. Fell, questioned her credentials and alleged that: "Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer — she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs." Fell also quoted other experts who claimed, among other complaints about Michaels' technique: "It's just wrong ... in every way. All of it. Every single thing she does is wrong." In response to the article, Michaels reportedly threatened legal action against the LA Times. Said Michaels, "Shame on the Los Angeles Times for saying I'm a fraud and not a trainer." She was also quoted in US Weekly
Us Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
saying, "I developed my own continuing education program for trainers, with sports medicine doctors. I've been a trainer since I was 17-years old for 19 years. I'm going after them." However, no lawsuit was ever filed by Michaels against the LA Times.
Personal life
Jillian Michaels was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on February 18, 1974. As of the late 2000s or early 2010s, she lives in Los Angeles.
When asked about her dating life (in the January 2010 issue of Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
), she stated "Let's just say I believe in healthy love. If I fall in love with a woman, that's awesome. If I fall in love with a man, that's awesome."
In an interview in the May 2010 issue of Women's Health, she was asked if she would ever consider having children. Michaels's response was: "I'm going to adopt. I can't handle doing that to my body." In response to criticism that she had insinuated that pregnancy ruined a woman's body, Michaels explained in a later interview that she felt her words had been misunderstood. In an effort to provide context, she explained that pregnancy would be hard on her body because she had suffered from endometriosis
Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a gynecological medical condition in which cells from the lining of the uterus appear and flourish outside the uterine cavity, most commonly on the ovaries. The uterine cavity is lined by endometrial cells, which are under the influence of female hormones...
and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) since she was 16. She said that she had not previously disclosed her conditions for reasons of privacy. She has been struggling with ADHD since childhood.
In an August 4, 2010, interview with Kate Meyers of Parade's Healthy Lifestyle, Michaels revealed that; she has a tattoo of her grandmother on her ankle, has 'no communication with her father,' is 'obsessive,' has been in therapy since she was five years old, wants to have two children within the next five years (she was an only child and doesn't want one to be alone), and had a nose job.
External links
- Weight Loss Program with Jillian on AOL Health - Diet & Fintess
- Jillian Michaels Weight Loss Line
- lKFI AM 640 main page