Susan Powter Reveals Oprah Winfrey Producer Threatened Her Career After Declining Talk Show Interview

Susan Powter Reveals Oprah Winfrey Producer Threatened Her Career After Declining Talk Show Interview

Fitness icon Susan Powter, best known for her Stop the Insanity! infomercial, is reflecting on her rise to fame and the pressures she faced within the entertainment industry. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 67-year-old shared her reasons for declining an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show at the height of her popularity, revealing how the incident impacted her career.

Powter, who built a multi-million-dollar wellness empire in the ’90s with workout videos, books, and media appearances, was offered the chance to appear on Oprah’s iconic talk show during a time when her influence was booming. However, Powter made the decision to turn down the invitation, a move that reportedly caused tension with Winfrey’s team.

“They did ask me to be on the show,” Powter confirmed, describing the segment as a “really trashy” panel about overweight individuals. She declined, but the reaction from one of Winfrey’s producers was swift and harsh. “The producer told me, ‘You do know that you may never work in this town again,'” Powter recalls. “She said it like that, and I literally laughed. I said, ‘I seriously doubt it, but thank you very much.’ I was very polite, but I got that line. It was very ’90s!’”

Powter further elaborated on her feelings about the entertainment industry at the time, explaining that she was often pressured into a mold she didn’t want to fit. “They wanted me to be that. That’s what television was then,” she said. She referred to the type of shows led by Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael as “trashy, kind of combative,” a direction she wasn’t willing to follow. “It wasn’t my deal at all,” she added.

Despite the obstacles she faced in her early career—such as losing her fortune due to mismanaged finances and dishonest employees—Powter remains steadfast in her mission to help others. She reveals she was overproduced and felt disconnected from her true self as corporate media greed began to pull her in directions she wasn’t comfortable with.

Looking to the future, Powter is working on several projects, including a podcast, a planned nationwide RV tour, and a memoir titled And Then Em Died… Additionally, she will be featured in an upcoming documentary directed by Zeberiah Newman and produced by Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

The documentary will explore the mistreatment of older individuals in society and the lack of resources or dignity provided to them, a topic Powter feels strongly about. Curtis described the film as both a “nostalgic look” and “an indictment” of society’s treatment of aging individuals. “It’s a challenge for all of us to look at how complicit we are in this story,” Curtis explained.

Powter’s journey is far from over, and despite her challenges, she remains committed to her mission and ready to continue her fight against ageism, media exploitation, and the pressures of fame. Stay tuned for more insights from Powter’s interview with Entertainment Weekly.

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