Susan Powter, the iconic 1990s fitness powerhouse who once dominated the health and wellness industry, has revealed the extraordinary story of her fall from multi-millionaire status to working as an Uber Eats delivery driver in Las Vegas.
The Rise and Fall of a Fitness Empire
At her peak, Powter was earning an astonishing $50 million per year as a nutritionist, personal trainer and motivational speaker. Her famous Stop the Insanity! fitness programme sold for $79.80 and made her a household name across America and beyond.
However, through severe financial mismanagement that she admits she failed to monitor, nearly everything vanished. Powter declared bankruptcy in 1995 and now lives in a low-income senior community in Las Vegas, where she receives two free meals weekly and drives for Uber Eats to make ends meet.
The Unconventional Discovery
The story behind how documentary filmmaker Zeberiah Newman tracked down the faded fitness star is almost as remarkable as her financial downfall. In exclusive footage obtained by the Daily Mail, Powter revealed how Newman went to extraordinary lengths to find her after she disappeared from public view.
Newman even ordered fast food specifically so Powter would deliver it, creating an elaborate setup to confirm he'd finally located the 90s icon. "I delivered a Burger King order and I got a text that said 'Susan Powter,' and I froze inside," she told a packed room during a speaking engagement.
She described the moment with palpable emotion: "I've been driving for nine years because I thought somebody had finally put together the name, and I was like, 'Oh my God.' I just froze. I was embarrassed."
Taking Responsibility and Moving Forward
Now 67, Powter accepts full responsibility for her financial situation. "I take full responsibility," she told Today. "I never checked. I never said, 'Where's the money?' So it's not that there was no money. There was a little bit of money, but not the amount of money that was generated."
Her current reality is starkly different from her millionaire lifestyle. She uses a cardboard box as a nightstand in her small apartment and saves money obsessively. "I don't spend any money. I don't go anywhere. I don't eat out. These are the sweatpants I wear all the time. Seven dollars on Amazon," she revealed.
Powter described the difficulty of being recognised while living in poverty: "I was fired from a job I needed desperately because she thought I was in there doing a food review. I took my son to school on a bus because I didn't have a car and the bus driver laughed at me."
Hollywood Intervention and New Hope
After Newman successfully contacted Powter about creating a documentary, he reached out to his friend Jamie Lee Curtis, who immediately signed on as executive producer. The resulting film, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, will be available on Video On Demand starting December 9th.
Curtis told People: "As one of the world's first true influencers at the beginning of what we would now refer to as the social media era, Susan Powter was brazen and brave, and woke us all up. Like so many women's stories, Susan's power and her light was diminished, denigrated and dismissed."
Powter expressed her gratitude to Curtis, saying: "I was in tears. And I said 'Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. I had lost faith. I had lost complete and absolute hope.'"
The fitness icon, who once appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will Smith, now sees her story as representative of broader issues affecting women. "I've learned that women are invisible and invaluable after a certain age," she reflected. "It's usually the f***able age."
Despite her struggles, Powter maintains perspective: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness lied. Liar. It wasn't happiness. It was bigger than happiness. I took the deepest breath. And this is not just a 'you used to have millions and now you don't' story. This is a very real thing that many, many women go through."
