For Susan Powter, the madness did come to an end—but not in the manner she had anticipated. The former fitness icon, whose fame soared in the '90s with her energetic infomercials and the catchphrase "stop the insanity" as a plea to end fad diets, is now plying her trade as an Uber Eats driver in Las Vegas, following the demise of her multi-million dollar empire. "Nothing is beneath me," she declared during an appearance on Today on November 18th. "I will work, I will do anything."
Despite being a fixture on late-night television at the height of her fame, Powter revealed that poor business deals and her divorce from ex-husband Nic Villarreal had left her financially strapped, ultimately leading her to declare bankruptcy in 1995. "I take full responsibility," she said. "I never questioned. I never asked, 'Where's the money?' So it's not that there was no money."
The 67-year-old continued, "There was a little bit of money, but not the amount that was generated. And I just walked away. I did it very intentionally." After three decades out of the public eye, bouncing between homes and living on Social Security checks, Powter is making a comeback by detailing her story in the documentary Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, released on November 19th.
"Everything has changed," she told Today anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin. "Because I have hope—real hope. Possibility. Real possibility. And I’m proud that I survived. I didn’t think my life would make it. I didn’t think my energy would survive."
In fact, she has found solace in Jamie Lee Curtis, who executive produced the film. "Jamie Lee is the one who said to me, 'You are alive. You survived,'" Powter noted, adding that she remains optimistic about reviving her once-flourishing career. "I want to be able to do what I’ve done once before, which was miraculous in and of itself," she said. "And this time it would be properly managed."
