Fitness legend Susan Powter, who dominated the wellness scene during the 1990s, has revealed her dramatic fall from earning £50 million annually to working as an Uber Eats delivery driver in Las Vegas.
From Fitness Empire to Financial Ruin
The 67-year-old shot to fame three decades ago as a nutritionist, personal trainer and motivational speaker, building an empire around her iconic Stop the Insanity! programme that sold for $79.80 per copy. At her peak, Powter was earning an astonishing $50 million per year, becoming one of the era's most recognisable fitness personalities.
However, her fortune virtually disappeared after what she describes as severe financial mismanagement. "I take full responsibility," Powter admitted during an interview. "I never checked. I never said, 'Where's the money?' There was a little bit of money, but not the amount of money that was generated."
Life After Bankruptcy: Delivering Food and Finding Pride
After declaring bankruptcy in 1995, Powter's life took a dramatic turn. She now lives in a low-income senior community in Las Vegas and works delivering food for Uber Eats and GrubHub to make ends meet. "Nothing is beneath me," she stated defiantly. "I will work, I'll do anything. Broke is one thing, broken is another. It started to break me."
Powter described her modest living conditions with surprising pride: "I live in Las Vegas, in my same little apartment. My bed stand is a cardboard box. I'm proud of it though." She revealed that she needs to make at least $80 daily to cover rent and food, describing the experience as "horrifyingly shocking."
The Documentary That's Bringing Her Back
Powter's remarkable story is now being told in a new documentary, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, after filmmaker Zeberiah Newman tracked her down for a year. The project gained Hollywood star power when Jamie Lee Curtis signed on as executive producer after Newman contacted his friend about the project.
"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," Curtis told People magazine. "Like so many women's stories, Susan's power and her light was diminished, denigrated and dismissed."
Powter initially declined Newman's offer when he first approached her after she'd completed an Uber Eats delivery. "I said, 'I can't.' I had dropped off a Jack in the Box order... I was working," she recalled. "I wasn't Susan Powter. That was gone."
The fitness guru also opened up about the challenges of being recognised while struggling financially. "I was fired from a job I needed desperately because she thought I was in there doing a food review," she shared. "People think, oh, she's loaded!"
Now receiving Social Security checks and two free meals weekly from her senior community, Powter has become frugal with her spending. "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.
Reflecting on her journey, Powter offered this stark assessment: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness lied. Liar. It wasn't happiness. It was bigger than happiness." Her story serves as both a cautionary tale about financial management and an inspiring example of resilience in the face of dramatic life changes.
