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Everyone's Dragging Jillian Michaels for Fat-Shaming Lizzo

Everyone's Dragging Jillian Michaels for Fat-Shaming Lizzo

Everyone's Dragging Jillian Michaels for Fat-Shaming Lizzo

The former trainer on The Biggest Loser continues to spout harmful narratives about health and beauty. 

TracyEGilchrist

Even with a move toward celebrating all body types, former Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels peddled in a harmful narrative about musician Lizzo’s body on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM. 

There to promote her My Fitness app, Michaels responded with hackneyed talking points when AM2DM cohost Alex Berg mentioned that she loved that women like Ashley Graham and multi-Grammy-nominated Lizzo are helping to change the narrative about beauty. But Michaels interrupted.

"Why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? Why aren’t we celebrating her music? 'Cause it isn’t going to be awesome if she gets diabetes," Michaels said. "I’m just being honest. I love her music, my kid loves her music, but there’s never a moment when I’m like, 'I’m so glad she’s overweight.' Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?"

Berg later tweeted, "What I was going to say here is that Lizzo has been incredibly important in giving so many of us a possibility model for accepting our bodies as we are and celebrating bodies that are normally ridiculed. Had to restrain myself from defending Lizzo’s honor!"

Michaels, who is queer, rose to fame in the aughts as a fitness trainer who pushed people to their limits on The Biggest Loser. Her My Fitness app is marketed as "The most comprehensive fitness app on the market. It allows Jillian to be your personal trainer—anytime, anywhere."

Meanwhile, Lizzo is having a killer year. Her songs "Juice," "Truth Hurts," and "Good as Hell" are massive hits, and she is currently nominated for eight Grammy Awards. 

Soon after AM2DM posted the clip of Michaels’s mini tirade about weight, Twitter users roundly rebuked her, including author Roxane Gay.

Here are some of the Twitter responses calling Michaels out for her brand of health and beauty:

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.