Jillian Michaels, who rose to fame training contestants on “The Biggest Loser” more than a decade ago, is threatening to sue the makers of a new Netflix documentary for what she says are blatant falsehoods that she can disprove.
“Honestly it’s just filled with so many lies,” Michaels told TMZ on Tuesday as she let fly in a 15-minute phone call blasting the doc’s reporting. “And of course I have the emails and the text messages to back all of this up.”
To underscore, Michaels dropped a series of screenshots on Instagram showing text and email messages contradicting claims made in “Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser,” which purports to show the “dark side” of the series.
She said was planning to meet with Hollywood honcho attorney Bryan Freedman — who just so happens to represent Justin Baldoni against Blake Lively — and told TMZ she might sue Netflix, her former co-star and documentary producer Bob Harper, and “Biggest Loser” medical supervisor Dr. Robert Huizenga.
“Right now my team and I are trying to figure out the best way of going forward and dealing with this,” Michaels said. “Do we pursue this legally, do I just do a data dump and give you all the receipts?”
Among her “receipts” were ones addressing the reality show’s caffeine-pill policy, at least one remark attributed to her that she claims was never made, and the allegation that she encouraged unhealthy calorie consumption levels.
The celebrity trainer said that in fact she had often stood up for contestantsand spoke out when Huizenga yanked some medications that need to be tapered. Huizenga has said he too had reservations about how some of the contestants were treated
On the reality show, which ran for 17 seasons from 2004 to 2020, contestants vied for a $250,000 prize as they competed against each other to lose weight.
Michaels quit after season 15, concerned about one contestant’s drastic weight loss, and declined to participate in the documentary. She has gone on to write several health and fitness books and create an online and app-based workout series.
With News Wire Services
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