’90s fitness guru lost multimillion-dollar empire, delivered food for Grubhub and Uber Eats in ‘desperation’

Susan Powter lost her multimillion-dollar fitness empire when her finances were mismanaged.

The ’90s fitness guru said she turned to delivering food for GrubHub and Uber Eats to make ends meet.

“I’ve known desperation,” Powter told People magazine. “Desperation is walking back from the welfare office. It’s the shock of, ‘From there, now I’m here? How in God’s name?’”

Powter, 66, lives in a low-income senior community and receives two free meals a week, according to the outlet.

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In the ’90s, Powter sold her fitness program called “Stop the Insanity!” for $79.80. 

The program included audio cassettes, recipes and other tips for weight loss. After selling $50 million in products yearly, Powter declared bankruptcy in 1995.

At the time, she still had money but didn’t know the money was being mismanaged.

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“Someone else was handling it. I never checked balances,” Powter told the outlet. “I should have questioned. I fully acknowledge that. I made a mistake.

“I knew how much control I gave up,” she added. “I didn’t know what got paid where, but I had no property. There was no fund left for my children.

“I didn’t think there would never be another book or video. I’ve never not worked. I never thought I wouldn’t be able to make a living. But try to get a job as a 60-year-old woman.”

Susan Powter says she’s “known desperation” when it comes to money troubles. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Powter’s life became “scary as s—” by 2018. She began driving for Uber Eats and GrubHub, hoping to make at least $80 a day to pay bills and rent.

“It’s so hard. It’s horrifyingly shocking,” she told People. “If sadness could kill you, I’d be dead.”

Despite Powter’s financial troubles, she kept it from her family. However, she did write about it in her book, “And Then Em Died… Stop the Insanity! A Memoir.” 

“My sons read my book, and they were like, ‘Mom, we didn’t know.'”

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Before her financial downfall, Powter had a syndicated TV show.

The show was “complete crap,” she said. “They put me in pearls. They produced ‘me’ out of me. Those segments — I can’t even watch them now.”

She eventually walked away from the fitness empire.

“I was teaching classes in an elementary school basement, photographing underwater home births, driving my little Volkswagen Bug with my baby, just being a mother,” she said. “I’m a very basic hippie kind of gal.”

Powter began driving for Uber Eats and GrubHub in 2018 after she says life became “scary as s—.” (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Powter experienced a health scare in 2023 that led her to appeal for Social Security. 

“That $1500 check shocked the h— out of me,” she told People. “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.”

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She began saving “obsessively.”

“I don’t spend any money. I don’t go anywhere. I don’t eat out,” she explained. “These are the sweatpants I wear all the time. Seven dollars on Amazon.”