From riches to rags: ’90s fitness queen Susan Powter turns to UberEats to make ends meet

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

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

“I’ve known despair,” Powter told People magazine. “Desperation is returning 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.

In the 90s, Powter sold her own fitness program called “Stop the Insanity!” discount of $79.80.

The program included audio tapes, recipes and other weight loss tips. After selling $50 million worth of products a year, Powter filed for bankruptcy in 1995.

At that time, she still had money, but she did not know that the money was being mismanaged.

“Someone else was handling it. I never checked the balances,” Powter told the media. “I should have asked. I fully accept this. I made a mistake.

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

“I didn’t think there would ever be another book or video. I have never 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.”

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

“It is very difficult. It’s terribly shocking,” she told People. “If sadness could kill you, I would be dead.”

Despite Powter’s financial problems, she kept him from her family. However, she wrote about it in her book, “And then Amy died… Stop the madness! A memory.”

“My sons read my book and said, ‘Mom, we didn’t know.’

Before her financial collapse, Powter had a syndicated television show.

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

She eventually left the fitness empire.

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

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

“That $1,500 check shocked 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 isn’t just a ‘once you had millions and now you don’t’ story.” . This is a very real thing that many, many women go through.”

She started saving “obsessively”.

“I don’t spend 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.”