Jillian Michaels Reveals Old Photo of Herself at 175 Pounds After Lizzo Controversial Comments

Jillian Michaels is sharing her own experience with weight loss as the celebrity trainer continues to face scrutiny for comments she made about singer Lizzo’s body that many felt were mean-spirited and shaming. The Biggest Loser alum took to Instagram Thursday to share a photo of herself earlier in her life at “5’0 tall and 175 lbs.”

“If I can do it – anyone can,” she added, encouraging followers to share their own stories in the comment section.

Michaels has faced criticism in the past for her attitude towards body positivity, drawing ire earlier this month after saying that people shouldn’t “glorify obesity” when asked about the Grammy-nominated singer’s message of self-love as it refers to the body on BuzzFeed’s AM to DM.

“Why are we celebrating her body?” Michaels said. “Why does it matter? That’s what I’m saying. Like why aren’t we celebrating her music? ‘Cause it isn’t gonna be awesome if she gets diabetes.”

“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,’” she continued. “Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?”

After her comments were largely criticized, Michaels took to Instagram with another statement, writing, “As I’ve stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy and equally deserving. I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with obesity — heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few.”

“I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies,” she added.

More recently in an interview with Extra, Michaels clarified how her comments were not meant to be about Lizzo specifically. “Here’s the reality…” she said. “It was actually about The Biggest Loser and does that show work today, and I said I don’t think so, because I think the world has become so PC that we’ve gone so far to glamorize obesity and… I think this is where things can become unsafe, that we’re denying the reality of certain health ramifications.”

Lizzo has not responded to Michaels directly, but did share a video clip on Instagram not long after, saying, “If my name is your mouth…so is my p—y, b—…enjoy the flavor!”

Photo credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images