It seems like a lot of people are personally offended by the fact that I am not a big fan of Jillian Michaels or her recently released line of diet pills (her EXTREME QUICKSTART rapid weight loss program), which is fine. My only consolation is picturing myself one day coming to your job and calling you fat and stupid while you sit at your desk doing your job.
Skewer me if you want. Quite frankly, the fact that people would get mad and call me stupid because I ask them to do a little unbiased research on the ingredients of products that are notoriously dangerous before ingesting them blindly–just because a celebrity is on the label–makes me weep a bit for society. But go ahead. I’m a big girl, I can take it.
I find it scary, but it happens everyday. People used to take Hydroxycut, which was released and touted as safe! And effective! Then, it was yanked for causing liver injuries.
Many people that criticized my post quoted her Facebook message to her haters, but I prefer to hear a product is safe from somewhere other than the spokesperson herself–especially from a blog on a social networking site. Even more so because her pills contain citrus aurantium, which is known to cause high blood pressure & serious cardiac problems in certain individuals.
I was a little peeved that she released the line in the first place, after being such a pillar of health-and-fitness-is-a-lifestyle in the industry. It would seem she has sold out for the “Lose weight quicker! Faster!” movement (a tag line on her website says “America’s TOUGHEST trainer makes losing weight SIMPLE!”) that has people throwing their money at store clerks in search of slimmer thighs through tablets and less work. I feel pills cheapen her message, but that’s neither here nor there.
Jillian Michaels line of diet pills have stirred up controversy, but more than that, it has resulted in not one, but three lawsuits, claiming her line is ineffective and dangerous.
The first lawsuit filed with the L.A. County Superior Court claims her dietary supplement, Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control, is “worthless” and a terrible “deception” to the American public asking for an injunction to prohibit the sale of the product, plus, of course, damages. Stephanie Creer filed a similar lawsuit claiming that she did not lose any weight after following the program and wants damages. (Isn’t court supposed to make you whole? So the only thing she would be able to recover is the cost of the pills themselves?)
The third case is a bit more serious, claiming the pills are dangerous. The lawsuit filed claims that Jillian “sold her proverbial soul to the devil” by conspiring with companies to make fat burning pills that contain a “potentially lethal” combination of ingredients (like the citrus aurantium I mentioned before).
The lawsuit asks for less than $5 million in damages. What was damaged, I’m not sure.
You may be surprised to hear I hope Michaels wins, and am fairly confident she will. I hate litigious people, and no, the litigants do not deserve money because they bought into the hype of yet another diet gimmick. Just because Jillian Michael slapped her face onto a product doesn’t mean it is going to work. It’s called being an informed consumer. Just because someone says it will work, doesn’t mean it will. It’s business, and they are allowed to say whatever they want. It’s your responsibility to get the facts before you buy into a product, especially one in pill form.
Photo via JillianMichaels.com
*shudder* SAY NO TO DRUGS!
She deserves to be sued…I followed her diet plan and exercised while taking her fat burners and they DID NOT WORK!!! Her products are CRAP!!!