A brand new documentary will shine a lightweight on famed ‘90s health teacher Susan Powter’s public disappearance.
In a trailer for Cease the Madness: Discovering Susan Powter, shared by Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, October 21, Powter, 67, is seen working as an Uber Eats driver in Las Vegas and admits to spending a “entire day in a welfare workplace.”
Australian-born Powter, who rose to fame by way of a collection of ‘90s infomercials the place her catchphrase, “Cease the madness!” slammed the rise of fad diets, can also be seen detailing the reason for her declining financials within the documentary, which was govt produced by Jamie Lee Curtis. (The health teacher allegedly amassed and misplaced practically $200 million in enterprise offers on the top of her fame, per EW.)
“Individuals don’t know. I don’t see one penny, the place’s it going?” Powter says. “I by no means stated, ‘Present me the rattling financial institution steadiness.’ I ought to’ve. Issues had occurred that no one anticipated… the hand-me-downs of meals.”
Curtis, 66, can also be seen posing the query, “How a lot of the downfall is somebody’s accountability and the way a lot is it unhealthy actors?”
In keeping with the outlet, the documentary will talk about how “shady administration and authorized associates drained her funds.”
Powter, who constructed a health empire after divorcing a former husband and shedding greater than 130 kilos, per USA Today, can also be seen purchasing for groceries within the trailer. Turning a packet of meals over in her hand, she says, “Why hassle studying the elements?”

Susan Powter on ‘The Tonight Present With Jay Leno’ in 1993 Margaret Norton/NBCU Photograph Financial institution/NBCUniversal through Getty Photos
The trailer additionally touches on Powter’s choice to write down her 2024 memoir, And Then Em Died…: Cease the Madness! A Memoir. “I simply began writing in case something occurred to me,” she tells the digital camera.
“I believe one thing’s shifting. The concern, the poverty, the hopelessness. It’s this tsunami of what was, what occurred, the reality,” she provides. “I’m going to blow the roof off.”
In an interview with People in October 2024, Powter spoke candidly concerning the previous 20 years of her life. On the time, the outlet famous that she lived “in a low-income senior group the place two instances every week an area charity arms out free meals.”
Powter, who declared chapter in 1995, stated, “I’ve recognized desperation. Desperation is strolling again from the welfare workplace. It’s the shock of, ‘From there, now I’m right here? How in God’s title?’”
She continued, “There was nothing however lawsuits within the ‘90s. They put me in pearls. They produced me out of me. These segments — I can’t even watch them now.”
Powter additionally made a number of administration claims concerning her funds through the interview. “Another person was dealing with it. I by no means checked balances,” she alleged. “I ought to have questioned. I absolutely acknowledge that. I made a mistake. I knew how a lot management I gave up. I didn’t know what obtained paid the place, however I had no property. There was no fund left for my kids.” (Powter is mom to 3 sons together with a 3rd whom she adopted as an toddler after publicly popping out as a lesbian in 2004.)
She additionally mentioned her job as a meals supply driver. “I’ve obtained 4,800 whole journeys,” she instructed the outlet. “I’m a tough employee and I care for that meals and I’m pleased with the work I put in … I’m not on the lookout for a giant fancy-schmancy life.”