--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief, John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we have a very special guest, fitness star Jillian Michaels. Jillian, welcome to the show.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Thanks so much for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For our listeners who may not know, Jillian is a household name, thanks to her work on The Biggest Loser. But over the past few years, she's been speaking out on some issues that are verboten in Hollywood.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I have to say, it wasn't a conscious decision to start speaking out. It just kind of happened.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What made you decide to do that?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Well, I think health has become a political football, which is ridiculous and unfortunate. And it all started back in 2019 when I was asked if I celebrated the fact that Lizzo was obese.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you said...?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: I said I think she's fantastic. I think she's a brilliant artist. But I don't celebrate her being overweight because it's dangerous. And when that turned into Jillian Michaels is a fat shamer, that's when I knew I was living in a parallel universe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that's when you started to notice that things in health had become more taboo.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And it was scary. But one of the reasons it's so great to be working with Bill Maher is because his goal is to empower his hosts to speak their truth as fearlessly as possible.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that's exactly what you're doing on your podcast, Keeping It Real.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And it's been a game-changer for me. I feel like I can finally be myself and speak my mind without fear of repercussions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, I've written in my notes, what was the tipping point for you? And I've got it right here: was it the Lizzo thing?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Yes, it was.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For listeners who didn't follow that debacle, let's listen to some audio of your infamous comments about Lizzo and the subsequent backlash.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so let's talk about that. You said, "Why are we celebrating her body? Why does it matter? That's what I'm saying. Like, why aren't we celebrating her music?"
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I think it's shocking that a fitness expert like me wouldn't recognize that your health is not determined by your weight.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I remember when that went down and I thought the mob was going after you. And it's interesting because my wife is a conservative and I grew up in California. I was always a classic liberal.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: And I want to make a differentiation between woke and liberal. For me, what liberal meant was live and let live.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you started to notice that your friends who were saying, "Oh, I found out they voted for Trump and I had to just cut them off."
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And it was like, this is ridiculous. We're the most accepting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then the Lizzo moment really crystallized the madness of it all for you.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And it was like, I was living in a parallel universe.
--:-- John Bickley: Jillian, I want to ask you about your podcast. You've been doing it for years, but it's been audio-only. What made you decide to move it to video?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Well, I got into some spirited conversations with Bill Maher on Club Random, and he invited me to come on to Real Time and HBO.
--:-- John Bickley: And that's when you started to explore some of the more controversial topics, like transgender athlete debate and gender-affirming care.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And Bill wanted me to be fearless in my discussions on these topics, which really expand into things like the transgender athlete debate, gender-affirming care, our kids vaccine schedule, hormone replacement therapy, a lot of these topics that are highly controversial.
--:-- John Bickley: And that's exactly what you're doing on your podcast. You're not afraid to tackle the tough issues.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I feel like I have a platform now to explore all of these things where I can't be canceled.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, I want to ask you about your experience in Hollywood. Do you sense that there's a lot of quiet uneasiness about wokeness?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: There's definitely a mix of that. I have a lot of friends who are pro-Kamala and I have a lot of friends who aren't.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've worked with a lot of people in Los Angeles still. What's your experience been like?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: It's very interesting because more of the men feel that they are gagged, if you will, really incapable of voicing their concerns about the direction certain things are going, especially in wellness.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've had some famous peers reach out to you privately to share their thoughts since you started becoming more public about this stuff.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Oh, of course. Behind closed doors, people are like, totally agree with you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've had some experts, like Gad Saad, reach out to you and say, "You have an obligation to say something."
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I think people who are experts in their area have an obligation to speak out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, speaking of areas you're qualified to speak on as a gay woman, you also have a bit of cover to publicly question some elements of the LGBT movement.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I want to be clear, I have zero issue with people being transgender. If you're an adult and this is the choice you make for yourself, go with God.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've commented publicly on some of the things like transgender medical treatments for kids.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I've formed this opinion after reading Abigail Schreier's book, Irreversible Damage.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've also reviewed the CAS review, which is a systematic review of every single study in gender-affirming care.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And it's 388 pages, and it took her four years to put it together.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what did you find out?
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Well, I found out that there are a few cases where this has been helpful, but the majority is rife with deep worry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you're not alone in your concerns. Even Charlie Kirk has said that transitioning children is not a good idea.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. And I think we need to have a conversation about this. We need to look at the data and say, okay, what are the advantages? What does the data show? What are our solutions?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you're not saying that transgender people don't deserve respect and dignity.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: That's right. I'm saying that we need to have a conversation about this. We need to look at the data and say, okay, what are the advantages? What does the data show? What are our solutions?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Jillian, thank you so much for making time to come on with us and for not being afraid of being part of a Daily Wire show.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Oh my God. I listen to Daily Wire all the time. I'm constantly trying to learn new things and expose myself to differing points of view.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Jillian, thank you so much for coming on and best of luck with your podcast.
--:-- Jillian Michaels: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Jillian Michaels, fitness icon and host of the Keeping It Real podcast. And this has been a Sunday edition of Morning Wire.
