Jillian Michaels says she was forced to leave "The Biggest Loser."
The 40-year-old personal trainer appeared to quit the NBC reality competition in June, but revealed in a new interview with the Daily Mail she was essentially fired. Michaels offered to stay if the network agreed to make changes, but left after the show's producers refused.
"I asked for changes and they said no, so in my opinion I believe it was their choice," she said of her departure. "I was willing to stay if certain changes were made and they said no. Unfortunately, over the years, we've had many differences in opinion on how things should be and producers thought things should be and I didn't quit."
"I went to them and said, 'I'd like to see these changes,' and they said no, so I did not quit they basically said, 'No, we're not interested in changing x, y and z, so we will part ways,'" she elaborated. "In all fairness, it was their show, so I said, 'If we can't do this, this and this, I'd like to be released,' and they said, 'You're released.'"
Michaels declined to name the changes she asked for, but did say she was "ashamed" to have been part of Season 15. The personal trainer was visibly stunned when winner Rachel Frederickson weighed in at the finale at 105 pounds after losing 60 percent of her body weight. Frederickson's extreme loss raised concern over the care of contestants, and Michaels said the champion lost too much weight "without a doubt."
"You go to this place where you are like, 'I didn't know, I'm not a producer, I wasn't her trainer,' and then I had to stop and think regardless, I was benefiting from being on that platform as a professional and I'd been the face of the show," she confessed. "But then you've got to take responsibility for it good and bad and I actually felt pretty ashamed. I got to a place where I thought if I'm going to be the face of something, I've come a point in my career where I have to have control."
Michaels is currently in the U.K. to promote her Maximize Your Life live tour.