Jillian Michaels says Netflix’s "Biggest Loser" documentary isn't just full of lies -- it’s part of a long history of the franchise trying to take her down ... and she's giving TMZ all the receipts to prove it.
00:08And they go through some of the hijinks on the show,
00:13dangerous hijinks, according to the show's producers,
00:18some at the hands of one Jillian Michaels.
00:21Yes, according to this documentary,
00:24which Jillian did not participate in,
00:27but a lot of the producers did,
00:29Bob Harper did.
00:31Robert Huizinga, the doctor on the show did.
00:34And they were all critical of Jillian.
00:38At different times throughout the course of the show.
00:41Now, we spoke to Jillian this morning about this.
00:44She is very upset and is considering
00:47what I would imagine would be a pretty hefty lawsuit
00:51against Netflix, against the producers.
00:53So she says that there are so many lies.
00:57This is according to her in this Netflix documentary.
00:59She says she has all the emails to prove it.
01:03And she's sending us emails.
01:05Yeah, so we've seen some of them.
01:07I talked to her for 20 minutes this morning.
01:09And it was on audio.
01:11And she had a lot to say.
01:14Let's start with caffeine,
01:16because that was a big deal on the show.
01:18Yes, in the documentary,
01:19they go into this whole incident where Jillian,
01:23on the show, had been penalized for giving caffeine
01:28to one of the contestants.
01:30Now, I didn't see the show,
01:31but what she said was that they tried to paint it
01:35as if caffeine was prohibited on the set.
01:38And she said, absolutely not true.
01:41Caffeine was never removed from the show.
01:43And then I have an entire email chain
01:46with the show's producer and the show's nutritionist
01:49asking why Dr. Huizenga had just taken this away,
01:53because they were drinking unlimited amounts of coffee.
01:56So let me ask you this, though.
01:58Why then were you penalized on the show for giving caffeine?
02:03Because I personally gave it to them.
02:05And in my contract, it says, you're not allowed.
02:07I'm like, we've been allowed to give them this for seasons.
02:11Why are we not allowed to give them this now?
02:14They're taking unlimited amounts of coffee.
02:17And then Lisa Hennessy says to me, she goes, Jill,
02:19don't worry about it.
02:20Just do it.
02:21It's fine.
02:21So that's the executive producer.
02:23So she said the executive producer told her, do it.
02:26So she figured, well, that trumps what the contract says.
02:28So I'll do it.
02:29Right.
02:30And the fact that she personally, I get her point.
02:34Like, if they can drink unlimited coffee,
02:38what's the problem with her giving them a caffeine pill?
02:41Right.
02:41They're getting it anyway.
02:42And she said they were doing it anyway.
02:44And it was unlimited.
02:45So why, if you're going to have unlimited coffee,
02:49why are you limiting the caffeine pills they can take?
02:52That's definitely confusing.
02:54So there were a couple of other.
02:55She has a lot to say.
02:57And by the way, you can go to our YouTube channel.
02:59We have the whole 20 minute interview there.
03:01And it really is interesting, especially if you've seen the documentary.
03:05I think you want to hear this.
03:06Because like we said, she didn't,
03:08she never had a chance to really rebut anything that was said in the documentary.
03:12She said she chose not to, she said, because she thought this was a hit piece.
03:16And part of the reason that she, I think she chose not to,
03:18she knew that Bob Harper was participating.
03:21And it is very clear that there has been a bad rift between them.
03:25And she talked to you about what went wrong.
03:29Because there was certainly a time she describes it as a friendship.
03:33It is clear that no longer remains.
03:36What caused the bad blood between the two of you?
03:40I don't know.
03:41It's been like this always.
03:43That's all I can tell you is it's always been like this.
03:46And if you look historically at, let's say, an Andy Cohen appearance with him on it,
03:53he'll be saying negative things about me.
03:55If you look at the show's reboot, he'll be saying negative things about me.
04:01If you look at this documentary, he'll be saying negative things about me.
04:05So she goes on and on.
04:08After his heart attack, she didn't call.
04:11Right, he says that on the documentary.
04:13He says it in the documentary.
04:14And she's saying, he's been trashing me forever.
04:17And why would I call him at that point?
04:19Yeah.
04:19So now it gets to this.
04:20That, well, before we get into the lawsuit thing, Devin, you've been getting emails.
04:26Yeah, I mean, she has a bunch of email correspondence with different people.
04:34Basically, in the biggest loser, production people, doctors and whatnot,
04:40which is disputing a lot of things that I think were made in this documentary.
04:44Like what?
04:45The caffeine pills thing about the fact that.
04:48So you're seeing emails on that.
04:49There's emails where she's talking about how different people are like, were well aware about like, oh, you have these caffeine pills.
04:56And speaking with ex-contestants where they were like, hey, what were the pill, caffeine pills we were getting when I was on the show?
05:04Because they were trying to get them after.
05:06Things like that.
05:07There's also things where I don't know exactly what was said in the documentary.
05:10But there's some claim about them not wanting to feed the contestants and having really low-calorie diets.
05:17And there are emails with her where she was pushing back on that, basically saying they need to be up to 1,600.
05:23They need more food in the fridges.
05:25Because we're working them out.
05:26If we're going to work them out this hard, they've got to have some calories.
05:29I'm trying to think of what the other.
05:30And the other thing, too, is, and again, I'm speaking out of ignorance here because I did not see the documentary.
05:36But there was a doctor on the set, Dr. Huizenga.
05:40Dr. Huizenga, by the way, who is in the documentary, and the way it's been described to me is, at times, said that, look, I wasn't aware of things that were happening.
05:49But that's his job.
05:51You know, it's like, if you sign up and you say, I will be the doctor supervising the set, isn't that your job to say, if I'm not looped in, then you've got to loop me in.
06:02Because if I'm responsible for the safety of these people, then loop me in on everything.
06:07Well, she had some emails as well.
06:09And again, I don't know what he did or didn't do.
06:12She was questioning that she didn't really totally trust him.
06:16You could see in these emails from, you know, over 10 years ago where she wanted to seek different, like, outside specialists for her contestants,
06:23as well as didn't like the fact that he was taking some of the contestants off Drugs Cold Turkey, which she didn't think was smart.
06:31So it was some correspondence with different people.
06:33So she was saying, basically, that they were all aware of all this.
06:35So she armed with all of these emails, and we've only seen, I'd imagine, a small percentage of what she has.
06:43She's sending more as the day goes.
06:44Jillian says she is going to be meeting with a lawyer, one whose name you've heard a lot over the last year.
06:52Brian Friedman.
06:53And this is what she's going to be talking to him about.
06:56He knew that it was going to be a hit piece.
06:59And I was like, I'm not participating in this.
07:01This is not going to be good.
07:03My lawyer then turned around and said, hey, just make sure anything you guys do or say about Jillian, you run through us for fact checking.
07:12Not one.
07:15Fact check came through.
07:16At this point, it's so egregious, and it's so damaging that I don't think I have a choice.
07:23So I'm going to be speaking with Brian today at 3 o'clock to decide if just dumping all of these emails that prove everything I'm saying is the best idea, or pursuing it legally is the best idea.
07:34Yeah, and I mean, her other main point, I feel like, to you is that she felt like these people that were running The Biggest Loser were always out to get her.
07:43And they would try to, you know, put fake stories out in the media, and they would trash her behind the scenes.
07:49Why were they, why?
07:50She feels like she, from, based on what she said to you, it feels like, she feels like they were trying to make her the villain all along.
07:59Like, that she would be painted as the villain on the show.
08:02Why?
08:02Did they feel like what they were doing was wrong?
08:05Either they, I think, either they didn't like her, or they were trying to make the show more interesting.
08:10Because somebody's got, and they talk about this in the documentary, that, yes, you had people there who were very serious about weight loss and needing, some of them, for their health, needed to lose weight.
08:20But they were also producing a TV show.
08:23And they are kind of open about this, said that, we're producing a TV show.
08:27We had to make it interesting.
08:29And you know that when you're producing a show, you've got to have conflict.
08:34And maybe, maybe they decided that Jillian was going to be.
08:39But why the off-air conflict, is what I'm wondering.
08:41Yeah.
08:41That's what's weird.
08:42Yeah, that's the part I don't understand.
08:44And I've got to say this, that I know Jillian has said that she has all these emails, and obviously she does.
08:49We've seen some of them.
08:51The problem is going to be that Dr. Huizenga, Bob Harper, all the executives, they all have emails, too.
09:00And so this starts to feel a little bit like Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni again.
09:06And maybe that's why Brian Friedman's the right man for the job.
09:08Oh, my God.
09:09Is Taylor Swift going to get inserted in this?
09:11Nakia from Los Angeles.
09:15I do think it's very interesting that Jillian is suing.
09:17I don't think that this lawsuit is going to be taken serious.
09:20I watched The Biggest Loser Live as a heavier set person, and she was the villain and the bad guy.
09:25But I personally believe that she's bringing on the lawsuit because right now her name is in the news.
09:30She is sitting on big platforms, and she's being accused and called out for spreading misinformation because of her political views.
09:36So that's why I don't think that they're going to take this lawsuit very serious when it comes to her.
09:40Well, we'll see.
09:42I mean, the issue, I mean, I'm assuming what she's talking about is a defamation lawsuit.
09:48And if it is a defamation lawsuit, if she can prove that it's false, and since she's a public person, that the statements were done maliciously or with reckless disregard, you know, that's the standard.
10:01That's pretty high standard, especially in this situation.
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