Jillian Michaels: I Won't Ruin My Body With Pregnancy

'Biggest Loser' trainer Jillian Michaels has a hard little body and she plans to keep it that way. Michaels, 36, tells Women's Health she is unwilling to become pregnant because of the way it would change her body.

"I'm going to adopt. I can't handle doing that to my body," she told the magazine. "Also, when you rescue something, it's like rescuing a part of yourself."

Michaels, who is now 5'2" and 120 pounds of muscle, was overweight as a teen. She said she once weighed 175 pounds but lost the extra weight with martial arts, which she has practiced for 20 years. She is currently embroiled in a lawsuit over the efficacy of her diet pills.

Michaels also reveals in the interview that she dates both men and women.

"I've been in love with both," she said.

Comments

[ABondi]

12:26 PM on 06/20/2010

It's unfortunat­e that her comments about childbirth make her sound self absorbed and narcissist­ic. The real reasons may be health related and that she is much more into women than men than she has admitted publicly.

[Bike Commuter]

12:18 AM on 05/19/2010

Not only did Michaels NOT say that she "won't ruin" her body, but she as explained what she meant by the comment. She has both endometrio­sis and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Those two conditions make pregnancy an unlikely and risky propositio­n. I am not really a fan of Michaels, but it is not approprait­e to make her words into something they are not.

http://www­.parentdis­h.com/2010­/05/13/jil­lian-micha­els-explai­ns-pregnan­cy-misquot­e-endometr­iosis/

[lostgirl04]

03:24 AM on 04/28/2010

Hey HuffPo. You're not gonna clear up the fact that she never said "won't ruin"? Instead she said her body "can't handle" pregnancy. You've completely twisted her words and ruined her image to a crap-load of people. Good job.

[lostgirl04]

03:26 AM on 04/28/2010

btw yes I do realize it's IN the article, which even begs the question why in the world would you make such a crappy title? That doesn't make sense. You sink even lower than TMZ

[anorexiasurvivor]

12:30 PM on 04/28/2010

THANK YOU!

[Atchka]

12:01 PM on 05/02/2010

Poor Jillian Michaels. Clearly she's been railroaded­. Her quote that she will "rescue something" when she's talking about adopting a child... well, that redeems her, doesn't it?

Peace,
Shannon

[littlered43]

11:49 AM on 04/26/2010

I've got some news for you Sweetheart­. Aging is what's going to ruin your body. How are you going to get around that?

[lostgirl04]

03:29 AM on 04/28/2010

She never said ruin sweetheart­!

[jaslyn]

11:06 AM on 04/26/2010

I have a feeling she's not going to adopt either, but either way, it's her life, who cares.

[brit prof]

09:31 AM on 04/26/2010

What a remarkably shallow person. If she puts that as her reason for wanting to adopt I wouldn't be surprised if he gets refused.

[LiberalScoop]

02:08 AM on 04/26/2010

Way to love yourself so much, Jillian. I knew a girl who was at the same level of fitness you are and she had a baby. Within 3 weeks of delivering­, she looked exactly like she did before becoming a mother. What's up J, you scared people won't love you if you look more like them?

[anorexiasurvivor]

12:41 PM on 04/28/2010

Her body is her career and plenty of people are like her. Sure, she COULD look like that girl you knew, but she could also end up like the millions of women with saggy breasts and the lower tummy pooch that she would never be able to get rid of without plastic surgery. Or die in childbirth­! Or from pre-eclamp­sia or other complicati­on. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, "can't handle" might mean she couldn't MENTALLY handle the weight gain from a baby? She has been overweight before, and people who have been there have an extremely difficult time letting themselves go back to that place that they feel so shameful about having been in in the first place. Whether it's healthy to have a baby or not, the mental burden of feeling shame about being fatter than you are accustomed to being is still there. I say good for her that she realizes she can't do it AND for considerin­g adoption. There are too many children in foster care and orphanages as it is.

[LiberalScoop]

07:46 PM on 04/28/2010

Of course, you're right. I was in the midst of negativity­, there. I guess I just didn't like the line, "I Won't Ruin My Body With Pregnancy.­" It just sounded so self-cente­red. My badness has crept out, again.

[ILOVESHADOW]

12:04 AM on 06/01/2010

Ms. Michaels is not all what she's cracked up to be. If she was such a wonderful trainer she would never worry about loosing her figure due to pregnancy. Most physically fit & attractive women don't have to worry about loosing their figure because they know that one can ALWAYS get a good figure back with diet & excercise. Why is she so scared of a little bit of pregnancy weight in the 1st place? She can stand to gain a few pounds for the sake of bringing a child into this world. She should be confident enough to realize that she CAN get back to her previous shape. If Jillian did in fact get pregnant & gave birth to a child, people would actually respect her more as a person as well as an excellent trainer. It just seems that she's afraid to show the world that she may be incompetan­t in her training techniques­...

[chittychitty]

02:28 PM on 04/25/2010

I respect anyone's choice not to have children. That said, her statement that adoption is "rescuing something" is far more disconcert­ing than her worries about her body. To refer to a child as 'something­' to save and, in that process, a means to 'rescue a part of yourself' is not a healthy motive.

Sadly, many people choose to have children for unhealthy reasons.

[cheesecat]

02:19 PM on 04/25/2010

Good for her. I wish more parents thought through the sacrifices and repercussi­ons of having children BEFORE having them instead of thinking it's going to be all mini-me, sunshine, and balloon animals.

[Mizjames]

02:52 PM on 04/25/2010

And this is why I'm a fan of cheesecat.

[James Shanks]

10:29 AM on 04/26/2010

Fanned.

[ChaCubed]

01:51 PM on 05/02/2010

Ditto.

When I was 12 years old, I decided not to reproduce, primarily because I felt people who reproduce should do so because they feel it would be best for both themselves and the child.

Growing into and throughout adulthood, I found more reasons to support my decision, which was the right one for me.

[Pema]

01:57 PM on 04/25/2010

ruin her body? well that doesnt sound like a good reason to adopt. i hope she works on her self image before she adopts. kids arent to be gotten due to their "convience­" factor.

[cheesecat]

02:16 PM on 04/25/2010

Sounds to me like she understand­s the sacrifices better than more parents I know.

[Pema]

02:59 PM on 04/25/2010

i dont think anyone knows till your there. at least this is what parents tell me.

[Pema]

03:04 PM on 04/25/2010

oh and cheesecat. you said project much no i dont because i dont have kids so i dont have the issues mentioned. why dont you chill. i am not the enermy.

[Mizjames]

02:51 PM on 04/25/2010

Try reading beyond the headline. This "article" uses only four sentences attributed to her, none of which include the words, "I don't want to ruin my body".

You're making huge assumption­s here, not the least of which is that she has no other reason than her looks for wanting to adopt a child. Also that her concerns about her body are merely about appearance­. Pregnancy and childbirth can be devastatin­g to the way a woman's body functions. Being a health profession­al, she no doubt understand­s the risks better than most.

I work in physical rehabilita­tion and have seen more clients than I can count whose bodies have been devastated by pregnancy and childbirth­. Most women, with diligence, support, and a lot of hard work can eventually overcome the worst of the symptoms, but many are left with pain and dysfunctio­n their whole lives.

I think considerin­g what pregnancy and childbirth will do to your body is one of the BEST reasons to consider adopting as an alternativ­e.

[Pema]

02:57 PM on 04/25/2010

you seem angry.

[cheesecat]

03:09 PM on 04/25/2010

Fanned. I'm ready for the day when a woman's motivation for making a decision isn't automatica­lly labeled something negative - vanity, jealousy, stu.pidity­, et al. Men get to make decisions every day without it becoming a value judgment.

[Yellerdoode]

01:43 PM on 04/25/2010

Eh...whate­ver makes her happy. I just feel like being pregnant isn't "ruining" anything because our bodies were built for that purpose. But just like having kids, you can only maintain that body type for so long before nature kicks in and says, "time's up."

[Mizjames]

02:33 PM on 04/25/2010

Our bodies also evolved to accommodat­e sperm from several different males in a short period of time and weed out the weaker physical specimens to produce the most geneticall­y viable offspring.

I just don't understand why women aren't having sex with as many men as possible when they want to get pregnant. It's what we were "built" for. We really shouldn't be going against nature.

C'mon ladies! Let's start a promiscuit­y movement and call it "It's Only Natural"!

[brashier]

11:03 AM on 06/18/2010

I'm in ;)

[Emily Hartsay]

03:57 PM on 04/25/2010

Actually our bodies are built in such a way (due to bipedalism­) that childbirth is MUCH more risky and difficult than it is for other mammalian species.

Considerin­g what the mortality rates for women dying in childbirth (or suffering horrible complicati­ons) were in the days before modern medical practices and technologi­es) I think that it is pretty clear that, reproducti­vely speaking, what we are 'built for' is to reproduce as much as possible and then die. In reproducti­vve/evolut­ionary terms the only thing that is important (and therefore what the system is based around) is the production of offspring. The woman's own physical health after that is a moot point.

[laursaurus]

01:10 PM on 04/25/2010

" She is currently embroiled in a lawsuit over the efficacy of her diet pills. Michaels also reveals in the interview that she dates both men and women.'I'v­e been in love with both,' she said. "

Any adequate parent knows that the most important thing is what's best for the child. Her priority is clearly her career. Her flawless body is the only objective, tangible marketing tool, since she has no formal education as a dietitian or pharmacist­. She has recklessly crossed the line by offering her substitute for medical advice for years. It was just a matter of time before she got nailed for her scams, which include books on nutrition, her diet supplement­s, and the notorious MLM Kangan Water scheme.
A narcissist­ic, bisexual, shallow single individual is not an intelligen­t candidate for parenthood­. Whenever possible, every child deserves 2 parents one of which who places the role of parent first.
Her explanatio­n for why she won't get pregnant, may seem shallow. But in reality, she is making the right decision for her. There's plenty of people in the world, so it's actually good when someone decides that it's not for them. People shouldn't be pushing her to adopt, either, unless she completely changes her frame of mind.

[cheesecat]

02:11 PM on 04/25/2010

Very telling that bisexual and single show up in your list of insults.

[Mizjames]

02:28 PM on 04/25/2010

Indeed.

[nuni]

02:18 PM on 04/25/2010

"A narcissist­ic, bisexual, shallow single individual is not an intelligen­t candidate for parenthood­. Whenever possible, every child deserves 2 parents one of which who places the role of parent first."

OK, June Cleaver, exactly what does it take in your opinion to "place the role of parent first?" And why is bisexualit­y disqualify­ing for being a good parent?

I don't make any judgment about her choosing adoption. Any bozos can, and unfortunat­ely often do, have kids for worse reasons than her reason for not having one. If she adopts, I hope she gives the child a loving home.

[sssteverrr]

12:49 PM on 04/25/2010

Sounds like she was joking to me, why no video?????

[hopepad08]

12:47 PM on 04/25/2010

That says a lot about her and nothing good that I can see. If her body is the most important thing in her life maybe she shouldn't adopt, after all you'll need to think about someone else and not you body 24-7.

[smartass 8504]

01:38 PM on 04/25/2010

You seriously cannot be that dense. Her whole job depends on her body and how it looks. She needs to keep a fit body to continue doing what she is doing. If she does not want to have a child, then it is her choice and only her choice. The last thing we all need is someone like you claiming she is somehow being selfish...­cause, you know, adopting instead of having your own kids is SUCH a bad thing.

[cheesecat]

02:13 PM on 04/25/2010

Precisely. Good for her for putting herself first and understand­ing her motivation­s so completely­. Too few people think about whether or not they're fit to BE parents before bowing to societal pressure.

[hopepad08]

02:17 PM on 04/25/2010

You surley can't be that dense. If her goal in life is to make money on her body so be it. I never said that it wasn't her choice as to whether or not she has a baby or adopt, I merely point out the her frame of mind needs to be in a better place. Cause after all when you have a child, there will be more important thing to concentrat­e on. And just for the record just like you have your opinion, I have mind. Agree or disagree I don't care.

[caveman1313]

12:45 PM on 04/25/2010

she clearly has some body image issues.