"Biggest Loser" trainer Jillian Michaels left the fitness reality series earlier this year, but the reasons behind her departure have been murky.
Earlier this year, following the controversy with "Loser" winner Rachel Frederickson, Michaels expressed her desire to distance herself from the series over her concern with its overall direction. Michaels told HuffPostLive that she thought Frederickson, who had lost 155 pounds, had "lost too much weight." After it was announced that Michaels wouldn't be returning for Season 16 of "Loser," she told People that her departure was due to the show's negative depiction of her and how she was portrayed as tougher than before. "You saw none of the relationships, none of the bonds that I build with my clients," she said. At the end of it all though, it seemed like Michaels had chosen to leave the show on her own, as she previously had in 2006 and 2011. Now, however, the former trainer has revealed that that wasn't exactly the case.
In a recent interview with Daily Mail Online, Michaels clarified that she was willing to stay if the show agreed to make some changes. "In my opinion I believe it was their choice," the trainer said of her latest departure. "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,'" Michaels said. "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."
The trainer didn't elaborate on the specific changes she requested, but it seems likely that some of them were related to how the series depicted her treatment of contestants on the show.
Via Daily Mail