-1990s fitness icon, she told America to stop the insanity, yet went on to confront plenty of personal turmoil of her own, including right here in Las Vegas.

Susan Powter is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪ -Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt and other supporters.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

Born in Australia, she found fame in the U.S.

as an outspoken wellness expert, author, TV host, and motivational speaker.

This success stemmed from her authenticity and relatability as a single mom of two young kids, who turned to food for pleasure and then turned her life around, shedding more than 100 pounds.

But bad business deals and divorce dealt her financial blows she continues to recover from, and it's this journey that's the focus of a new documentary.

A feminist fighter and fitness guru, Susan Powter, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it tremendously.

-When I put "fighter" in that introduction, it's not literally that you're a boxer or an MMA fighter, but-- -I could be.

I think I did well.

I like a good punch.

I'm all right.

-Do you consider yourself a fighter, metaphorically?

(Susan Powter) I consider a lot of single mothers, which I've been, you know, for years.

I consider a lot of women who get through and survive and take care of half the world.

I consider us survivors, and, you know, it's like, just pick yourself up and get on with it.

That energy and that mentality, I have that in me, and I have a strong work ethic.

But I barely survived.

Yeah, and that's the truth.

-The documentary picks up from when you are the single mom and tracks your journey through the success, the rise to fame.

It does not touch on prior to that, and I don't think you had it easy ahead of that as a child.

-It's interesting because the movie is about a certain period of time, and it's not what people expect.

They expect like a VH1 Behind the Scenes of what millions of people know internationally, Stop the Insanity!

It was monstrous.

You know where-- That's why "Finding Susan Powter," the director and the brilliant filmmaker, Zeberiah Newman, he searched for me for nine months.

I have a book that I wrote about that people don't know, the beginning of "Stop the Insanity!"

when the studio first opened, when "Stop the Insanity!"

became huge.

That story is a longer story in a book.

The movie is about a very, like, Where is she?

It's the answer to the question, Where did she go?

And it's a heck of a story, and it's 100% local.

It was filmed in Las Vegas 100%.

I live in Las Vegas.

I work in Las Vegas every day.

So it's very much a hometown, like I'm really proud.

-You moved to Las Vegas in 2016.

-I couldn't tell you the exact day.

I do everything by the chronology of my children.

I have three children, and my youngest is a lot younger than the older.

I had him at 40, and people don't know that.

They grew up with the first two, "Stop the Insanity!"

Then I had a baby at 40.

So you know, whenever-- -An adopted child?

-Yeah, I adopted my third child.

Everybody is my child.

I don't distinguish.

I don't.

But I quite deliberately adopted a baby at 40 because I wasn't done having babies, I didn't need a baby daddy involved, and I wanted to teach my older boys what it means to have a child.

It's the best birth control you can do is have a newborn.

They're like, This is a lot of work, Mom.

And out of three boys, I got one grandchild.

Well done, Mom!

So I mean, you know, they're like, Oh, my God, it's a baby!

And you know how much work it is.

And I did it quite deliberately, yeah.

-Okay.

So you moved to Las Vegas, and there's a part in the documentary where you say, "I started to realize that I couldn't get a job unless I was Susan Powter."

What do you mean by that?

-Because I was Susan Powter, not "unless."

I had a job.

I won't say where it is, but it's here in Vegas, and I needed it very badly.

And I was managing a cafe.

I walked in one day, because I can run a restaurant and do a good job and I love the job and whatever.

No work is beneath me.

I've done a lot of jobs, a lot.

But as soon as I walked in, she fired me after three weeks.

And I said, Why are you firing me?

She said, I just Googled you.

Are you here doing, like, a food review?

She thought I was there to investigate food.

I was there because I needed a $15 an hour job desperately.

I took my son on a bus when I didn't have a car, and the bus driver opened the door and laughed at me.

And she was like, Why do you-- What, are you just like playing bus riding?

So sometimes when you're known or used to have or-- It's not more difficult, because it's difficult.

But it's a little more shocking sometimes, just a little more shocking.

-You say you are not above any job, most jobs.

And are you still working as an Uber Eats driver?

-100%.

And grateful, too.

A lot of people my age, I'm 68.

The privacy of that job.

I've died a thousand deaths behind that wheel; things have not been easy.

The fact that I can go out and pick a schedule and I can make my $80, $100 and pay my bills, I'm proud of that.

And I'm grateful for gig work.

A lot of people take it for granted.

They're just like, It's nothing.

For somebody my generation, my age, it gets me out.

I'm proud of my work.

I deliver.

I-- You want me as your Uber Eats because I take care of food, and it's not the best food--you know what I'm saying--that America is eating every day, all day, which is another point, exactly.

But I take-- Like I respect someone's order, and I deliver it really well and take a photo and say, Enjoy.

Like I, you know-- Yeah.

No, no.

And grateful, too.

But a lot of other things are happening now, I'm grateful to say.

So hopefully delivery days are soon over.

-Okay.

Well, tell us about those things.

-Well, I'm thrilled about my book that is doing really well.

The movie's doing-- It was only a week ago.

It's on Amazon.

It's Stop the Insanity!

Finding Susan Powter.

It's an independent movie.

You know what it takes in these industries to get something going.

-But Jamie Lee Curtis... -Is the executive producer.

Don't ask how great that is.

I mean, they got some-- and John Redmann.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Zeberiah Newman.

It's got a powerhouse, a bunch of people behind it.

But it hit number one the first day out and stayed.

And that is not common with an indie movie.

It's because the audience is responding, and I'm seeing it every day on social media.

Love it.

Watch it twice.

Watch it three times.

Oh, my God, I didn't expect that.

Oh, my God, it's so truthful.

-It is.

-Thank you.

Thank you, because I know you've seen it.

Thank you.

-I laughed out loud, but I also was very sad at moments, but-- -It's everything.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll acknowledge, you'll feel.

Or if you don't, someone-- It's a very common story right now.

Sometimes it doesn't work out.

Sometimes when you're no insurance or no this or no credit or teeth start to go, that's very real.

-Well, and then I wrote about the bad business deals, the divorce, but do you find that people are like, really, what happened with all that money?

-No, because it, it's very well explained.

It's also been documented for years in lawsuits and this and that and bankruptcies.

And I mean, it's not, it's not just like a story.

There's a paper trail for days.

And what I say is, I did not go from Hollywood to Harbor Island.

It didn't happen over the course of a week.

You've been saying where is she for 25 years.

Where is she?

My son was born.

I left LA.

I'm the one that fired everyone and left.

I left LA.

He's now 27, so it's been a while.

And the difficulty and the pain and the fear, the fear comes.

You're 50, that's one thing, they'll hire you.

You're 61, it's a different game as a woman.

You're 65, it's a different game.

No credit means you can't get an apartment.

You know, those infrastructural things are what this movie is about.

Because that's exactly what happened.

-Yeah.

At one point and during it, you look at the camera person and say, You don't know where you're going to be at 66.

-I mean.

-We don't?

-Well, listen, losing money in the '90s.

I mean, losing money with management, it happened to a lot of people.

This is not like little lady couldn't handle her checkbook.

That's not what happened.

-But financial literacy is an issue for a lot of people.

-Well, first and foremost, lesson learned.

Let me just say this: Lesson learned.

And this time around, because what's happening now makes Stop the Insanity!

literally look like dress rehearsal.

I'm not kidding.

What's happening now, I will be checking balances every 12 seconds.

I will be calling banks.

It wasn't-- I didn't just not handle my end.

My children lost their inheritance.

My children.

I couldn't help my son through law school.

Like that means something to me.

I'm a single mother by choice for my whole life with my children, so it, you know, things will be done differently, and it is a much more transparent age.

I can get the analytics of my book sales because I own the book.

I go onto Amazon, and I see how many are sold.

I couldn't do that in 1990s.

With Time Warner, Simon & Schuster, Netstar, I had massive corporations making millions.

They-- Then they control you.

So it's a different age.

I've learned my lesson, and I'm just grateful to do my work.

And this time, it'll be done very differently.

-What about the workout attire that is in your name that's available online?

That was part of the documentary.

You're looking at a website where people can buy clothes that are supposedly your brand.

-Well, I don't get any-- I have seven books, nine video.

I don't get any anything.

-I wonder if you could.

I mean-- -No, I'm not interested in going back.

-No?

-And you know what?

This is why I love this day and age.

If you want to know what I'm doing, you can go look at the Instagram I just put up this morning on the way here.

I just put it up.

You want to see who I am, you can go online and you can see me.

-I want to go back to Harbor Island-- -Yes.

- --because that was a weekly/monthly kind of rental place near the Las Vegas Strip.

When I worked in local news here about 10 years ago, on the police scanners, we were always hearing about something going on at Harbor Island.

And that's, I guess, what affordable housing is considered?

What did you learn coming to Las Vegas about-- -Well, it's not just Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is one of the greatest cities on the planet.

I love this place.

So it's not just Las Vegas.

Poverty is everywhere in the United States.

It is not-- it's not-- What do they call it?

Food, whatever they call it.

-Food desert.

-No, no, food desert is very real.

But "food insecure."

It's called hunger.

People are hungry.

You know, there is no housing.

Weeklies are not a solution.

It is horrifying when you don't have credit to sign a lease or when apartments are $4,800 a month and you just can't.

I mean families-- Here's what I learned at Harbor Island.

It was just shocking to me that that was my-- that was where I had to live.

But I would walk miles for food.

I would walk eight miles a day to get real food, because I eat real food and I never stopped eating real food.

And I literally had two legs that walked, so I walked.

I would cook food in that horrible place, and I would walk out and people would be, women, would be lounging against the wall and smoking and toothless and this and that and crack to the nines, whatever.

It's the environment.

And we would-- She'd say, What's coming out of your kitchen, honey?

And I'd bring out a bowl of like chickpea soup, and the women would share real whole foods with beautiful smells.

-You were one of the first people, if not the first person, to say, if you can't pronounce it-- -Don't eat it.

-Right.

-Don't eat.

If you can't pronounce one word.

Back in the '90s, you don't understand, they would be like, What's your food advice and what's your this?

If you want to know what my dietary advice is, if you turn a label around and cannot pronounce one word, do not assume that it's not poison and they're not deliberately poisoning our food system, because they are.

So if you can't pronounce one word, don't eat it.

-But the reality of that, that really eliminates a lot of what's available.

-Well, it eliminates poison.

It eliminates poison, exactly.

But whole foods are bountiful.

Whole foods are plenty.

Organic is an awareness now that did not exist in the '90s.

You can get your hands, no matter what your circumstance is, on whole foods, and you can-- That's the most revolutionary thing any human being can do, is internal wellness.

That's the biggest whatever to the big manufacturer.

Just don't buy it.

-Okay.

And we are running out of time, but you mentioned earlier in the documentary--this is back in the '90s.

You're talking to women about how they are warriors, they are healers, they are nurturers, but only if they are well.

How does someone know if they are well?

Do you think you're well now?

-Well, I mean, "well" is not an opinion.

Well is a physiological fact.

If you live in a human body, you need lean muscle mass, because internally, it's the most active tissue.

You need cardio, endurance, and strength.

You need an active metabolic.

It's just factual.

I don't come from a spiritual.

I come from an If you live in a human body, you can get lean, strong, and healthy.

And that is the most important thing you can do for a million reasons, but certainly to-- Yeah, it's one of the most important things you can do for more than just, You need to be healthy.

Lean, strong, and healthy is possible if you live in a human body.

And am I well?

I'm 68.

I go to bed with this energy.

I wake up with this energy.

I'm not medicated.

I am-- There's no low to this high, people.

It just is what it is.

And I think that energy is very healthy.

-We love that.

-Thank you very much, and thank you for seeing the movie and understanding it and having me.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪