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Jillian Michaels opens up on “Just Jillian”

Tonight on E! Jillian Michaels will invite viewers into her home with partner Heidi Rhoades and their children, Lu and Phoenix, on Just Jillian, a new reality series about the fitness guru’s life outside of the gym. Since becoming a household name on The Biggest Loser, Jillian has created a multi-million dollar empire with her fitness books, DVDs, motivational speaking tours and clothing lines. And while she wasn’t always so open about her private life, Just Jillian is a no-holds-barred look at what the infamously abrasive Jillian is like as a partner, a mother, an employer and a friend.

We spoke with Jillian about the new show, the pressure her friends put on her to pop the question to Heidi, and if she sees herself as a voice for the LGBT community.

AfterEllen.com: I’m sure you’ve had opportunities and people coming to you before with a show like this, so why now?

Jillian Michaels: That’s not necessarily true. [laughs] No! It’s funny, I was sitting around with my lawyer one day, telling him a story of something that I had been through with Heidi and her fucking mail-order chickens-you have no idea. He was like, “Your life is absurd. You realize it’s absurd. You should do a show.” I was like, “No, I don’t know what….” And then when I started to think about it, I began to appreciate that it’s not always been about building a better body; it’s about building a better life. And what the show is really about, outside of being absurd on so many levels, is that it is about that and there’s a cast of characters–straight, gay, male, female, people from all different age groups and ethnicities-but everybody on the show is on that same journey, just at various stages. And I thought this would be really interesting to kind of say, “Hey,” open up the doors a little bit, pull back the curtain, show people that we’re all going through similar things and have them go on that journey with me. But it is different. It’s not like coming from a place on high as an expert; it’s sort of being a mess and trying to figure it all out. So it’ll be interesting to see how it’s received because the people that like me are going to see me in a very different role, and the people that don’t like me are going to see me in a very different role, so we’ll see. But I think the cast of characters is really likable. If you still hate me, there’s a bunch of people you’ll probably like.

AE: Fans of yours have been following the podcast so they’ll probably know some of the characters-

JM: That’s right. You’re absolutely right. That’s true.

AE: But now they’ll be able to see them, which is great; an added thrill. What do you think is in it for them?

JM: The audience? I think for them, they’ll definitely identify with it. It’s very relatable. The whole show-it’s honestly about the comedy of errors that occurs as we go about juggling our everyday lives. Whether it’s your professional life, your personal life, being a mom, being a partner, being a daughter, being a friend, trying to run a company or do the best at your career-there’s no way people won’t relate to that. We’re all going through that. And it’s about the absurdity in the minutiae. The show is, for example, I’ll just give you an example-we’re going to the Video Music Awards, and the show is not at all about the Video Music Awards; it’s about the two-hour car ride and the shit that happens on the way to the Video Music Awards. And that’s life!

AE: That’s your life!

JM: Well, Music Awards, believe it or not, turns into a shit show and I get ripped apart from my outfit which is a whole nother conversation but it’s not about, like-that’s just a backdrop. That’s all. I think people will relate; they’ll laugh, they’ll cry; hopefully, they’ll be moved. Hopefully, they’ll identify. Hopefully, there’s a moral of the story hidden in every episode. Like spinach in brownies, that’s how I look at it.

AE: So private life-when you started on Biggest Loser, it was something that you didn’t really put out there. What is it like now to have the cameras inside of your home with your family?

JM: In truth, it’s very different now that both of the kids-well, I adopted Phoenix, obviously. Heidi had Phoenix. But we both-I adopted Lu and then Heidi had to adopt Lu. So now that that’s done, it’s kind of-you can be very transparent. Prior to that, you know the world is changing at a very rapid pace, but I think there are only 14 states where couples can adopt kids out of foster care and I’m not even going to get into international adoption laws with you, so I was always pretty careful knowing that that was coming down the pike most likely. And then once that was done, we did People magazine cover and it was like, “Hey, ta-da!” But I really don’t hide much, other than being really mindful of that situation, I’m pretty transparent. I am who I am, for better for worse.

AE: I have friends that identify as LGBT and are huge fans of yours. Do you see yourself as an ambassador for the community in any way? Do you want to be?

JM: It’s so funny you say that. I think the community-some of my biggest critics have been the gay community. Because you’re never gay the way people want you to be gay; you never say the things they want you to say, you’re not militant the way they want you to be militant. I liken it, in a very strange way, almost to kind of the Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s. Malcolm X didn’t like Martin Luther King, and Martin Luther King didn’t like Malcolm X and they both played equal parts. Not that I’m either one of those characters, but what I’m saying is the various proponents within the community take a different stand. For me, my stand has never been one of being combative. I don’t really like to kind of identify and label things as gay because I think then you’re saying, “I’m different than you. I’m gay” and I think that’s a dangerous game to play. I want people to look at it as, like, you’re just another family; you’re just another human being going about your life. A lot of people don’t agree with that. I would never turn around and say I’m gay and I’m proud. I don’t even understand that. I was born gay; it’s not an achievement. I don’t run around being like, “I’m here and I’m queer; get used to it!” “I’m gay and I’m proud!” I’m like, no I’m proud of my family-I worked hard on that family. You’ll see that on the show. I think people just really hate-they’re like “You have this megaphone and you’re not gay the way I want you to be gay!” What am I gonna fucking do?

AE: Marriage is a huge topic in the first couple of episodes because everyone around you is pressuring you. Is this season going to end with a proposal?

JM: Or a divorce! [laughs] It’s interesting. You know, I will just say this-it’s not a movie; it’s not scripted. To a certain extent, things don’t wrap up nicely as always. Some things do, some things don’t. People are not healed; they don’t make 100 percent transformations because, again, it is real life and it’s not scripted. So the frog doesn’t turn into a price, but to a certain extent, I think the frog maybe gets a top hat; the frog gets a little bit better, the frog grows and evolves a little bit. You’ll have to watch, but what I can say is it has nothing to do with Heidi, and it all definitely comes out as the season unfolds. So I’ll just say we have very different upbringings and you kind of see how those very different upbringings created two very different people and it’s part of what makes us work, and part of that is what makes it hard for us.

AE: And Heidi’s been relatively out of the spotlight, so how does she feel about this?

JM: She fucking hates it. [laughs] She just doesn’t-because she is so different than me, she’s used to the podcast; she’s used to being on People magazine and she’s acclimated over time, but she’s not here today. Giancarlo is here, Chloe is here-she just is really shy. She has a bit of a hard time. But on the show, she’s herself. She’s probably the one that is the most raw, simply because she doesn’t even understand the concept of “OK, we’re trying to get from A to B here. We’re still trying to tell a story.” Heidi’s like, “I’m so fucking mad at you right now!” I’m like, “We’re on camera now! Wade it in, honey!” so she’s probably the most riveting to watch because she is-this is a person that is just herself 100 percent all of the time.

AE: People love to say, “Jillian’s sweet; she’s really very tender-hearted.” What is your response to that?

JM: [groans] I think-I get two responses from the people that are aware of me as an entity in the world. One is “Oh, she’s so inspirational!” The other is “Ugh, she’s a bitch, I hate her guts.” And of course, you know, you’re’ neither. You’re not the devil, you’re not a saint. I’m just a real person and I’m also a person that has definitely-I’m a bit of a curmudgeon. That is me. I’ve been likened to Larry David on more than one occasion. So you’ll have to form an opinion on your own. Like I’ve seen people watch the first episode: “I can’t believe you swear in front of your kids! I can’t believe you told your kids to say that their mother was drunk when she drops them off at school! You’re an animal!” And then other people are like, “Oh my god, I had no idea she was so relatable!’ So it’s in the eye of the beholder for sure.

Just Jillian premieres tonight at 10/9c on E!

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