Michelle Bridges’ Comments About Overweight People Causes Controversy

Radio announcers Chrissie Swan and Meshel Laurie are among those who are speaking out about comments made by celebrity weight loss coach Michelle Bridges on “Australian Story” on ABC television last night.

Bridges is a trainer on the reality television show The Biggest Loser and has a cult-like following of her own wildly popular weight loss program called 12WBT.

Last night, she was defending The Biggest Loser from some of the criticism it regularly receives, and said:

“[The Biggest Loser] has all sorts of critics who say, ‘You’re putting these people up to be insulted or laughed at or made the butt of a joke.

“I think it might be seen that I have this agenda on people who are overweight or people who are deemed fat. Honestly if you are happy where you are, genuinely, more power to you.

“But I can tell you now, I am yet to have met someone who is morbidly obese and happy.”

She was taken to task by plus-sized radio announcer Chrissie Swan on Nova 100, who told her co-hosts Jonathan Brown and Sam Pang:

“Michelle Bridges last night on Australian Story said that she’s never met a happy fat person, and yet mysteriously I have met her many times. “Hi Michelle if you are listening. Remember me? I’ve known you for years. We have met many, many times … You can take it back now. I’m happy.

Meshel Laurie on KIIS 101.1 told her co-host Matt Tilley:

“I’m not as outraged as you might think.”

“It tapped into something that happened with my son Louis and I yesterday. He’s six, he’s in grade one … He said to me, ‘Mummy, you’re fat.’ I said, ‘Yeah … and that’s OK. I’m really happy. I’m a really happy person’,

“I meant it from the absolute pit of my soul.

“I’m such a lucky person. I’ve got two arms that work, two legs that work. A brain that’s sharp.

“My focus is always, I’ve actually got a perfect body. My body does everything you could ever ask for it to do. It had twins one time, it breathes properly. It is actually possible to be fat and happy, I promise you.”

Meanwhile Wendy Tuohy, a columnist with the Herald Sun newspaper also lashed out at Bridges. She said:

Happy, happy, happy and thin, thin, thin is what it’s all about for society’s winners.

Just ask the whole of Instagram and all those models eating tissues for lunch, and going on drips before big shows.

Forgive my sarcastic tone, but it really is frustrating that people with public voices as loud and widely recognised as Bridges don’t bother to stop for a second and examine the potential impact of their words.

Demeaning people is not helping people.

It simply further marginalises them.

It might cause enough of a stir to draw yet more attention to your product, but at what cost?