Key Points<\/h3>\n\n- \n\n
Susan Powter tells EW she was “bored stiff” while filming The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air<\/em> in 1994.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n- \n\n
The Stop the Insanity! <\/em>fitness icon “never wanted to do TV or movies,” but felt pressured to do so at the height of her fame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n- \n\n
She was even “embarrassed on the Emmys carpet,” Powter recalls to EW.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Filming Will Smith<\/a>‘s TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air<\/a> <\/em>was admittedly a bit of a rotten experience for ’90s fitness legend and Stop the Insanity!<\/a> <\/em>infomercial star Susan Powter<\/a>.<\/p>\nSeated inside one of her favorite restaurants in Las Vegas, the 67-year-old exclusively explains to Entertainment Weekly<\/em> how the team around her at the height of her fame jerked the wheel of her wellness-oriented career in a different direction than she’d hoped \u2014 all in an attempt to turn her into a Hollywood star.<\/p>\n“That\u2019s what started to happen,” Powter reflects between bites of a savory vegan bowl. It’s the small pleasures she enjoys amid her low-key, solitary life, which sees her taking up residence inside a compact apartment while making ends meat from her gig as an Uber Eats delivery driver.<\/p>\n
It’s a far cry from the reported $300 million fortune she reflects on losing in her new Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter <\/em>documentary. In the Jamie Lee Curtis-produced film<\/a>, Powter recalls losing her earnings over mishandled business partnerships and a lack of awareness about where her own money went following her meteoric rise to superstardom thanks to a string of successful VHS tapes and fitness media in the early ’90s.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\nJoseph Del Valle\/NBCU Photo Bank<\/p>\n
Will Smith and Susan Powter on a 1994 episode of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
“One of the managers wanted to do TV, because they wanted the syndication money. I never wanted to do TV or movies. It was just part of the career thing. Let\u2019s get her on this and that,” Powter says of the run-up to her 1994 guest role on Fresh Prince<\/em>, which came on the season 5, episode 11 installment titled “Will Steps Out.”<\/p>\n“I totally did it and it was fine, I did the best job I could,” she says. “[Smith] was dressed in a fat suit. It was in a grocery store, but I\u2019ve never been that person. I\u2019m not hokey, even though that\u2019s how it was always portrayed.”<\/p>\n
She says that, while “Will was super nice” and that she “had a great time” with the future Oscar-winning star (who even “signed something for my kids,” she remembers), she didn’t love what moves like the appearance meant for her overall career.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m not going to be an ass and say doing a TV show is something everybody gets to do. I did my job,” Powter stresses. “Did I ever want to go back on a TV set again? No. Bored stiff. Most boring thing I\u2019ve ever done. Sit in a room all day and wait to come out and read a line, and then you do it 10 times? I literally could bang my head against a wall.”<\/p>\n
Powter maintained a high pop culture profile throughout the ’90s, which also resulted in a Kirstie Alley-starring parody of Stop the Insanity!<\/em> on Saturday Night Live<\/em>, interviews on The Tonight Show<\/em>, her own short-lived Susan Powter Show<\/em> daytime talk series, and even, as she exclusively tells EW, an offer to star in Kevin Costner’s 1995 film Waterworld<\/em><\/a> (which she says she turned down).<\/p>\nDespite personally resisting the notion of becoming a TV star, Powter joined the cast of the 1995 Designing Women<\/em> spinoff Women of the House<\/em>, though the show only lasted for one season.<\/p>\n\u201cThey were talented women and it was a talented set,” Powter says of the show’s 13-episode run.<\/p>\n\n![\"Obscured](\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/mTwNCrn7uIPV5gfLu89Luw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/entertainment_weekly_785\/55561b5312255ea0d55136dab3a07cb3\"\/)
Susan Powter tells EW she was “bored stiff” while filming The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air<\/em> in 1994.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The Stop the Insanity! <\/em>fitness icon “never wanted to do TV or movies,” but felt pressured to do so at the height of her fame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n She was even “embarrassed on the Emmys carpet,” Powter recalls to EW.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Filming Will Smith<\/a>‘s TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air<\/a> <\/em>was admittedly a bit of a rotten experience for ’90s fitness legend and Stop the Insanity!<\/a> <\/em>infomercial star Susan Powter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seated inside one of her favorite restaurants in Las Vegas, the 67-year-old exclusively explains to Entertainment Weekly<\/em> how the team around her at the height of her fame jerked the wheel of her wellness-oriented career in a different direction than she’d hoped \u2014 all in an attempt to turn her into a Hollywood star.<\/p>\n “That\u2019s what started to happen,” Powter reflects between bites of a savory vegan bowl. It’s the small pleasures she enjoys amid her low-key, solitary life, which sees her taking up residence inside a compact apartment while making ends meat from her gig as an Uber Eats delivery driver.<\/p>\n It’s a far cry from the reported $300 million fortune she reflects on losing in her new Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter <\/em>documentary. In the Jamie Lee Curtis-produced film<\/a>, Powter recalls losing her earnings over mishandled business partnerships and a lack of awareness about where her own money went following her meteoric rise to superstardom thanks to a string of successful VHS tapes and fitness media in the early ’90s.<\/p>\n Joseph Del Valle\/NBCU Photo Bank<\/p>\n Will Smith and Susan Powter on a 1994 episode of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n “One of the managers wanted to do TV, because they wanted the syndication money. I never wanted to do TV or movies. It was just part of the career thing. Let\u2019s get her on this and that,” Powter says of the run-up to her 1994 guest role on Fresh Prince<\/em>, which came on the season 5, episode 11 installment titled “Will Steps Out.”<\/p>\n “I totally did it and it was fine, I did the best job I could,” she says. “[Smith] was dressed in a fat suit. It was in a grocery store, but I\u2019ve never been that person. I\u2019m not hokey, even though that\u2019s how it was always portrayed.”<\/p>\n She says that, while “Will was super nice” and that she “had a great time” with the future Oscar-winning star (who even “signed something for my kids,” she remembers), she didn’t love what moves like the appearance meant for her overall career.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m not going to be an ass and say doing a TV show is something everybody gets to do. I did my job,” Powter stresses. “Did I ever want to go back on a TV set again? No. Bored stiff. Most boring thing I\u2019ve ever done. Sit in a room all day and wait to come out and read a line, and then you do it 10 times? I literally could bang my head against a wall.”<\/p>\n Powter maintained a high pop culture profile throughout the ’90s, which also resulted in a Kirstie Alley-starring parody of Stop the Insanity!<\/em> on Saturday Night Live<\/em>, interviews on The Tonight Show<\/em>, her own short-lived Susan Powter Show<\/em> daytime talk series, and even, as she exclusively tells EW, an offer to star in Kevin Costner’s 1995 film Waterworld<\/em><\/a> (which she says she turned down).<\/p>\n Despite personally resisting the notion of becoming a TV star, Powter joined the cast of the 1995 Designing Women<\/em> spinoff Women of the House<\/em>, though the show only lasted for one season.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were talented women and it was a talented set,” Powter says of the show’s 13-episode run.<\/p>\n