‘I Lost Hope, But I’m Filled With it Now’ (Exclusive)

Powter made hundreds of thousands along with her ‘Cease the Madness!’ health infomercial within the ’90s, however misplaced all of it. Curtis, who’s producing a documentary on Powter, helped renew the health guru’s religion

was simply beginning to emerge from one of the crucial painful intervals of her life, scraping to get by on Uber Eats suggestions, when she acquired a textual content saying somebody was eager about telling her story.

Powter, 66, a health icon within the ’90s who made hundreds of thousands with three best-selling books and her wildly profitable infomercial, misplaced her fortune after placing it within the fingers of economic advisors, her supervisor and her enterprise companions, and ultimately disappeared from public life.

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For the previous six years, she’s been dwelling in Las Vegas, struggling to outlive on a meager meals supply wage earlier than she began receiving a Social Safety test, which grew to become her lifeline.

However final yr, she acquired a textual content from filmmaker , who requested if he might movie her and share her story in a documentary. “By no means did I feel that was potential,” Powter tells PEOPLE. For years, she says, she felt discarded by society due to her age. “I’ve discovered that girls are invisible and invaluable after a sure age,” she says. “It’s normally the f—ready age.”

Newman texted his pal about connecting with Powter, and instantly the actress was — and needed to assist. “She known as me two minutes later, and the subsequent day she mentioned, ‘Return to Vegas and begin filming instantly,’” Newman says. Curtis grew to become an govt producer on the undertaking, an upcoming documentary known as Cease the Madness: Discovering Susan Powter.

Curtis calls Powter an “unimaginable girl”: “As one of many world’s first true influencers at first of what we might now consult with because the social media period, Susan Powter was brazen and courageous, and woke us all up,” the actress says. “Like so many ladies’s tales, Susan’s energy and her gentle was diminished, denigrated and dismissed.”

A number of months in the past, Powter met Curtis in particular person and had a message for her. “I used to be in tears,” Powter says. “And I mentioned ‘Thanks. Thanks for believing in me. I had misplaced religion. I had misplaced full and absolute hope.’”

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Powter, who’s simply launched a brand new guide , says the curiosity from Curtis and from the documentary within the works has given her renewed energy. “The response Zeb has gotten, in Hollywood and within the trade, individuals are like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so excited. She nonetheless appears good. That’s so nice.’ That has meant one thing to me, lots to me.”

Newman, who’s making his feature-length movie directorial debut with the documentary, says within the ’90s Powter spoke to individuals who felt taken benefit of by the weight loss plan trade — and immediately she speaks to ladies who really feel left behind as they age.

“Anybody who was feeling annoyed with the system not working for them related to her, felt seen by her,” he says, including that he’s watched Powter begin to reclaim her personal voice once more: “She’s blooming as an individual and never as a celeb or a factor on the planet, as only a human being. It’s actually unimaginable to look at her step into her energy once more.”

Powter, who plans do an RV tour of the nation, talking to folks and promoting her self-published guide, says she’s keen to attach along with her followers once more and hopes they will discover inspiration from her story.

“These ladies will hear my voice they usually’ll be like, ‘Nicely, goddamn, she hasn’t modified one bit.’” she says. “What I really feel now’s the opportunity of potentialities. There have been days and days, months and months and years of not feeling that. I misplaced hope however I’m full of it now. I’ve by no means been extra excited.”

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