Jillian Michaels Speaks Out About the Spinal Injury That Made Her Think Her Life Was 'Over'

Jillian Michaels is opening up about a freak accident that caused her to suffer a debilitating back injury -- and why she is speaking out about it now. On Wednesday, the 49-year-old fitness trainer spoke to People about suffering the injury in the spring/summer of 2021, after she had a slip and a fall in her bathroom, which led to her hitting her back on the bathtub.

"I went running in and I smacked onto the edge of the bathtub with my back," the trainer tells People. 

According to the former Biggest Loser coach, she suffered in pain for six weeks. After the pain in her back became unbearable, her wife, DeShanna Marie, took her to the hospital, where a series of doctors brushed off the injury as a "nerve impingement," and something that would heal on its own over time.

Still, after seeking medical help, Michaels said that due to the pain, she was losing sleep and she thought that her career was over.

"The pain at night was so bad. I truly thought to myself, 'The only thing I think would be worse than this would be burns.' It was so crazy. I couldn't walk, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't stand. I was having to crawl on the ground. I'm like, 'My life is over,'" she tells the publication.

Michaels also admits that in order to hide the injury, she was posting videos from 20 years ago on social media, dodging press and living out of the public eye.

However, her meeting with spine expert Dr. Stuart McGill revealed that she in fact fractured her L3 vertebrae. Together with the help of the DB method, which is an assisted squat machine, lowering her mobility and an epidural for her pain, Michaels recovered a little over a year later.

Now, she adds that she is back to doing the things she did before, and almost at her pre-injury activity. 

"I'm riding horses," Michaels tells People. "I'm riding jet skis, I'm snowboarding. I'm just super, super careful."

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