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Jillian Michaels sounds off on how ‘woke victimology poker’ drove her out of California: ‘Too crazy for me’

Fitness guru Jillian Michaels went off on how “insane” her home state of California has become in recent years and how “woke victimology poker” drove her away. 

“California got too crazy for me,” Michaels said Wednesday on “The Sage Steele Show.”

“I grew up here. I’m a woman. I’m a gay woman. My mom’s a Jew. My dad’s an Arab. I have a Black kid. And believe it or not, my son is half Latin, even though he doesn’t look like it,” Michaels told host Sage Steele. “I hold a million cards in your game of woke victimology poker. And when I leave California, maybe you’ve lost your f—ing mind. Just maybe! Like when you have me running from home, maybe it’s gone way too far.”

Michaels, who now lives in Miami, insisted she hasn’t changed but “the world around me is shifting and I haven’t moved.”

“Some of these laws that are passing here are absolutely f—ing mind-boggling,” Michaels said. “In relation to crime, protecting our kids, like, we’re decriminalizing everything, which arguably I would probably be okay with but we’re not regulating any of it. So it’s like, okay, you’re gonna decriminalize sex work but only so women can loiter on the streets, not to keep them safe, not to have them pay taxes, not to make them, you know, regularly check for STDs, not to take away the pimps out of the equation. Like if you made that argument to me, I’d be like, ‘well, yes, of course.’”

Jillian Michaels in a white shirt during her appearance on the Sage Steele Show discussing her departure from California
Jillian Michaels says she left California because she was sick of its “woke victimology poker.” Sage Steele Podcast/YouTube

“I could be liberal! I could go there with you! I grew up this way!” she added.

Michaels continued criticizing California laws.

“Or the fact that a 12-year-old child can be put on off-label cancer drugs to irreparably change their body,” she said. “Again, if my son came to me and said, ‘Mom’ — or my daughter — ‘I think I’m trans.’ I’d say okay, you know, like, you want to dress this way. You want me to call you whatever the heck you want, dress, fine. Explore it. I love you. I’m cool, do you as long as we’re safe, but we’re not changing your body until it’s fully developed. I’m sorry. Conversation’s over. Can’t get a f—ing tattoo!”

“Exactly,” Steele said. 

Jillian Michaels in a leather jacket visiting SiriusXM Studios on May 25, 2023, in New York City, photo by Slaven Vlasic
Michaels says she is also very frustrated with the liberal legislation being passed in California. Getty Images

“Are you crazy? It’s insane! Like I just can’t. It’s madness. It’s madness to me. I can go on and on and on. And it’s madness,” Michaels said. 

Earlier this year, Michaels had a combative exchange with “Club Random” host and loyal California resident Bill Maher after she said living in Florida “feels less crazy.”

She also repeatedly took aim at Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“You’re going to decriminalize everything, but regulate nothing. You’re prioritizing the craziest s— I’ve ever seen in my life. C’mon, really?” Michaels said.