Jillian Michaels Claims Italian Yacht Crew Tried to Extort Her

Fitness guru details alleged trouble with yacht crew in Europe

By Samantha Schnurr Aug 07, 2017 8:53 PMTags
Jillian Michaels

La vita was not so bella for Jillian Michaels over the weekend. 

The famous fitness guru was vacationing in Italy and had chartered a boat for 12 days. However, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing when the star arrived with her guests. As Michaels claimed in a lengthy post on her Facebook page, the situation "turned aggressive and threatening" when her and her group were "extorted for money." 

The trouble first began when Michaels took issue with the state of the boat. "The boat was shown in pictures as pristine," she said of online images of the yacht. However, in real life, she claimed it was "not only filthy, but it had no hot water, no air con when not docked, no wifi, partial electricity, it was clearly in total disrepair." 

In her posts, Michaels also shared photos of rusted and damaged elements of the boat. However, the group eventually feared for their safety, as she described in her post. 

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Focusing on what matters today: family, friends and good health.

A post shared by Jillian Michaels (@jillianmichaels) on

The health and wellness entrepreneur told The Daily Mail that, by the third day of the trip, she was allegedly asked to pay 6,000 euros after paying nearly $60,000 up front for the yacht. She also claimed to the outlet that the crew refused to take the group to shore unless she paid the extra money for fuel.

In video footage the FitFusion creator shared with E! News, she is shown arguing with crew members while someone films. "We need to record the conversation because if you are not pulling a scam—this needs to be recorded," she said. "It needs to be documented..it's a fraud and it's extortion."

"I'm focusing on what matters today: family, friends and good health," the health and wellness investor told E! News on Monday. These scams are becoming extremely prevalent and they're scary, particularly when you're with your family in another country, so be especially careful when you are dealing with rentals of any kind." 

"Make sure to investigate as much as possible beforehand and should anything happen, do what we did—contact the US Embassy American Citizen Services," she continued."They have been enormously helpful in protecting my family and helping us with this whole ordeal."

E! News has reached out to the charter company involved for comment.