Octavia Spencer Sues Over Weight-Loss Endorsement Deal With Sensa
When Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer filed a lawsuit against weight loss company Sensa at L.A. Superior Court alleging "breach-of-contract and fraud," The Hollywood Reporter reported.
After she won her big award for the movie The Help, she was courted by weight-loss company. And in five months, she lost 20 pounds.
Sensa is "a doctor formulated weight loss system you sprinkle on your food to help you eat less and feel full faster" -- according to the company's website.
As documents obtained by THR show, Spencer signed a $1.25 million contract with Sensa, but had certain certain stipulations: She refused to do tabloid ads, refused to partake in "before and after" photos, and she insisted on transparency with her fans by tagging all sponsored tweets with the required #spon hashtag.
Spencer posted tweets like the following: "Bet you've seen my @SensaWeightloss commercials & wondered if it's the real deal? I'm here to say it works! #spon"
Those tweets made Sensa's executives very unhappy.
Celebrity Weight Loss: Slim Downs That Will Shock You: Before & After PHOTOS
In the lawsuit, Spencer claims the company is blaming her "for the failed advertising campaign" and is trying to back out of paying her $700,000.
Her contract had mandatory weigh-ins to determine if she maintained the 20-pound weight loss that was required.
"On information and belief, the Spencer parties allege that Sensa wanted Spencer to fail the weigh-in so it could terminate the Agreement," says the lawsuit.
But the actress had a successful weigh-in, allegedly causing the company to look for another way to cancel her deal. That's when payments stopped and the controversy over the sponsored tweets came up.
