'My Big Fat Fabulous Life' Star Whitney Way Thore Doesn’t Feel Part of the Fat Community (EXCLUSIVE)
Whitney has been a famous face in the fat/plus-size community since ‘My Big Fat Fabulous Life’ began.
Published July 8 2024, 7:10 p.m. ET
TLC star Whitney Way Thore has been sharing her life with reality TV fans since 2015, and her show My Big Fat Fabulous Life is returning for its 12th season.
The upcoming season will focus on Whitney's journey as she turns 40 and promises to bring more moments of vulnerability as she opens up about the online bullying she has faced due to her size since the show began.
Many plus-size models and influencers have also dealt with this, and they have leaned on one another for support.
Whitney exclusively told Distractify that, despite being visible in the fat community, she hasn’t received the same support from other fat or plus-size influencers during the time she’s been visible. She also shared why her recent weight loss isn’t the community’s business.
‘My Big Fat Fabulous Life’s’ Whitney Way Thore admits she “doesn’t feel community” from other “fat” people.
Whitney danced her way onto the scene with her viral 2014 video, “A Fat Girl Dancing.” The video resulted in her launching My Big Fat Fabulous Life and being one of the most visible faces of the fat community.
Although Whitney acknowledges she has a platform that allows her to be herself and exist as a fat woman, she admits there’s unwanted noise within the community, especially once someone considered fat or plus-size decides to lose weight. Due to this and other factors, Whitney said she doesn’t feel connected to the public fat/plus-size community.
“I'll be honest, I've never really felt part of the fat community,” Whitney exclusively shared with Distractify. “I don’t have community [outside of] a couple of fat friends.”
Whitney added that most of the reasons she doesn’t have any “community” with other influencers in the fat community are due to her keeping her circle small and staying out of any “drama” the internet has in store.
“I don't do the internet,” she explained. “I don't be doing drama.”
Whitney says it’s “not my job” to justify her weight loss to the fat community.
Although she doesn’t feel like part of the fat/plus-size community, some who have followed her journey have continued commenting about her weight, more specifically, her recent weight loss.
In February 2024, Whitney announced on Instagram that she lost 100 lbs for “the second time in my life.” The weight loss came while she grieved the loss of her mother, Barbara “Babs” Thore, who died in December 2022.
Whitney told us that, despite maintaining her weight loss for over a year, she knows she’s not “that small” to receive any “negative” remarks about her weight loss. However, many fans in her comments scolded her for it, something she expected.
Whitney said it’s “not my job” to worry about how others feel she should look and is more focused on how much better she feels since starting her journey.
“I feel like I do my job, and I feel like I do it very well,” she stated. “I represent fat people every day on television and all over the world, in places where there are no fat people. I give people a mirror to look at themselves on television, and when I go to bed, I feel really good about that.”
Whitney added: “And anything else anybody has to criticize about me? I would tell them to get their reality TV show and tell me how hard that is in 10 years.”
My Big Fat Fabulous Life airs new episodes on TLC at 9 p.m. EST.
