The 17 stars who have died since appearing on My 600-lb Life as Pauline Potter dies
A tragic total of 17 people have died since appearing on the popular TV show My 600-lb Life, with Pauline Potter being the most recent loss.
The famous TLC show that documents severely obese people on their quest to lose weight and turn their lives around first hit our screens in 2012.
Fans have been hooked for 13 seasons since then, which concluded earlier this year, spanning hundreds of episodes and rooting for dozens of participants on their personal weight loss journeys.
Many have gone on to shed more than half their body weight and regain independence, like learning how to walk again after years of being bedridden, after meeting with the show's infamous weight loss medic, Dr Younan Nowzaradan.
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So inspiring were some of their stories that TLC has dropped spin-offs and follow-up shows, like Where Are They Now?
Yet, tragically, more than a dozen cast members never managed to recover from their poor health as a direct result of their weight, with a staggering 17 sadly passing away - Pauline Potter was the most recent loss in November this year.
Here are all the people who have sadly died since appearing on the show...
Henry Foots
At 47 years old, Henry from Houston shocked viewers with his 715lbs frame on season 1.
Though he went on to shed more than half his body weight in 2011 after joining Dr Now's program in 2004, as well as having a successful gastric bypass surgery, tragedy struck when the bus driver suffered a medical episode behind the wheel, striking a pedestrian who died.
Henry then passed away 12 months later at the age of 54 on May 16, 2013, though his cause of death remains unknown.
Ashley Randall
Ashley stands as the second death to emerge out of the season one cast, passing at age 40 on October 2, 2021, due to sepsis from an infection.
She seemed to thrive after getting gastric bypass surgery on the show and even returned to college in hopes of securing a degree to open her own daycare.
Over the course of seven years, she shed more than 250lbs.
Yet tragically, in a follow-up episode in 2016, Ashley appeared to have gained a lot of the weight back.
Pauline Potter, world record holder
Pauline was in her 50s when she first appeared on season 3 of My 600lb Life in 2015, coming in at a staggering 678lbs, which earned her the title of heaviest woman alive in the Guinness Book of Records in 2011.
Her son, Dillon, and niece, Megan, were her full-time carers, until Dr Now and weight loss surgery facilitated by the TV show helped her shed more than 500lbs.
Despite her impressive U-turn, her death on Thanksgiving, November 27, could be traced back to a car crash she was in earlier this year, as well as a range of debilitating health issues like Covid and respiratory failure.
Laura Ann Perez
Also in season three, Laura from Texas was just shy of the 600lb mark, but over the course of her episode,she successfully lost enough to have the surgery.
This helped her lose 237lbs in total, and after filming, she reportedly went on to drop to as low as 182lbs, making for one of the most drastic transformations of all cast members on the show.
Laura died of unknown causes on November 17, 2021, when she was just 48.
Sean Milliken, the youngest and heaviest at 1,000lbs
Sean, from California, was one of the youngest people to appear in the series at just age 26, and also one of the heaviest.
The season four star was unable to leave his mom's home for a staggering eight years due to his burgeoning weight, which sparked after a leg injury in high school caused him to be bedridden.
Viewers were captivated by his story, particularly as the young man took up the heartwarming hobby of knitting to pass the time.
When he met Dr Now, his weight came in at 919lbs, with his mom accused of enabling Sean's habits.
Despite being put on a strict diet, Sean not only struggled to lose weight but ended up gaining, weighing in at 1,0003 lbs.
A two-month hospital stay eventually helped him lose 300lbs, after which he was granted a gastric sleeve, helping him lose 455 lbs by the end of the episode.
But Sean tragically died due to complications from an infection, which led to a heart attack at just 29 years old on February 17, 2019.
James King gained weight on the show
James from Nashville was a whopping 735lbs when he booked in with Dr Now on the show in season five.
Bedridden, he was entirely dependent on his wife, Lisa.
The father-of-six went on to gain more than 50lbs on the show in the space of less than a year, causing him to get kicked off the programme.
In an episode of Where Are They Now?, it was revealed he weighed in at 840lbs.
James died on April 3, 2020, at age 49 due to a myriad of health issues, including sepsis and cirrhosis of the liver.
Renee Biran's tragic story
Renee appeared on season six of the show, and captured viewers' hearts with her heartbreaking story.
She said she suffered abuse at the hands of her mom, as well as alleged sexual abuse from her stepfather when she was just nine years old. To cope, she turned to comfort eating.
When a car crash put her out of work, the mom-of-seven turned then turned to adult sites in online 'fat fetish' communities where men paid to watch her eat.
By the time she appeared on My 600lb Life, she weighed 631lbs and struggled to breathe while her kidneys and heart showed signs of shutting down.
Renne's weight impressively plummeted to under 400lbs by the end of her episode. Yet at the age of 56, she died from an unknown cause on May 14, 2021.
James 'L.B.' Bonner took his own life
L.B. from South Carolina relied on a prosthetic leg after a car crash in 2013, but feared he would soon be unable to use one if his weight continued to spiral beyond his 643lb frame.
During his episode in season 6, he incredibly lost almost half of his weight - going to gain even more mobility back and run around a track.
Yet months after his episode aired on August 2, 2018, LB reportedly had a mental health setback and died by a self-inflicted gunshot, aged just 30.
His grief-stricken family went on to file a lawsuit against Megalomedia, claiming it failed to cover his medical expenses and caused him mental distress. The suit was dismissed in 2022.
Lisa Fleming
From Alabama, season six's Lisa attributed her 705lb weight to grief and childhood traumas, including an emotional, neglectful mother, a teen pregnancy, and the deaths of her dad, brother and mom.
Lisa didn't make it to the end of Dr Now's program, passing away not long after filming at the age of 50 on August 23, 2018.
Robert Buchel died during filming
Also on the sixth season, Robert from New Jersey hit a whopping 842lbs after struggling with compulsive eating and food addiction, rendering him completely reliant on his mom and fiancée Kathryn.
Exacerbating his health, he was also addicted to painkillers and had lymphedema, characterized by swelling in his legs.
Over the course of the show, he lost 217lbs and even qualified for surgery to remove the lymphedema masses.
Despite trying to lose more weight, Robert died of a heart attack on November 17, 2017, at the age of 41.
He was the first person on the series to pass away during the filming process - and tragically never got to tie the knot with Kathryn.
Angela Gutierrez's struggle to breathe
Appearing on season seven, Ohio resident Angela first seemed committed to Dr Now's stringent diet after weighing 608lbs. However, she quit the show after refusing to move to Houston for the weight loss programme.
She needed an oxygen mask to breathe, and in the few days before her death, she revealed she had gone to Huntington to 'figure out why my oxygen wants to stay in the 70s' in a Facebook post.
On March 21, 2023, she died at the age of 49.
Destinee LaShaee, the first trans woman
Also a season seven star, Destinee appeared as the show's first ever trans person.
The Louisiana native weighed 669lbs when she first sought help from Dr Now, and managed to lose 229lbs throughout the duration of filming.
Yet while she built a social media following, documenting her continuing weight loss while urging others to pursue a healthy lifestyle, she sued Megalomedia for alleged emotional distress, citing she felt 'taken advantage of' for 'ratings.'
Destinee died on February 8, 2022, at just 31 years old, for reasons unknown.
Kelly Mason, highest BMI seen by Dr Now
Season seven also starred Kelly from North Carolina, who tragically died the day after Valentine's Day, February 15, 2019, when she was 41.
Kelly recalled in her episode how her weight spiralled from childhood, sparked by maternal neglect and sexual abuse from a neighbor.
She weighed 727 lbs when she met Dr Now, who said her BMI at 117 was close to the highest he'd ever seen in his professional career.
Although her diet and gastric bypass surgery helped Kelly to shed 342lbs, with hopes of going back to college, she died of heart failure before filming concluded.
Gina Krasley filed a lawsuit against the show
Gina, from New Jersey, was just 28 when she starred on season eight of the show, relying on her wife, Beth, and her mom to care for her.
Heartbreakingly, the show revealed Gina turned to food as a comfort after physical and emotional abuse fro her father, and at age 14, hit the 450lb mark.
Dr Now ended up kicking her off the programme after she gained weight, prompting her, along with eight others, to file a lawsuit alleging the producers caused 'intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence'.
Despite this, in 2021, she told her social media followers that she plummeted to 379lbs, proving she could lose weight on her own. However, in April that year, Gina said she was diagnosed with cellulitis, followed by other unexplained neurological symptoms.
She died on August 1, 2021, aged 30.
Coliesa McMillian
Another season eight star, Coliesa from Louisiana clocked in at 643lbs before she met with Dr Now.
The mom-of-four was considered too overweight for a surgical procedure to help her recover from a serious heart attack, but went on to make jaw-dropping progress on the show, slimming down to 144lbs.
However, she tragically died from complications of weight loss surgery on September 21, 2020, when she was 41.
Larry Myers Jr aka 'Mr Buttermilk Biscuits'
Gospel singer Larry Myers Jr had suffered binge-eating all his life, causing his weight to snowball to 940lbs when he appeared on season 10 of the show.
He shot to viral fame for singing about his favorite foods, earning him the nickname 'Mr Buttermilk Biscuits'.
While Myers lost more than 110lbs from his initial 648lb weigh-in, he died just three days after his 49th birthday on June 13, 2023, after suffering a heart attack.
Latonya Pottain
Latonya Pottain, from Louisiana, appeared in season 11 of the show but struggled to get to a healthy weight.
She was hospitalized after falling ill at one point, which saw Dr Now issuing her a stark warning about her heart.
While she dropped to 594lbs, earlier this year she wrote in a GoFundMe that she was enduring the 'most challenging time of my life'.
“I currently weigh about 705 pounds and have been bedridden since June 2024 due to severe health issues,” she penned.
“In 2022, I was featured on My 600-lb Life, where I started at 531 pounds and worked hard to get down to 505 pounds.
However, after the show aired, I experienced overwhelming backlash, which sent me into a deep depression. My mental health suffered, and I became fearful of undergoing weight loss surgery.”
She died at the age of 40 on May 17 this year.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, TLC, US News, Weight loss, Mental Health
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