Whitney Thore Hits Back In Obesity Debate: 'Fat People Offend Others In Society, It's The Last Socially Acceptable Prejudice' | HuffPost Life

Whitney Thore, Star Of 'Fat Girl Dancing', On Obesity Prejudice

Natasha Hinde— The Huffington Post UK

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Whitney Thore, the 378lb YouTube sensation who moves like Beyoncé, has hit back at Sky News' Eamonn Holmes, who suggested that people think she is a bad advertisement for promoting health and body image.

"I think that's interesting because my life isn't an advertisement for anything," Thore retaliated. "I don't have a hidden agenda. I'm just living my life the way that I see fit."

The 30-year-old from North Carolina shot to fame in 2014 after uploading a video entitled 'A Fat Girl Dancing' to YouTube. It stars Thore pulling some serious shapes in a dance studio.

Since posting the video, Thore has received a mixed reaction from viewers, which has led her to launch a global campaign, No Body Shame, which promotes self-love and not being shamed out of a gym or off the dance floor. She is also set to star in her own TV series.

In an interview with Holmes, Thore quashed the health concerns that people might have for overweight people, saying: "I think that concern for health is often a mask to discriminate or be cruel to fat people."

The 30-year-old, who has fought a long battle with body image and fat shaming, added: "I'd actually like to break some stereotypes about fat people, because at 380 pounds I'm not naive to the health issues that may come if I stay this weight. But I have no major health problems and I've never even had high blood pressure."

"Yet..." chimed Holmes, who then went on to suggest that he had been "lampooned" for being overweight, and that he spoke to her from a concerned point of view.

Or patronising, as we're pretty sure this is the kind of stuff Thore knows already.

Holmes added: "You're doing your ankles no good, your knees no good, your hips no good and your heart no good."

SEE ALSO:
Woman Accused Of Fat-Shaming After Posting Fitspiration Photo On Facebook
Photos of "No Excuses" Fit Moms: Fat-Shaming or Inspiring?
Skinny Vs Fat: Why It's Time to End Body Shaming
Let's Stop Disguising Body Image Prejudice as 'Concern For Wellbeing'

"Fat people so often offend others in society and I find that it's one of the last socially acceptable prejudices," Thore told Holmes.

The 27-stone dancing fanatic says that she lost ten years of her life to depression and sadness after being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome - a common condition that affects the ovaries.

During this time she gained over 100 pounds.

Speaking on Lorraine earlier this week, Thore said: "I had body issues for years, even when I was thin I had eating disorders, so to become fat and deal with the social and cultural perceptions of that and how the world viewed me... With every pound my value seemed to decrease."

The 30-year-old added: "I want to lose weight but I'm not obsessed with being skinny for the way it looks. We place too much importance on the physical body and how people see us. But happiness starts inside.

"We have this belief that fat people can't be pretty or smart or talented, I would love to dispel some of those stereotypes. I am fat and fabulous."

Despite being targeted for her weight and receiving a lot of attention - both positive and negative - Thore insists that her videos help other people who struggle with any kind of "societal-induced shame".

"I hear from people who are anorexic, as much as I hear from people who are fat. I also hear from people who are gay, people who are disabled, people who are dealing with any kind of societal-induced shame," she said.

"I think that the first part to pursuing health and happiness fully is to not be ashamed of ourselves.

"We cannot pursue a holistic picture of health - which is mind, body and spirit - until we are happy and unashamed, and know that we are worthy and deserving."

Whitney Thore will air on TLC in her new series, Whitney: Fat Girl Dancing at 9pm on 3 February.

Body Image Heroes

Jennie Runk(01 of21)

Runk is the star of a May 2013 H&M swimwear campaign that gained widespread media attention for not relegating the gorgeous size 12 model to the "plus-size" pages of their website. In an interview with activist group SPARK, Runk told a young blogger: "I remember often feeling like I should be unhappy with my body, but it was confusing, because I never thought there was anything wrong with it until people started talking about it."In a piece for the BBC, Runk wrote of her newfound media attention: "This is exactly the kind of thing I've always wanted to accomplish, showing women that it's OK to be confident even if you're not the popular notion of 'perfect.'... There's no need to glamorise one body type and slam another." (credit:H&M)

Jennifer Lawrence(02 of21)

The famously outspoken "Hunger Games" star has been extremely vocal about resisting diet culture and pressure to be unnaturally thin. "If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet,' I'm like, 'You can go f*ck yourself,'" Lawrence said in an interview for the November 2013 UK issue of Harper's Bazaar. She also hit the nail on the head during a Nov. 7 Q&A with Yahoo! employees. "The world has this idea that if you don't look like an airbrushed perfect model," she said to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. "You have to see past it. You look how you look, you have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb." (credit:Getty)

Nickolay Lamm(03 of21)

Lamm, an artist who works for MyDeals.com, used CDC measurements of an average 19-year-old woman to create a 3-D model which he then Photoshopped to look like a Barbie doll. His images of "normal" Barbie next to the doll sold in stores is truly worrying."If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well," Lamm told the Huffington Post in an email. "Furthermore, a realistically proportioned Barbie actually looks pretty good."It's awesome to see a man take a stance on these issues, especially considering that many men experience their own body struggles -- often in silence. (credit:Nickolay Lamm)

Trina Hall(04 of21)

Hall, a Dallas-based yoga instructor, abandoned all dietary restrictions between March and July of this year in order to see how her body changed when she wasn't actively limiting her eating habits -- and how people in her life reacted to her changing shape. The results of her project were not what she expected:

The people who didn't know, who were just with me in my life -- there was no difference that I could tell in the way that they treated me. The difference came in my own perceptions of myself, and I began to treat myself differently. I was very judgmental, and I would look in the mirror and critique myself... I would pick apart my body. Instead of looking at the whole of my body, I would look at different parts and analyze what's wrong with them.

"My most shocking discovery through the process is that I’m afraid of not being loved," Hall wrote in a Jul. 30 blog post. "I noticed the self-talk was that my beauty is only on the surface."The experience moved Hall to better understand the dialogue happening inside her own head, and inspired her to help other people suffering from poor body image. "I want to empower people to love their bodies... if it's going to start somewhere, it has to start within," she wrote. (credit:Trina Hall)

Shailene Woodley(05 of21)

Woodley, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in "The Descendants," told Flavorwire in July:

I saw somebody -- what I thought was me -- in a magazine once, and I had big red lips that definitely did not belong on my face. I had boobs about three times the size they are in real life. My stomach was completely flat. My skin was also flawless. But the reality is that I do not have those lips and my skin is not flawless and I do have a little bit of a stomach. It was not a proper representation of who I am. I realized that, growing up and looking at magazines, I was comparing myself to images like that -- and most of it isn’t real.

Because of her discomfort with how women are constantly Photoshopped and edited on-screen, Woodley doesn't wear makeup to events. What a badass. (credit:AP)

Elena Raouna (06 of21)

Raouna, who was crowned Miss British Beauty Curve 2013, told the Daily Mail: "you don't have to be size zero to be a model, and you can be pretty and plus size at the same time." The beauty queen hopes to use her platform to inspire young women to be comfortable in their own bodies, regardless of their weight. "My confidence has grown over the years and hopefully I can inspire other plus-size girls to be confident in their own skin," she said. (credit:Elena Raouna )

Kelsey Miller(07 of21)

The Refinery29 staff writer turned to intuitive eating, a practice where you learn to listen to your body's signals and eat accordingly, to help manage her body demons -- and is chronicling her journey on the Internet via the Anti-Diet Project. "The goal here is not fast weight loss," Miller told the Huffington Post in an email. "It's about creating a healthy, neutralized relationship with food and learning how to be fit and active every day -- but still have a life." (credit:Rockie Nolan)

Sheila Pree bright(08 of21)

Pree Bright's photo series "Plastic Bodies" examines how beauty ideals affect women, especially women of color. Her striking images combine doll parts with segments of human bodies, and the discord between the two is startling. She told HuffPost in an email:

American concepts of the “perfect female body” are clearly exemplified through commercialism, portraying “image as everything” and introducing trends that many spend hundreds of dollars to imitate. It is more common than ever that women are enlarging breasts with silicone, making short hair longer with synthetic hair weaves, covering natural nails with acrylic fill-ins, or perhaps replacing natural eyes with contacts.Even on magazine covers, graphic artists are airbrushing and manipulating photographs in software programs, making the image of a small waist and clear skin flawless. As a result, the female body becomes a replica of a doll, and the essence of natural beauty in popular American culture is replaced by fantasy.

(credit:Sheila Pree Bright)

Adele(09 of21)

Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself." (credit:Getty)

Rebel Wilson(10 of21)

The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people." (credit:Facebook)

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