Where My 600lb Life stars are now – spit from ‘fetishist’ husband to glamorous makeover and dramatic cheating scandal | The Sun

THEY were once the struggling stars of My 600lb Life… but now you'd barely recognise them.

Since 2012, the hit US TV show has charted the journey of obese Americans as they try to lose weight over the course of a year.

And over the last decade – with the help of resident surgeon Younan Nowzaradan, aka. 'Dr. Now' – there have been some truly remarkable transformations.

Fans of the TLC reality show were stunned this week after former star Dottie Perkins shared a selfie on Facebook looking completely different.

At her heaviest, she weighed more than 42st, but has now turned her life around, shedding 21st and marrying husband Chris Potts.

Here, we look at what happened to other memorable stars from the show.

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Zsalynn Whitworth

Zsalynn appeared on season two of My 600lb Life in 2014, weighing more than 42st.

Viewers were stunned by her difficult relationship with her husband, Gareth, who openly admitted he was mainly attracted to her because he desired bigger women.

While Zsalynn was determined to overhaul her lifestyle so she could see her daughter grow up, Gareth refused to help.

"I’m not buying you a salad,” he said during the show. “If you want to eat grass, you can go in the garden and graze."

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Since having a gastric bypass, Zsalynn has shed more than 21st and had a procedure to remove excess skin.

She now lives in Texas with her daughter after splitting with Gareth, having admitted she was "living a lie" trying to please him.

"To be honest, editing made (Gareth) look like an angel," she later said.

"It’s hard for me to speak for him. I feel like he loves me in the only way he knows how. I feel like I probably deserve a different kind of love. And maybe someday he can change or I can change."

Amber Rachdi

Season three star Amber Rachdi weighed 11st at just the age of five and continued to pile on the pounds in her adult life.

At her heaviest she couldn’t stand for longer than half an hour, as doctors warned her that she could be dead by the age of 30.

But after making a series of drastic changes to her life, the young woman, from Oregon, lost more than 20st following life-saving bariatric surgery.

At the time, she admitted she couldn’t have foreseen a future for herself and once believed she was “never going to change".

Prior to the surgery, she told the Mail: “Everything hurts. I am so limited in what I can do and where I can go."

Despite appearing on My 600lb Life, she later refused to return for follow-up episodes and spoke negatively about the show.

"The experience was very disorganised and jarring and there's not a whole lot I can say using my grown-up tact," she said.

"They ran late, reshot difficult to replicate scenes, and really sort of acted like bullies."

Joe Wexler

Unemployed and weighing 56st, Joe Wexler admitted he was battling suicidal thoughts when he appeared in season three.

"I feel like a prisoner inside this body," he said.

"I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. When I fall I can't just get up on my own, so I have to call an ambulance. It's really embarrassing."

However, he lost an astonishing 35st and met a woman called Sarah at an online weight loss support group, who he went on to marry.

Unfortunately, Joe, from Tennessee, later alleged that Sarah had cheated on him and the couple divorced in 2019.

But happily, he took to Facebook last year to reveal that he had married for a second time.

“I am doing well. For those of you that don’t know, I divorced my ex-wife Sarah after she had an affair on me and I moved back to TN," he said.

"After the divorce, I admit I did have a bit of a backslide because of the depression that was going on while I was dealing with the nonsense of the affair and the divorce but I got over all that after some time.

"After that, I reconnected with a friend I had known for over 12 years at the time and I married her and adopted her daughter.”

Laura Perez

Laura, from season seven, struggled with mobility issues at 42st and needed to use a wheelchair with an oxygen tank attached.

But going under the knife on the show wasn't the end of her problems, after reportedly suffering complications that led to four-fifths of her stomach being removed in a gastrectomy.

Following the procedure, the Texas native nearly died of pneumonia, but recovered to slim down to 13st, one of the lowest weights ever recorded on the series.

She split from her husband Joey, who she appeared with on the show, later claiming that he wanted her to stay at home.

"The better I get, the worse my relationship is getting," she said at the time. "I had told him, 'I need you to support me, not take care of me."

Tragically, Laura reportedly died aged 48 on November 17, 2021, with a local funeral home sharing an obituary online.

Justin McSwain

Justin struggled to fit into a rental car when he first appeared on our screens in season seven, but his transformation since tipping the scales at 49st has been truly remarkable.

Within a year of adjusting his diet, the determined lad lost 23st and by 2019 was even taking flying lessons to earn his pilot's licence.

Nowadays, Justin has reportedly moved back to South Carolina, where he works as a graphic designer, and enjoys competing in 5k races and going hiking.

But he previously admitted to having ups and downs, explaining: "It’s a battle every day with food addiction, anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, and a whole lifetime of bad habits that need to be overcome.

"I hear a lot of ‘it happened years ago, these people should get over it.’ But it isn’t that simple.”

Christina Phillips

Christina, from Mississippi, was nearly 50st when she appeared in season two, and recalled walking from room to room struggling for breath.

"I'm trapped inside this body that I don't want to be in," she told producers, adding that she hadn't been out of the house for two whole years.

She blamed her weight problems on her mum and husband, who she said let her overeat and often bought her fast food meals.

With a better diet, exercise and surgery, Christina went on to lose an incredible 35st.

She said her husband Zach wasn't entirely supportive of her transformation and the pair ended up separating.

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"It became clear that me becoming independent [from Zach] was not going to work for him," she said.

Nonetheless, since the split, Christina has managed to start a family, giving birth to two little boys, Ethan and Ezra. It is not clear who the father is.

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