Dancing with Whitney Way Thore

TLC delighted fans as they brought out one of their favourite stars to South Africa, Whitney Way Thore from My Big Fat Fabulous Life.

I was invited to the exclusive event where 10 lucky fans got the chance to meet Whitney and take a part in her dance class.

Having watched the show before, I was intrigued to meet Whitney Way Thore, to hear her views and her story behind her No BS campaign.

What I loved about chatting to Whitney is her honesty and that the woman you love and admire on her show, is the exact person away from the cameras.

She started off by explaining how the No BS campaign began, with her own struggle with her body image.

“I grew up being a thin dancer but I still had severe body issues, and I struggled with eating disorders even though I was never overweight. I was still made fun of for being fat.

I think the first thing we say to someone if we want to make fun of is to tell them that ‘they’re fat’ so I had a very shaky foundation to begin with and when I went to college I gained 100 pounds ( in 8 months. Then eventually another 100 after that. I was later diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. My life changed overnight and it was like putting a fat suit on and going out in public”.

The dancer goes on to explain how people’s perception of her changed due to her weight gain and how it affected her happiness.

“People started to assume I was stupid and lazy and all these negative beliefs about fat people. it took me about 10 years of really struggling being depressed and , thinking ‘You know I’m wasting my life’ and life can start again once I’m thin. I decided I didn’t want to live that way anymore and so I started living the life I wanted in the body I had.

Things turned around for me and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. So I think it’s important for both boys and girls, mostly girls of all ages to hear to this message. especially young girls to know that our bodies are instruments not ornaments. To often we focus on what other people think about the way we look, I think it’s a very futile think to about.

I don’t care about anybody else opinions about my body except for the person I’m having sex with, and maybe my doctor and that’s really it”, Whitney giggled.

“If we tell ourselves that we won’t be happy until we have a certain body then we’ll never be happy”.

It’s understandable that with such a powerful new outlook on life, doors opened for Whitney.

Eventually leading to her own show on TLC Entertainment after the channel approached after seeing her YouTube video 1075 KZL’s A Fat Girl Dancing become a viral hit.

Whitney is Whitney, a fun loving person and that’s what her fans love about her. She’s a genuine person and her struggles can easily be related to.

Her fans loved taking part in the dance class while a camera crew captured the afternoon.

I enjoyed that Whitney was humble and emotional about spending time with her fans. She got teary as she said “I can’t believe that I’m here in South Africa teaching a dance class”.