The curse of My 600-Lb. Life: FEMAIL lays bare the tragic tales of the 15 TLC weight-loss show stars who have died since it premiered – including two who passed away WHILE filming the series
- A total of 15 people have died during or after filming the show – most recently Larry Myers Jr. who passed away at the age of 49
- The weight-loss reality series premiered on TLC in 2012
- Nearly 150 people have starred in episodes across the show’s 11 seasons to date
TLC fans were left reeling this week after it was revealed that one of the stars of the network’s hit reality series My 600-Lb. Life – Larry Myers Jr. – had died just days after his 49th birthday.
His passing devastated fans who had come to know the kind-hearted gospel singer as he documented his struggles to overcome a lifelong binge-eating battle that left him weighing more than 940lbs at his heaviest.
Tragically, Larry is just the latest in a line of former My 600-Lb. Life stars to pass away at an early age, becoming the 15th person who appeared on one of the show’s 11th seasons to die in the last decade.
Each episode of My 600-Lb. Life follows the life of a dangerously overweight individual over one year as they attempt to lose weight with the help of a renowned, Houston, Texas-based program spearheaded by Dr. Younan Nowzaradan – or Dr. Now for short.
Larry Myers Jr. had struggled with his weight for his whole life, but found his calling as a singer
What’s especially heart-wrenching is how many of these casualties – Larry included – had in fact managed to make huge strides toward improving their health, keeping up the momentum even after the cameras stopped rolling.
Despite their efforts, nearly all of the My 600-Lb. Life stars who’ve passed ultimately succumbed to lingering physical and mental issues tied to their weight struggles.
The youngest, Sean Milliken, was 29 when an infection claimed his life. Many more died from heart issues as a direct result of their weight, while others were done in by complications around various conditions – including sepsis and post-surgical issues – exacerbated by their health. And at least one ended his own life.
Here, FEMAIL reveals the stories of those My 600-Lb. Life stars who have passed away since the show first premiered – and their brutal battles to overcome their obesity battles in front of the camera.
Larry Myers Jr.: The gospel singer who weighed 648 pounds died three days after his 49th birthday
Larry won over viewers with his talent as a gospel singer, often improvising tunes about the foods he loved
Larry passed away on June 13, 2023 – just three days after his 49th birthday.
The gospel singer, who appeared on Season 10, won over countless fans with a viral moment that captured him singing about one of his favorite foods, earning him the nickname, ‘Mr. Buttermilk Biscuits.’
Over the course of his episode, Larry managed to shed about 118 pounds, down from his initial weight of 648 pounds.
The Houston, Texas, resident had previously hit his highest-ever recorded weight of 940 pounds in the late aughts.
On a GoFundMe page set up by his family, a loved one wrote in tribute: ‘Larry, aka “Mr. Buttermilk Biscuits,” has used his musical talents to bless others since the age of 10.
‘From a small storefront church in his home town to the big stage of the Apollo theater, Larry always made himself available to sing at special events anytime anyone asked, most of the time free of charge.
‘His struggle with weight gain/loss never dimmed his drive to show love and kindness to all he met.’
Angela Gutierrez: The Ohio native who refused to return to Houston for any of her follow-up appointments
Angela Gutierrez shook up the show’s typical story arc when she refused to go back to Dr. Now in person for any follow-up appointments
Angela died on March 21, 2023 at age 49.
The Ohio native, as seen on Season 7, shook up the standard arc of the show after she missed her two-month, in-person, follow-up appointment with Dr. Now, then declined to move to Houston to join his program due to her fear about not having her family nearby.
Angela seemed committed to Dr. Now’s diet while at home in the weeks and months after her initial appointment, at which she weighed in at 608 pounds.
Meeting Dr. Now over a video call three months later, she self-reported that she’d lost 70 pounds – though it soon became clear that this was her personal estimate, as she hadn’t actually weighed herself.
In their third and final meeting, which also took place over video, Dr. Now chastised Angela for avoiding returning to Houston.
‘Right now, I think you’re buying time. Because one of the delusions you’ve convinced yourself of is that you’re going to do it eventually – but “eventually” never comes, and then, one day, your body gives out, and that’ll be it for you.’
She’s survived by her parents, two children and three grandchildren, among other relatives.
Destinee LaShaee: The trans woman who spiraled into depression
Destinee LaShaee was the first trans person to appear on the series
Destinee LaShaee, also from Season 7, has been to date the only trans person featured on the show.
Born a boy named Matthew to a teen mom, Destinee transitioned from male to female in young adulthood after coming out as gay in her late teens.
The Louisiana native, then 27, managed to shed 229 pounds off her initially 669-pound frame – and reportedly went on to lose 500 pounds in total.
After filming concluded, she went on to use her social media presence to encourage others to not give up on themselves or their health amid their weight-loss journey.
However, she’d go on to sue production company Megalomedia, claiming producers caused her emotional distress and that she felt ‘taken advantage’ of for the sake of ‘ratings.’
After filming the show, she continued on to document her weight loss on social media
Sadly, they passed away on February 8, 2022 at 31 years old.
Her cause of death has not been made public, but a series of concerning posts she made in the lead up to her passing suggest ongoing struggles with depression may have played a role.
According to the The U.S. Sun, on the Saturday prior to her death she’d shared a post reading: ‘To everyone who genuinely love and support me I love you and I’m grateful to have touched millions of lives and hearts around the world.
‘Living my life with so much pain for so long I’ve come to realize that God makes no mistakes. I’m grateful for my journey and all I’ve been through. I don’t regret a single moment. Love you all.’
Laura Ann Perez: The Texan who went on be among the show’s greatest weight-loss success stories before her passing
Laura Ann Perez was one of the show’s greatest success stories before her passing
Laura, from Season 3, initially weighed in just a few pounds shy of the 600-pound mark.
Dr. Now shared in a confessional, ‘She’s physically in one of the worst shape I have seen’ – and counseled Laura to beat her sweet tooth.
The native of San Antonio, Texas, managed to make enough initial progress in losing weight to get gastric bypass surgery – which Dr. Now modified to a gastrectomy – despite fearing she wouldn’t wake up from the procedure.
By the end of the episode, Laura had shed 237 pounds off her frame.
She reportedly went on to hit a low of 182 pounds, making her weight loss among the most drastic of anyone to appear on My 600-Lb. Life.
Unfortunately, despite her success, Laura died from an unknown cause on November 17, 2021, at age 48.
Ashley Randall: The aspiring day-care owner who put back on much of her weight after the cameras stopped rolling
Ashley Randall, being 24 years old when filming started, was among the youngest people to appear on the show
Ashley’s passing on October 2, 2021, at age 40 marked the second death out of the four Season 1 participants.
While episodes of subsequent seasons span a single year of each person’s life, the show’s first season documented each individual’s progress from 2004 to 2011.
After getting gastric bypass surgery, Ashley seemed to be thriving – having returned to college with hopes of obtaining her associate’s degree and opening her own day care.
She ultimately lost more than 250 pounds over the seven years fans saw of her life.
However, in a 2016 follow-up episode of My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?, Ashley was revealed to have gained a lot of the weight back.
Her cause of death was sepsis following an infection.
Gina Krasley: The New Jersey native who failed to meet Dr. Now’s weight-loss goals – but later shed hundreds of pounds on her own
After almost halving her weight, Gina succumbed to a mystery illness in August 2021 at age 30
When viewers met Gina, then 28, her self-care was such that her wife, Beth, and her mother were fighting with her to simply get her to bathe once a month.
The New Jersey native, featured on Season 8, grew up with a physically and emotionally abusive father.
She and her sister would go out to get food to avoid him as a coping mechanism.
Gina hit 300 pounds by age 14 – and 450 pounds by her high school graduation.
By the time she went to see Dr. Now, her weight had hit to 606 pounds.
Unfortunately, across subsequent appointments, Gina’s weight ticked upwards before it dropped only slightly, and Dr. Now dismissed her from his program.
After the show, Gina joined eight others who’d been featured in a lawsuit alleging the producers had caused ‘intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence’ within the filming process, according to The New York Post.
Among Gina’s claims were that the producers had forced her to eat on camera to depict her as someone flouting Dr. Now’s strict dieting guidelines.
Meanwhile, Gina had gained a TikTok following in the hundreds of thousands and documented further weight loss on the platform.
In spring of 2021, she declared on social media that she’d gotten down to 379 pounds.
But by late April 2021, things took a turn for the worse as Gina had seemingly come down with cellulitis – a bacterial skin infection that also attacks fat cells.
Shortly after, she began experiencing strange neurological symptoms too.
Just months later, Gina died from the mystery condition, or conditions, on August 1, 2021, at age 30.
Renee Biran: The Tennessee mom who’d turned to fat-fetish communities to provide for her six kids
Renee Biran weathered countless setbacks in her life and was still determined to lose her excess weight
In a show of heart-wrenching backstories, Renee’s was arguably among the most pointedly so.
The Tennessee native, who appeared on Season 6, came into the world as a result of her mother’s affair with her best friend’s husband.
Renee described feeling like her mom always resented her child out of her own shame at the mistake.
She subsequently experienced verbal and physical abuse from her mother, sexual abuse from her stepfather from age 9 (of which her mother was well aware), teenage pregnancy and a string of abusive romantic partners.
All the while, she coped by consuming food.
After a car accident left her unable to continue working as a seamstress, Renee turned to sex work in online fetish communities – including one in which men would pay to watch her eat – to provide for her six children.
Before her transformation, Renee’s weight clocked in at 631 pounds.
By the end of the episode, she’d lost an impressive 250 pounds, bringing her weight to a little under 400 pounds.
On May 14, 2021, Renee died age 56 from an unknown cause on May 14, 2021.
An online tribute wall dedicated to her memory is awash with messages from those who’d watched her journey on the show.
As one fan wrote, ‘She had many obstacles and she still fought so hard. Her personality was beautiful. I am broken hearted to hear she passed. May your family be blessed to have a wonderful mother. Rip Angel! xo.’
Coliesa McMillian: The mom of four who’d needed to shed pounds to get life-saving heart surgery
Coliesa McMillian made huge strides in her weight loss, but ultimately died following weight-loss surgery at age 41
Coliesa McMillian, as seen on Season 8, was a mother of four from Louisiana whose weight had creeped up to 643 pounds prior to meeting with Dr. Now.
She’d suffered a serious heart attack that left damage requiring surgical correction – but was too overweight to be put under for the procedure.
Over the course of her episode, she’d made stunning progress, achieving a lean 144 pounds.
Sadly, she died from complications following a weight-loss surgery on September 21, 2020, at age 41 – about six months after her episode had aired.
A Facebook post from her family stated: ‘I cannot begin to express into words what our family is beginning to feel.’
The post added: ‘Tonight at 10:23 she sadly passed away from this life. We are asking that you please respect us. Thank you.’
James King: The husband and father who wound up becoming among the show’s heaviest-ever participants
James King ultimately hit 840 pounds after his initial appearance on My 600-Lb. Life – one of the highest weights documented of anyone on the show
Living in Nashville, James was bedridden at 735 pounds when fans first met him.
The father of six, who viewers met in Season 5, was totally dependent on his wife, Lisa, for care.
Nearly a year into working with Dr. Now, James clocked in at nearly 790 pounds – making him the heaviest person to appear on the show at the time.
The father of six couldn’t move from his bed or function day to day without assistance
His more than 50-pound weight gain over 11 months was taken as an indication he was flouting Dr. Now’s diet and exercise instructions, getting him dismissed from the program.
In a later appearance on My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?, James was revealed to have shot up to 840 pounds.
He passed away on April 3, 2020, at age 49 due to various health complications including sepsis and cirrhosis of the liver.
Kelly Mason: The woman whose heart gave out before she could fulfill her dream of earning her college degree
Kelly became the second person to die before filming concluded
Kelly started gaining weight amid a tumultuous childhood that included maternal neglect and sexual abuse at the hands of a neighbor.
Prior to going to Texas, she admitted in a confessional: ‘I hope all the pain I went through wasn’t for nothing, and that somebody thinks I’m worth helping.’
The Greensboro, North Carolina, resident, who appeared on the show’s seventh season, turned to a best friend to help take her to see Dr. Now in Texas.
She initially weighed in at 725 pounds, giving her a BMI of 117, which Dr. Now stated was close to the highest he’d ever seen.
‘Every heartbeat she has right now is practically a miracle,’ he later added.
Between dieting, physical therapy and gastric bypass surgery, Kelly ultimately shed 342 pounds.
Kelly had been looking forward to finishing her college degree, stating of her goal: ‘Now that I’m losing more weight, it’s like a new world. Cause I want to live.’
Tragically, Kelly passed away from heart failure on the night of February 15, 2019 at age 41 – becoming the second person to pass away before filming concluded.
Sean Milliken: The young man who hadn’t left his bed in eight years
Sean was one of the younger people to appear on the show, also eventually reaching one of the highest weights of more than 1,000 pounds
Sean Milliken, as seen on Season 4, was one of the younger participants in the series, aged 26 in his episode.
Viewers met the California resident when he hadn’t been able to leave his mother’s home for eight years.
Sean described himself as a bad-tempered child who later weathered his parents’ divorce.
In his senior year of high school, a leg injury forced him to be bedridden, ultimately preventing him from graduating.
Since then, he described: ‘I’ve been trapped in this bed and I’ve been getting bigger and bigger. To the point now that I don’t even know what I weigh – and I’m scared to find out.’
Endearingly, besides watching TV, Sean had picked up a knitting hobby to pass the time.
Sean had been bedridden for nearly a decade, totally depending on his mother for help
Otherwise, Sean likened his state to ‘purgatory – I can’t go forward, I can’t go back.’
He added: ‘I need to lose weight just so I can live.’
On visiting Dr. Now for the first time, Sean’s weight came out to 919 pounds.
Dr. Now instantly honed in on Sean’s being enabled by his mother as a root cause of his overeating.
After his first visit with Dr. Now, Sean was reluctant to stick to the strict diet that’d been recommended to him, still allowing himself one fast-food meal per day.
Unsurprisingly, that strategy didn’t work – and his next weigh-in two months later clocked in at 1,003 pounds.
He then lost nearly 300 pounds over a two-month hospital stay, and ultimately lost the weight he’d needed to to be approved for a gastric sleeve procedure, which was a success.
He ultimately lost 455 pounds over the course of the episode.
Of the My 600-Lb. Life deaths to date, Sean succumbed at the youngest age – dying from complications due to an infection at 29 on February 17, 2019.
James ‘L.B.’ Bonner: The young man whose burgeoning weight put him at risk of losing the ability to use his prosthetic leg
L.B. had been totally reliant on his mother to help him with day-to-day tasks after losing his leg while his weight crept up over the 600-pound mark
L.B.’s weight spiraled out of control following a 2013 car accident that cost him the lower part of his leg.
The combined effect of the dual disabilities made regular life nearly impossible for the South Carolina native, and he completely relied on his mother to help him with day-to-day living.
L.B., who appeared to the sixth season and became a fan favorite, initially clocked in at 643 pounds.
The number led him to realize he’d soon become ‘immobile’ given that there wouldn’t be a prosthetic strong enough to support his burgeoning mass.
A year later, after nearly halving his weight, L.B. was able to jog around a running track.
L.B. seemed to be doing well before taking his own life at age 30
‘I’m exhausted, but that was awesome. I never thought I’d be able to do that again,’ he gushed in a confessional.
‘I’m amazed at how much my life has changed for the better.’
However, in the months after February 2018, when his episode aired, L.B. seemed to have mentally spiraled downward.
He died by suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot on August 2, 2018, at age 30.
In the aftermath, his family filed a lawsuit against the show’s production company, alleging, among other things, that producers failed to follow through on covering L.B.’s medical expenses as well as causing him mental distress in the time span leading up to his death.
Lisa Fleming: The Alabama mom who couldn’t leave her bed and relied on her kids to bring her food
Lisa Fleming dropped out of Dr. Now’s program and passed away shortly after filming ended
A resident of Mobile, Alabama, Lisa saw her weight spiral up to just under 705 pounds through years of dealing with an emotional neglectful mother and teen pregnancy as well as the loss of her father, her brother and her mother.
In the aftermath of her mom’s death, she began ‘eating around the clock.’
‘One day, I tried to get up and go to the bathroom. I couldn’t make it. And I physically couldn’t get myself up anymore. And that’s the moment I realized I was stuck in this bed,’ she said in a confessional.
Appearing on Season 6, she ultimately dropped out of Dr. Now’s program
Lisa passed away not long after filming wrapped on August 23, 2018 at age 50.
‘At the end she was sick and her body was tired and her body just gave out,’ her daughter, Danielle, wrote in a Facebook post announcing her mom’s passing.
‘I’m happy you’re no longer in pain and stuck in that bed,’ she added.
Robert Buchel: The New Jersey native who was looking forward to tying the knot with his longtime fiancée before his fatal heart attack
Robert relied completely on his fiancée and his mother for help with day-to-day living
Robert, a seen on Season 6, was the first person featured on the series to pass away over the course of the filming process.
Before his death, the New Jersey native had hit 842 pounds, and was completely reliant on his fiancée Kathryn and his mother to get him through each day.
Compounding his weight was an addiction to painkillers.
He’d spent his 40th birthday in the hospital after not being able to get back up from a fall.
After a harrowing road trip to Houston, Robert and his fiancée made it to Dr. Now who expressed shock to see that he was still alive.
He went on to shed 217 pounds to qualify for surgery to remove lymphedema masses, with the procedure being a success.
But, after being denied pain medication, Robert’s easygoing mood evaporated and he began lashing out at Kathryn.
Dr. Now speculated that Robert, who’d started refusing physical activity, was ‘getting to the point where his body [was] not going to be able to go on much longer.’
‘And his time to do this before his body gives out is getting shorter and shorter,’ he added.
Though he continued pushing himself toward recovery, Robert passed away from a heart attack on November 15, 2017, at age 41.
Henry Foots: The unassuming Texan who’d lost more than half his weight before tragedy struck
Henry Foots lost nearly 450 pounds and seemed to have his life on track before tragedy struck
When viewers met Henry Foots of Season 1, the Houston resident was 47 years old and weighed 715 pounds.
After joining Dr. Now’s program in 2004 and eventually getting gastric bypass surgery, he lost more than half his body weight.
By the end of the episode, in 2011, he’d achieved a svelte 275 pounds.
But Henry’s story soon after took a tragic turn.
While back on the job as a shuttle bus driver, he suffered an unknown medical incident, causing the bus to swerve and strike a pedestrian who died.
Henry died of an unknown cause roughly a year later at age 54 on May 16, 2013 – among the two of four Season 1 participants to later pass away.
His cause of his death remains unknown.
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