Reality TV

‘My 600-lb Life’ Star Schenee Ended up Blocking Dr. Nowzaradan’s Phone Number

Updated

8 years ago

April 13, 2018

Dan Clarendon

TLC

Some subjects of TLC's My 600-lb Life get healthier with the help of weight loss surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzaradan… and some can't surmount the mental and emotional obstacles. Unfortunately, it seems like Schenee, the subject of the April 4 episode, has fallen into the latter category.

As she explained on the show, Schenee started gaining weight after being molested by a cousin when she was five years old. "All I remember is my mom took me to the doctor because I couldn't use the bathroom," she said of the aftermath of that abuse. "It was hurting really bad, and that's when she found out. Inside, I feel terrible. But I just hid all my feelings. I started sneaking food right after that incident. Food made me feel better. It made me feel happy."

Two years later, Schenee was 130 pounds. "When I was in elementary [school], my teacher threw away my lunch because I was too fat," she recalled. "It felt very humiliating and that made me wanna eat more." By the time she was 11, she was 160 pounds, and by the time she was 15, she'd reached 200 pounds.

Her story got even more harrowing from there. She developed flesh-eating bacteria on her legs and underwent emergency surgery, after which she was relegated to bed rest for a year. Then, during her early 20s, she was raped, and that attack made her eat even more.

schenee my 600-lb life tlc

Schenee's life made a turn for the happier when she met and married a doting man named Freddie. ("I don't mind helping my wife at all," he told TLC. "I do it with love.") But it wasn't a happily-ever-after situation for Schenee. She has suffered two miscarriages and developed lymphedema in her legs. "I feel like I'm drowning in my fat," she said on the show. "It suffocates me, and I'm very miserable."

As viewers saw on the show, Freddie drove Schenee to Dr. Nowzaradan, who told her she was only alive because she was young. She accepted his help and agreed to lose weight in anticipation of surgery. But she missed follow-ups with the doctor, skipped psychotherapy appointments, and reached 712 pounds. After those setbacks, Dr. Nowzaradan put Schenee on a controlled diet at the hospital, and she dropped down to 621 pounds.

After that hospital stay, however, Schenee gained some of that weight back and clashed with Dr. Nowzaradan on multiple occasions. Finally, after eight months on the show, Schenee stopped participating in the filming and blocked Dr. Nowzaradan's phone number. "She made a choice to reject all the help offered to her and do this all on her own now," he told TLC.

As Inquisitr notes, there's no indication of how Schenee has fared in the intervening months, since her only social media presence seems to be a Facebook page for her jewelry business. We hope she's working toward healthiness one way or another.