Woman who wants to be world’s fattest reveals more

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

by David Penberthy

110
Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

by Paul Toohey

210
A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

by Angela Mollard

310
Dear Dr Tinman: Why do you want me to go to the airport?

by Dr Tinman

410
We don’t deserve this huge, exciting scientific project

by Claire Connelly

510
Mining money talks the loudest in Australian politics

by Laurie Oakes

610
Please enter your password

by Lucy Kippist

710
This concern for Thomson won’t change the script

by Mark Kenny

810
Weekend Punch: Tea or coffee?

by The Punch Team

910
Eurovision can’t drown out the human rights abuses

by Claire Mallinson

1010

by Daniela Elser

18 Mar 05:40am

Must Reads

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

180

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

Filed under: Donna Simpson, Health, Media, Obesity

26 comments

“We wanna see the pig in action!!”

This is but one of the many comments that appeared on the UK Telegraph’s website after it posted a story about Donna Simpson, a 42 year-old mother of two from New Jersey who wants to be the world’s fattest woman.

To do this, she’ll have to double her weight to hit the 1,000lb mark (roughly 454kg), giving her the dubious honour of weighing more than any other woman on the planet: about 6.8 times the weight of the average woman in Australia.

At the moment, Simpson weighs 273kg, wears a size XXXXXXXL and consumes about 12,000 calories a day. To put this in context for the non-calorifically literate it is about six times what an average woman should eat.

To maintain her physique, Simpson does as little physical activity as possible, using a motorized scooter to help her shop for the $US750 worth of food she eats a week. This is a woman who proudly admits to downing 70 pieces of sushi in one sitting, devours whole cakes and makes money from a website where men pay for the pleasure of watching her eat.

Simpson said in an interview with the UK’s Telegraph newspaper that her mother fed her huge amounts as a child, “Food was her way of showing she loved us, she wanted us to eat, and she was very protective of us”.

Fast-forward 20 odd years and Simpson, now a divorced single mother and weighing 37 stone, found a website devoted to men who love morbidly obese women. She put details about her weight on the site and a torrent of emails ensued. Men “sent me gifts through the post, like protein shakes to help me put on weight faster,” Simpson has said, “people love watching me eat”.

Simpson’s story has been replayed on news sites across the UK, Europe, the US, New Zealand and Australia in the last day or so, each rehashing the shocking details of her daily dose of delusional noshing.

Revealing the gory details about what she puts in her mouth on a daily basis has unleashed a torrent of abuse and anger which betray a deep and troubling societal and cultural revulsion about fat.

In trawling through comments posted on a number of news websites that carried this story, there is a current of genuine hatred running through them. That so many are blind to her apparent suffering and the abusive relationship she has with food shows not only a troubling lack of compassion but that so many people feel it perfectly acceptable, if not amusing, to write about her as if she is no more than a bestial lump devoid of any humanity save for an all-consuming appetite.

“That 11 stone husband of hers must have the heart of a lion. He deserves a medal for tackling that pile of blubber. I couldn’t, even at gunpoint.”

“Look at the good side. She’d feed a pride of lions, and there’d be plenty of leftovers for the vultures and hyenas.”

“So she weighs the same as two elephant calves now and she wants to weigh nearly the same as a fully grown elephant. Maybe she should live in a zoo.”

“Can someone really consume enough alcohol to make this woman pregnant?”

That people feel emboldened to make these de-humanising and degrading comments about Simpson is a glaring example of the fact that fat has become a moral issue, about which it is still socially-sanctioned to be as foul-mouthed and hate-filled as a card-carrying KKK member.

“Why?” So few people have stopped to ponder this most basic question about this woman and her disturbing ambition. There seems to be an abject lack of humanity or empathy with which people approach Simpson’s record-breaking ambition.

Though Simpson may think her eating is natural and may feel pride in her body, from what has been reported, Simpson appears to suffer from what is known as an EDNOS, or an Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

The story that should be written here is one about challenging the culturally pervasive image of what an eating disorder is. After all, EDNOSs are not only the most common eating disorder but the most lethal according to the American Psychiatric Association.

In reprinting time and time again the same horrifying details - all that sushi, all those kilos of pretzels we see her stuffing in her trolley in the accompanying pictures! Simpson’s blatant eating disorder is being made into a freak show for our enjoyment.

Obesity may be the last remaining bastion of socially acceptable mass discrimination. We approach this subject with in-built value judgements about what weight means- lazy, gluttonous. The thing is, it seems it is still OK to judge, if not actively hate and publicly admonish, overweight people.

The Donna Simpson story is not just a story about a woman suffering from an eating disorder, it is a story about our disordered relationship with other people’s eating.

Share post:
Print page:
- Print Article

Most commented

431Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself

390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin

336Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer

313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking

266Who murdered the Arts degree?

231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.

231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...

223The world puzzles over Australia's Prime Minister

26 comments

Show oldest | newest first

- Adam says:
  
  05:44am | 18/03/10
  
  “In reprinting time and time again the same horrifying details - all that sushi, all those kilos of pretzels we see her stuffing in her trolley in the accompanying pictures! Simpson’s blatant eating disorder is being made into a freak show for our enjoyment”
  Indeed
  Disregarding the fact this story is part of the problem it’s attempting to mitigate, and assuming no mental health assistance has been forthcoming, some of us, myself included, are disgusted by a society that enables some to attain appaling weight levels whilst so much of the world suffers famine. She chooses to post material on websites that glorify this physical form and makesmoney from it. It appears to be a concious decision on her behalf to not only not seek help but engage in behaviour to further the condition. As such, she aids in turning her being into a sideshow exhibit.
  
  ps I haven’t set foot inside a gym for more than 20 years and pay scant attention to calories nor dietary intakes. I am happily overweight and unhealthy so this is not a fitness focused opinion, just one that says we make choices and must accept the fallout of those choices
  
  Reply
- Eric says:
  
  06:58am | 18/03/10
  
  Models are vilified for being too thin by the fat-acceptance crowd. This isn’t a one-way stream of hate, it’s fatties versus skinnies.
  
  Reply
Ellie says:

09:43am | 18/03/10

I agree Eric. Does anyone remember the people vilifying Jennifer Hawkins when she did that cover of Marie Claire? And being thin myself, I experience this from the fat crowd almost every day!
Kate says:

03:54pm | 18/03/10

Ellie - I agree. Why isn’t it okay to call out obese people for being unhealthy, but if you’re slim it’s still socially acceptable for people to call you anorexic, assume you are some sort of fitness obsessed weirdo, ask nastily whether you ever eat, etc.
Mini-curves says:

12:34pm | 19/03/10

Yes Ellie and Kate. It seems that slender women have been exempted from political correctness.

I am so over the “real women have curves” meme. So what is that saying, that women without curves are not real? Anyway, plus-size does not always equal “curvy.” Most plus-sized women are apple-shaped. I *wear* [1] a dress size 8 and so have a 24 inch waist and 35 inch hips. Am I not “curvy” too?

Using “curvy” does not destigmatise “fat”; it only reinforces “fat” is an insult. Let’s just call rounded people “fat” rather than the euphemism “curvy” then “fat” is no longer a pejorative.

Demonising one body shape in favour of another does not advance the body-image cause for women. It just shifts the focus of discrimination.

1. I *wear* the size as opposed to “I *am* a size…”
- Adam Diver says:
  
  07:16am | 18/03/10
  
  PC is out of control. While I can accept that some may have glandular issues cauing huge weight gains I do not see why we have to be polite to every group in society. Being overweight has so many complications (one being mental issues which is commonly a result of obesity other than being the cause).
  
  Why should I or anyone other than those close to her have to feel empathy for her when all we see is a story of a woman trying to eat herself to death.
  
  Mass-Discrimination hardly. More than half the adult population of this country is overweight. Us healthy people are now the minority its discraceful and should be treated as suh.
  
  Reply
Politically incorrect Formersnag says:

08:07am | 18/03/10

i don’t understand, why the author, doesn’t understand, where all this bile is coming from? female journalists have been demonising men for 40 years now.

soft, left, governments have been doing more of the same as well with ad campaigns, 24/7 berating men for DV & everybody else, for all manner of, “crimes against society” from drink driving, to smoking or even “shock horror”, wasting water.

40 years of mass media blitzkrieg blaming & shaming, ordinary citizens for everything that is wrong in the world. Training everybody to believe that extreme, verbal violence is normal PC behaviour. Suddenly when some women, like this one, or Lara Bingle, behave in an irresponsible, careless or inappropriate manner, they are all wandering around, “dazed & confused”, wondering what went wrong ? “Why are they so unkind?”

Ladies, pot meet kettle.

PS, obesity has always been an indicator or symptom of self destruction, self hatred or mental illness. if PC thugs had left men alone, then maybe male psychiatrists, would not have been, too afraid to say anything & there could have been more treatment of eating disorders 40 years ago?

Get all “Polly” staff stooges or “Galahs” off the net.
Julie says:

02:52pm | 18/03/10

Adam - not quite sure where you’re getting the information about ‘mental issues’ being a result of obesity other than being the cause - but you’re way off base there. Many people who are morbidly obese are that way because of psychological and emotional disturbances and mental illnesses. Ask any gp, psychologist or psychiatrist who routinely works with people who have depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, history of sexual abuse or an eating disorder and they will openly tell you that many people have issues with food, their body and weight as a result of these experiences and illnesses.

Some form of compassion would therefore not go astray.
- phil says:
  
  08:35am | 18/03/10
  
  “Simpson’s blatant eating disorder is being made into a freak show for our enjoyment”
  
  Umm .. this coming from the same news group who ran the story of “the horror” of it all in every other paper around the country?
  Pot this is kettle, Over.
  
  This is self inflicted so I have no sympathy for the mother only for her daughter who will not have a mother for too much longer because of her own greed and sloth.
  There is some acceptance for “larger people” and they arent all treated in this freak-show manner but when she is intentionally creating this freak show herself so that she can make money off it is another story.
  
  I am pretty appalled that you have tried to make everyone who has commented in a negative way towards her else out to have the same amount of hate as a “card carrying KKK member”
  
  What she is doing is greatly unhealthy and life threatening.
  This is not something that should be glorified or shown to be an acceptable thing at any stage of life or for something to aspire to.
  
  Fat people without a medical reason are a problem and drain on our health care system which is bursting at the seams while falling apart as it is.
  
  Reply
Alana says:

09:02am | 18/03/10

Phil, you have missed the point of the article.

Daniele is writing about this weird obsession we have with eating, body image, etc - and how quick we are to attack those who are obese.

There wouldn’t have been this many news stories about a heroin junkie who had decided to become the most drugged up person in the world. It would just happen quietly in an alleyway somewhere.

But this draws news because it makes people angry.

Why are people like you so interested and able to get so angry about the personal health choices a person decides to make? Do you go around bars and nightclubs expressing looks of disgust and hatred at people who have had more than their two/four standard drinks of alcohol for the day? Would you attack them with as much malice as you have attacked this woman?

It’s none of your business.
Phil says:

09:44am | 18/03/10

If its none of my business why is it your business what my views are?

Your comparison with a junkie is void being something that is illegal to begin with, where as food isnt.
Sure both can kill when abused but thats beside the point.
That and junkies are usually quite skinny :-p

The point is this is something that is not acceptable, this is something that can be corrected with help only if those who need the help are interested.

This is a life that is being wasted due to laziness and an intent to overeat to make money.
Its another unhealthy obsession that some people have, usually the same ones with no respect for themselves thinking its ok to be like that.

And Yes I do look at others with hatred and disgust when their excess drinking or smoking is affecting me due to their ignorance.
Why should I have to tolerate other people decisions that will affect me in one way or another? if they have the right to drink excess and smoke I have the right to not have to be exposed to it
Its yet another burden on society that we don’t really need, all those problems because of alcohol, tobacco & various other drugs.

A completely different conversation but im also for bans on organ transplants for people who have abused their own body and expect a replacement and to be patched up while there are so many other people who miss out on the chance to have a life at all due to medical illness.
If you inflict these things on yourself don’t cry about it when the repercussions come back to bite their asses.
- Zeta says:
  
  08:44am | 18/03/10
  
  Oh man that is the greatest story of all time. It’s like something out of a John Waters film. We’re living in a John Waters film. ‘I’m the filthiest woman alive! I’m the filthiest woman alive!’
  
  Thinking about Ayn Rand this post St. Pat’s Day hang over morning, because I dimly recall a heated arguement with a Young Liberal in some trashy bar. You know Ayn Rand idolised serial killer and small child butcher William Edward Hickman, she based some of her characters on him, and said he was the poster child for man detatched from all the morals and values that get in the way of man’s climb to greatness.
  
  Donna Simpson is like the female version of Rand’s ubermensch; detatched from 21st century feminine values. She’s probably the most punk a human could possibly get. Millions of women, all around the world striving to be smaller, and here is one desperate to expand…
  
  Who are we to stop her inexorable embiggening, we mere mortals with our petty concerns for waistlines and muscle mass?
  
  Reply
- kelly says:
  
  08:51am | 18/03/10
  
  Many people seem to have missed the point on this…
  What she is doing, will probably kill her…Who are the sadists on the website continually encouraging her? If they were encouraging a drug addict online to keep going, or an anorexic to keep starving themselves, or any other person suffering from addiction or mental illness to keep hurting themselves…would people still be this unkind to the sufferer?
  I think they would be vilifying the people encouraging the behaviour. And that should be what’s happening here.
  
  Reply
Adam says:

09:44am | 18/03/10

So she is absolved of all responsibility for her predicament?
Who is taking money of the “sadist”? She is.

Most problems we experience are ours and ours alone to solve. She is not attempting to do so and worse, wants her curent problem to worsen therefore no-one other than herself should be the target of any animosity
Adam Diver says:

02:28pm | 18/03/10

Completely disagree with laying blame with the “sadists”. She profits form them and its her decision alone to make.

But who would pay to watch this is a far more worrying concern of mine…
- J says:
  
  09:23am | 18/03/10
  
  I worry about her kids. She can do whatever she likes to herself - but when she has a heart attack that will be able to be measured on the Richter scale, her kids will be without a mother. Not only that, but they will have been taught that eating for other people’s enjoyment is a quick way to make money, with devestating consequences for your health. It’s the height of selfishness. That’s why it’s wrong.
  
  Reply
- Ellie says:
  
  09:48am | 18/03/10
  
  This woman is running a website where people watch her eat, no? She is creating her own “freakshow” and she must love it. I guess she can do what she wants, but I’m not going to change everything I believe and start thinking that she is a normal person! If she’s putting herself out there, she needs to expect that people will laugh and find it disgusting. Honestly, you can’t expect anything else.. Other celebrities are constantly abused by people on forums and the like. What’s so different about them compared to her? If you’re going to write an article about people suffering in the public eye, why not include Lara Bingle? These people chose the life of a celebrity, they know what happens to celebrities and how people treat them in the press.
  
  Reply
- Sir Codrington III says:
  
  10:31am | 18/03/10
  
  So we are to blame for picking up on the story and having an opinion about it? Oh I’m sorry, but what is it she does for a living? That’s right, she publicises herself on the internet eating food and being erotic for the sexual desires of voyeurs. Guess she doesn’t have too much aversion to being made into a vulgar freak show, it’s her day job.
  
  People are fully justified in feeling disgusted by this, as much as people are justified in feeling disgusted upon seeing a pregnant woman passed out on the curb with a needle in her arm. Because this woman is killing herself, going to leave her two kids without a mother, is neglecting her children (she can barely move, so she can’t be a good mother) and is setting them a possibly fatal example to follow.
  
  Hate away, people, you’re fully entitled to do so.
  
  Reply
- Anjuli says:
  
  11:17am | 18/03/10
  
  So when she becomes ill with heart liver and kidney problems she will expect the public to pick up the tab
  
  Reply
- Phil says:
  
  11:22am | 18/03/10
  
  Anyone know the website?? I have to see it!
  
  Reply
- Julie says:
  
  02:59pm | 18/03/10
  
  I genuinely feel desperately sorry for Donna, who, as you say Daniela, is clearly suffering from a severe psychological disturbance and eating disorder, even though she may not be in a position to fully realise that. This is of course not uncommon, as so many people with mental illnesses can take a long time to come to terms with the fact they are experiencing one and be in complete denial.
  
  I also feel sorry for any person that thinks it’s funny, cute and acceptable to poke fun and berate this woman. Some of the comments being made about her are cruel and a sign of the hatred and lack of compassion that people feel for anything they truly do not understand. The overwhelming majority of people do not know what it is like to be as sick as Donna is, or indeed as sick as someone with acute anorexia. Both kill. Both deserve some level of compassion and understanding while the poor person involved, tries to regain their health and their life.
  
  Reply
- marley says:
  
  03:53pm | 18/03/10
  
  The bottom line here is that people are watching a woman who obviously has mental issues commit slow suicide. And some people are helping her do it. I guess they’re the same sort of people who urge the guy standing on the ledge 20 stories up to jump. Sure, it’s the lady’s choice, just as it’s the guy’s choice - but these are choiced being made by people who don’t have the capacity to make rational decisions. I may disagree vehemently with what this woman is doing, but it doesn’t mean I want to watch her do it, or that I can’t feel sorry for her and her wasted life.
  
  Reply
- bob h says:
  
  08:51pm | 18/03/10
  
  Well done Daniela another article on fat people. Should have stayed photocopying.
  
  Reply
- Karen says:
  
  10:45am | 19/03/10
  
  I think the thing that disappoints me most about stories like this is that she is choosing to kill herself - despite the impact on those around her.
  We all laugh and poke fun at her like a freakshow in a circus, but unfortunately the path she has chosen is not a lone woman careering towards self destruction, otherwise I would say “go for it love - chow down all you like!” Someone will have to care for her, mourn her loss and deal with all the negative comments her actions are provoking.
  
  She chose to have kids. She has an obligation to raise those kids into functioning adults to the best of her ability, she has decided to ignore that responsibility, and she must be choosing to ignore the emotional impact of her actions on those around her on a daily basis - to me that is more offensive than her weight gain.
  
  All I can say is that at least she is doing it in America where the public purse won’t have to foot the bill for the inevitable health outcomes. Hope she makes enough off her site to pay for her health plan as well as her food budget intil Obama gets his health reform through.
  
  Surely if her own welfare does not concern her she should have some pang of guilt when she sees how she is ruining the lives of those she cares about. That is the bit I find offensive, and I find it impossible to feel sorry for her in any way in the face of such staggering selfishness and self deceit.
  
  Reply
- Jess says:
  
  05:57am | 28/07/10
  
  I think she deserves all those nasty comments. It’s one thing for someone who wants to purposely gain wait and destroy their lives, but it’s another thing when that person has two young children.
  
  I don’t think she’s a freak, I think she’s selfish. Very efen selfish and so are the people helping her die and leaving her kids without a mother.
  
  I’m surprised she cans still walk. How much money would she have to spend on her self with doctors bills, yet another reason for being selfish.
  
  And to that idiot that says curvy people are fat people. That’s not necessary true in all cases. People with out an ounce of fat around them, but still have big bones and large muscle (not really their fault), are considered curvy too. And they will always be that way, even when exercising three times a day and eating nothing but chicken and salad.
  
  Reply
- Andrew says:
  
  02:10pm | 08/10/10
  
  People like her are the reason the Western World is doomed. Self indulgence has become a life style, and people will do anything to seek attention.
  She should be banned from ever receiving a cent in tax payer money - for any reason.
  
  Reply