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Thought about him for the first time in forever because I came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MF3vl0U_o
Anyone else old enough to have thoughts? For those too young, foreign or just out of the loop, he was a fitness/weight loss guru from the 80s, into the 90s. He was energetic and flamboyant (this during the don't ask-don't tell days) and mostly focused on women, though he did make a special cause out of one-time fattest man in the US, Michael Hebranko.
He was ubiquitous when I was a kid, on daytime TV and prime time/late night talk shows as well. As a cub FA I looked forward to his appearances because he sometimes brought along women of a size you didn't see often in the wild in those years, and certaintly not on TV. He'd sometimes do aerobics demos accompanied by fat ladies in workout gear — another very rare sighting.
He claimed his interest in helping people lose weight was because he'd been a fat kid himself. He made a shitload of money but also walked the walk, as hundreds of women talk about him reaching out personally and privately to help them, and on a sustained basis. But as I got older I sensed something beyond empathy, that maybe he was a bit of an FA himself. No evidence, just something about the way he talked about and interacted with his fat fans. There seemed to be an obsession beyond helping people and his own experiences dealing with weight loss and weight bias.
He seemed to disappear all of a sudden, and there was a weird controversy a few years ago where a bunch of people were convinced he'd been kidnapped or was otherwise being controlled against his will. It was indeed strange how a publicity-hungry, extremely public and outgoing person became a hermit, seemingly overnight. He had to release a statement finally saying, No, I'm just retired and keeping a very low profile. He's come out of obscurity again to say he doesn't endorse or have anything to do with this new film.
Anyone else old enough to have thoughts? For those too young, foreign or just out of the loop, he was a fitness/weight loss guru from the 80s, into the 90s. He was energetic and flamboyant (this during the don't ask-don't tell days) and mostly focused on women, though he did make a special cause out of one-time fattest man in the US, Michael Hebranko.
He was ubiquitous when I was a kid, on daytime TV and prime time/late night talk shows as well. As a cub FA I looked forward to his appearances because he sometimes brought along women of a size you didn't see often in the wild in those years, and certaintly not on TV. He'd sometimes do aerobics demos accompanied by fat ladies in workout gear — another very rare sighting.
He claimed his interest in helping people lose weight was because he'd been a fat kid himself. He made a shitload of money but also walked the walk, as hundreds of women talk about him reaching out personally and privately to help them, and on a sustained basis. But as I got older I sensed something beyond empathy, that maybe he was a bit of an FA himself. No evidence, just something about the way he talked about and interacted with his fat fans. There seemed to be an obsession beyond helping people and his own experiences dealing with weight loss and weight bias.
He seemed to disappear all of a sudden, and there was a weird controversy a few years ago where a bunch of people were convinced he'd been kidnapped or was otherwise being controlled against his will. It was indeed strange how a publicity-hungry, extremely public and outgoing person became a hermit, seemingly overnight. He had to release a statement finally saying, No, I'm just retired and keeping a very low profile. He's come out of obscurity again to say he doesn't endorse or have anything to do with this new film.