The star of the TLC reality show My Big Fat Fabulous Life might just be wearing clothes from a Northern Ontario women's plus-size clothes retailer during the show's upcoming third season.
That's because the ladies behind The Plus Factor — which has stores in Sudbury and Timmins — met Whitney Way Thore at this past weekend's Fuller Woman Health and Beauty Expo in Toronto, where Thore was the guest of honour.
After Thore's “Fat Girl Dancing” videos went viral, with more than eight million views on YouTube, she was offered her own show, called “My Big Fat Fabulous Life.”
Weighing 380 pounds at the beginning of the series — Thore attributes her weight gain to polycystic ovary syndrome — the young woman chronicles her efforts to lose weight and fight back against body shaming.
Thore has a campaign called “#NoBS” or “no body shaming.”
The Plus Size marketing manager Becky Calabakas and her colleagues met Thore during a Friday night boat cruise put on by the expo's organizers, and invited her to visit the store's booth.
She did just that, and the ladies from the store outfitted Thore with three new shirts, and gave them to her.
“Whitney is very laid back — a running shoes, jogging pants and T-shirts kind of girl,” Calabakas said.
“Once she put (the shirts from The Plus Factor) on, she felt like a rockstar. She was elated. She was like 'I cannot believe that you've got this funky pattern.' … She fell in love, and she couldn't say enough about it.”
Thore, who also gave a keynote speech at the Fuller Women Expo, is a “regular, everyday person,” Calabakas said.
She told The Plus Factor ladies how she gets a lot of online hate, and what she does to handle that.
“She said it took her years to figure out who she was,” Calabakas said. “Her friends will call her and say 'Did you see that?' And she goes 'Yep, but you know what? They don't know my life. They're not me.'”
