Woman Recounts Heartbreaking Story of Growing Up Fat

Wow, this is a tough listen. I want to give little VJ all the hugs.

I’m pretty sure most fat kids can tell you the moment they first learned that being fat was bad and wrong, and what a transformative experience that was. I sure can. I was a very happy, very outgoing child until I reached middle school and was passed a note that just read “lard ass”. I turned it into the teacher, and she just threw it away and reminded us all not to pass notes in class. Thanks for the help, Ms. Brown. I’ll never forget you. No matter how many hours of therapy I spend trying.

Most children feel like they don’t belong or fit in or that there’s something wrong about them sometimes. But fat kids, that feeling is often validated by the kids and — much worse — the adults around them. It really sucks to have the people you look up to tell you there’s something wrong with you, especially when the solutions they offer — if they do offer any — are more detrimental than anything else.