Whitney Way Thore (born April 14, 1984) is an American

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

and subject of the reality show '' My Big Fat Fabulous Life'', which airs on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

Early life and education

Whitney Way Thore was born on April 14, 1984, in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, to Glenn and Barbara Thore. In 2000, Thore was accepted into the Theatre Summer Enrichment Program at the

Governor's School of North Carolina The Governor's School of North Carolina (GS, GSNC) is a publicly funded residential summer program for intellectually gifted high school students in the state of North Carolina, United States. North Carolina's Governor's School was the first such ...

Meredith College Meredith College is a private women's liberal arts college and coeducational graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qu ...

. After graduating from Page High School (2002), Thore enrolled at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

Boone, North Carolina Boone is a town in and the county seat of Watauga County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Boone is the home of Appalachian State University and the headquarters of the disaster and me ...

, majoring in Theatre. After she graduated from college, Thore relocated to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

to teach English to school children.

Career

After Thore returned to the U.S. from Korea, she became the on-air producer of the Greensboro, North Carolina radio show ''Jared & Katie in the Morning'' on 107.5 KZL. On February 27, 2014, the show created a dance video called "A Fat Girl Dancing" on 107.5 KZL's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. Soon, the video went viral, allowing Thore to promote her message of body acceptance and positive body image. As a direct result, Thore was featured on numerous media outlets such as ''

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

'',

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'', and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. In early January 2015,

aired '' My Big Fat Fabulous Life,'' which chronicled Thore's life and her initial mission to lose weight, but evolved to document her search for love. Her show has 11 seasons, with the 12th premiering in late 2024. The first season aired with ten episodes, and TLC premiered the second season in September 2015. In May 2016, Thore released her memoir, ''I Do It with the Lights On: And 10 More Discoveries on the Road to a Blissfully Shame-Free Life''. Thore has many cats. In 2025, she announced death of her most beloved orange Persian cat, Henchi. Thore adopted him in Korea and he happily lived 17 years with her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thore, Whitney Way 1984 births American Internet celebrities Fat acceptance activists Living people Participants in American reality television series People from Greensboro, North Carolina Appalachian State University alumni Activists from North Carolina 21st-century American women