Ashley R weighs in at 670-lb, but it’s not only her body that is suffering under the weight of her obesity — it’s also her marriage.
The 30-year-old, whose story is featured on TLC’s My 600-lb Life, is fearful that husband Daniel will one day just get up and leave after moving from the role of lover to carer as her weight has soared.
The couple live with her mom, dad and three younger sisters in West Hills, CA, to share the burden of looking after her. But an emotional Ashley says of Daniel: “I feel disgusted by myself and how can he not feel that for me too?
“It strains my marriage that I can’t be romantic with him, that we can’t express our love the way we want to. But I just don’t want him to see me.
“One of my biggest fears is that he is going to wake up one day and be like, ‘I don’t want to do this any more. I don’t want to take care of her like she’s a patient.”
Ashley hopes weight loss surgery will save her life and her marriage, but she needs to cut the cord with her enabling parents and move to Houston, TX, if that’s going to happen.
Husband Daniel knows only too well that she has to lose weight if they are to have a loving relationship together in the future. He says: “We have plans about starting a family, but if my wife doesn’t lose weight all those hopes and dreams are going to be shattered.”
And Ashley is willing to make the move away from her family for the chance to make those dreams happen and to live a more independent life.
With her eyes full of tears as she recounts her story on My 600-lb Life, she says: “I worry if I’m going to wake up tomorrow and I feel like my body can’t take it any more. But if I give up I’m not going to live to grow old with my husband.”
My 600-lb Life airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on TLC.