Preloading

What It's Like to Be Overweight in a Thin Family

Aired on 05/18/2005 | CC tv-pg
In 2005, The Oprah Winfrey Show aired an episode entitled "When You're the Fat One in the Family." On that show, America was introduced to the Robertses. They looked like your average close-knit family, but the youngest of the four children, Jill, always felt like an outsider. That's because Jill's three skinny siblings and their father reminded her every day that she was overweight.

"I've wanted my dad to accept me my whole life," Jill said as she began to tear up. "He treats me differently than he treats every other person in my family. My whole life he's told me that I'm not pretty and that I'm overweight and that I need to lose weight. He's just never been nice to me."

Watch as Oprah sits down with Jill and her critical family to uncover the emotional issues beneath the overeating—and the nasty comments that made Jill feel so much worse.

Original airdate: May 18, 2005