Outcasts in Their Own Families
Overweight family members confront the loved ones whose mean words have hurt them the most.
Mary and Ruth, 34-year-old twins, could not look more different. Mary is 420 pounds, while her sister, Ruth, is 120 pounds.
"I was centered out even by my mother as being the pretty one," Ruth says. "'This is my pretty little girl, Ruth. And this is Mary.' My role in the family became not just to be the pretty one but to be the thin one as well. No one could believe we were twins."
"Not only being the fat one in the family, but being the fat twin," Mary says, is especially painful. "I've always been in the shadow," she says, "standing back and watching her get all the attention."
Published 05/18/2005
