Yahoo Lifestyle'A Fat Girl Dancing' star goes viral thanks to YouTube video
Whitney Thorne weighs 25st, loves to dance and is the face of the new No Body Shame campaign
A 25 stone woman has become an online celebrity after posting a video of herself on YouTube entitled ‘A Fat Girl Dancing’.
Shaking her thing to Jason Derulo’s Talk Dirty, Whitney Thore’s video has been viewed nearly 2.5 million times and garnered over 2000 comments.
The 29-year-old radio producer made the video after years of struggling with her weight and depression.
Growing up, Whitney’s passion was dancing but she also suffered from an eating disorder from the age of 12 until she finished high school.
The Greensboro, North Carolina native gained 100lbs during her first year of university, quit dancing and was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).
Like fellow sufferers Victoria Beckham and Emma Thompson, Whitney found herself battling weight gain and depression.
She gained and lost weight throughout her twenties before finally learning to love and accept her plus-sized body.
‘It took me years, but I have finally made peace with doing what I love,’ claims Whitney. ‘Whether I’m thin or fat or somewhere in between, I won’t stop dancing.’
These days Whitney is the face of the No Body Shame campaign – ‘a worldwide movement that fights the devastating effects of body shame, and promotes the idea of self-love and acceptance as a step toward total wellness’.
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Along with a co-worker, Whitney has filmed seven dancing videos to hits like Blurred Lines and Thrift Shop and the worldwide response has been rather impressive.
‘My co-worker Jared Pike suggested putting the video online because fat girls are really popular on the internet.
‘It started being shared on Facebook and people weren’t posting it to say ‘Haha, lets make fun of this girl’ which is what I would think. They were actually posting it to say ‘Yeah, this girl’s awesome’ and I was just feeling all this love from all over the place.
‘Then it went viral and I was really surprised at how positive the reaction was.’
What do you think of Whitney’s videos? Let us know on Twitter.
