My 600 Lb Life’s Lisa Fleming knew she needed help when she found maggots in her skin folds
My 600 Lb Life‘s Lisa Fleming has one of the most horrifying origin stories of any participant in the show’s long history. Lisa’s episode features a particularly disturbing reveal: at her peak weight of 704 pounds, she was shocked to find maggots growing in the folds of her skin.
The detail comes from People‘s first look at Lisa’s My 600 Lb Life episode, which airs tonight on TLC. And most tantalizing of all (or most frustrating, depending on your perspective), the clip People offers doesn’t depict the maggot moment, though their headline does.
Instead, what we’re treated to is a look inside Lisa’s home on the day she’s scheduled to make the six-hour trip to Dr. Now’s Houston office. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m not looking forward to having the paramedics carry me out of this bed,” says Lisa, while the paramedics shore up the wheelchair ramp outside the house. “My whole family is coming over to the house to say goodbye. I feel the anxiety creeping up, which always makes me want to eat.”
Lisa then asks her daughter for a “real last-minute little bowl of fruit loops.” She finishes it just in time, then tells one of the paramedics that she knows she’s ready to go. “‘Cause guess what I know for a fact?” Lisa adds. “I’m sick of this damn bed.” (Bonus fact: it turns out that Lisa is lying in the same bed where her mother died from obesity-related health problems.)
A moment later, with a team of six paramedics gathered around her and ready to hoist, Lisa changes her tone somewhat — but remains defiant. “No, I’m not ready!” she shouts. “But come on! I ain’t gonna never be ready!…Hit me, daddy! Hit me!”
Lisa’s irreverent spirit is definitely a departure from what My 600 Lb Life viewers are used to. Here’s the first available clip from Lisa Fleming’s My 600 Lb Life episode, via People:
In addition, TLC has a second clip from Lisa’s episode (but the network has disabled embedding, so you’ll have to click here to watch). In this clip, Lisa discusses her childhood fixation on food. She explains that her mother, while sometimes loving, could also turn the tables on Lisa, and would use food to do so.
“Sometimes my mom also used food as a punishment,” Lisa explains. “I remember one time I asked my mom for some cake. She wouldn’t give it to me. I took my finger and rubbed all the icing off the cake…my momma sat me down and told me ‘I know nobody ain’t done this but you.'”
Lisa’s mother then forced Lisa to eat the entire cake. Lisa was only “saved” when her father found Lisa an hour later, still eating the cake, and threw it into the garbage.
My 600 Lb Life‘s Lisa Fleming episode airs tonight at 9 on TLC.
(Photo credit: My 600 Lb Life’s Lisa Fleming via TLC)
