The extended preview trailer for My Big Fat Fabulous Life Season 11 was released earlier this week, and it featured some very emotional scenes from the funeral service for Whitney Thore’s beloved mom, and MBFFL co-star, Barbara “Babs” Thore.
The fact that Whitney and her family allowed TLC cameras to film those scenes for the show upset many fans, and some of them were less than kind in their tone when expressing their opinions online.
Whitney shared a spoken and typed statement on Instagram, which included screen caps of some of the more hateful comments. She reveals that it was ultimately her father, Glenn Thore’s decision to allow cameras to film the funeral.
Whitney included a screen cap of a text message exchange with her father and her brother, Hunter, along with her statement in which Glenn expresses his disbelief at some of the hateful comments about the preview trailer. Here’s the text exchange:
GLENN THORE: I’ve read some of the comments that are critical of us allowing Babs funeral to be filmed. When I was making the decision to allow her funeral to be filmed I thought about people like Princess Diana or more recently the Queen of England whose family felt that having their love one shared with an adoring public was the reason to put their privacy aside.
WHITNEY THORE: Of course that’s why we did. You made the right decision. Don’t read the comments anywhere except on my posts — everywhere else people are more likely to be heinous. The normal, supportive fans comment on my stuff. Love you, Daddy!
WHITNEY THORE: Mommy is so very proud of you!
HUNTER THORE: Whitney is right. Love you guys.
Here is Whitney’s audio statement with the screen caps, followed by her written statement — which is slightly different:
I know a lot of people hate me, and I don’t care why. I know that I’ve dealt with stalkers, vandals, death threats, and harassment online and off to the point of developing severe anxiety and almost never leaving my house. I’ve dealt with this for the last decade, mostly very quietly, but PLEASE, I am asking some of y’all to think.
However much you need the hate that you feel toward me to keep you busy, or entertain you, or distract you from your own sh*tty life, PLEASE remember, just for this one instance, that you’re talking about my dead mother and there is a family who reads this. There are humans who are grieving who read this.
I know my life is a big joke to many of you — something you can hate watch and gossip to your friends about. But the way some of y’all are is terrifying and my poor father does need to read this sh*t. I’m asking you, just this once, to think about my father and my family. He doesn’t deserve to read these things.
#MyBigFatFabLife Read the beautiful obituary for Whitney Thore's mom Barbara "Babs" Thore, who passed away on December 7. Plus, details on the funeral service and celebration of life event this weekend – both of which are open to the public. #MBFFL https://t.co/R9M9hgPnWj
— Starcasm (@starcasm) December 12, 2022
Prior to sharing the statements, Whitney responded to a commenter on her Instagram post with the My Big Fat Fabulous Life Season 11 preview trailer. Here is that interaction:
COMMENT: All these people saying you shouldn’t have filmed the funeral… don’t they realize Babs was special to so many and maybe this is a way for the family to allow us to say goodbye? I’m sure it was a tough decision for you to film, hugs to you 💜
WHITNEY THORE: It was my father’s decision to open the funeral to the public and to film it. There is nothing that makes him happier or more proud than sharing my mother with the world, and my brother and I agree. The crew was incredibly respectful and it was their chance to say goodbye to my mother who they’ve loved for a decade as well, too. My mother was a shining star and this was her last scene. Thank you all so much for loving her.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com