My 600-Lb Life alum Amber Rachdi is reflecting on her survival journey — and the many tragedies that have befallen her fellow cast members.
“[M]ost people in the 600lbs have [a] mental disorder hence the addiction, attitude and etc., but you, you seem to be very normal and in fact an intelligent one. I wonder what made you let it happen to get to be that big before,” read a comment Amber, 35, told fans “lived rent-free in my head for days” via an Instagram Reel shared on December 12.
“My name is Amber, and ten years ago I survived an ordeal. I was told by a doctor when I was young that I would not likely live past age 25. I survived, I should feel proud,” she said, addressing the comment head-on. “The worst possible outcome of my suffering for me is that other people’s struggles are compared to my success. That is not who I want to be to other people. That I am here today as an adult of 35 years old is an intense privilege. I have peers and friends who have died.”
Amber then listed the names of other series alumni who have died either since leaving the show or while filming. The list included Henry Foots, Rob Buchel, L.B. Bonner, Lisa Fleming, Kelly Mason, Sean Milliken, James King, Coliesa McMillian, Renee Biran, Gina Krasley, Ashley Randall, Laura Perez, Destinee LaShaee, Angela Gutierrez, Larry Myers Jr., Paul MacNeill, Vianey Rodriguez, Latonya Pottain, Dottie Perkins, Lupe Samano and Pauline Potter.
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“All of us are trying to improve our lives and live,” Amber continued. “And so many of us never got that opportunity. It is so unfair and unfathomably cruel when people tell me, ‘You’ve done so well’ in one breath and then say, ‘But so-and-so from the show, I hated them.’ Everybody who has been cast as a hero or a villain is playing some flanderized versions of themselves. These people are complicated.”
She added, “People like to praise my diligence, my resilience, my ability to persevere. And yeah, I’m just lucky. I’m better supported, better educated, better surrounded with care. And I think what people are trying to say is that because they perceive some of my more difficult peers as the architects of their own misery, that they are not owed any shred of human compassion.”
Amber went on to point out that the “trouble with this rhetoric” is that it normalizes “who does and does not deserve compassion,” which she argued can “lead us to some really dark conclusions.”
“You can’t get care, you smoked your whole life. Why would we offer you cancer treatment? Your fact, you did it to yourself,” she argued. “You didn’t come illegally. You get to be put in a cage. I was one of four people present at Sean Milliken’s funeral. I only learned today that Dottie died.”
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Amber appeared on the third season of the series, and is considered a success story after she lost 300 lbs with the help of the show’s Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, aka Dr. Now, and weight loss surgery.
