Pauline Potter, whose struggle to lose hundreds of pounds was chronicled in a 2015 episode of TLC’s My 600-lb Life, died Thursday November 27, nearly a year after a serious car accident left her with broken ribs and other lingering injuries. She was 62.
Her death was announced by her son Dillon in a YouTube video (watch it below). He did not specify a city or state where his mother died, though she had lived in both Sacramento and Houston.
“We were driving on a dark two-lane highway,” Dillon Potter says in the video about the January 2025 crash, “and there was a truck and trailer that was stopped in the middle of the road. We did not see it because they didn’t have any lights on.
“The guy claimed that he ran out of gas,” he continues, “but for whatever reason, he still didn’t have his lights on. We hit the trailer. Because he didn’t have lights on, we didn’t see it until it was too late, and we were right up on it.”
Pauline Potter was hospitalized during the months after the accident, suffering from what Dillon says were digestive issues case by a “blockage in her esophagus.” Also suffering from Covid-19, Pauline was discharged from the hospital last month and sent home for hospice care.
In 2011, the then-643 pound Potter was confirmed by Guinness World Records as the heaviest living woman. During the year-long stint covered on the TLC series, she lost 149 pounds and as of 2022 she weighed 223 pounds.
In a January 2022 Instagram post, Potter wrote, “I haven’t posted on here in a long time, but I’m proud to say that now I’m down to 223 pounds, it feels so great to be able to not be reliant on someone else to do even the littlest things for me.”
Dillon Potter has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for cremation services. A memorial service will be announced at a later date. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
