“My 600-lb Life” star Pauline Potter, who appeared on a 2015 episode of the hit TLC show, has died at age 62.
Her son, Dillon Brooks, shared the unfortunate news in a video on her YouTube channel on Nov. 29. He said she passed away on Thanksgiving day.
In 2012, Potter held the Guinness World Record for the heaviest woman living. During her episode of “My 600-lb Life” and the years following, she made significant strides in her weight loss journey. She began sharing her progress with fans on Facebook. In 2020, she revealed she was down to 223 pounds, per USA Today.
What was Pauline Potter’s cause of death?
Pauline Potter’s son, Dillon Brooks, confirmed they currently don’t know what his mother died from. “We don’t have any official diagnosis or, um, autopsy or anything that says what she died from… But at this point, I think we pretty much already know, because she had a lot of problems.”
2025 was not an easy year for Potter, as Brooks explained. He and his mother were involved in a major car accident in January while Potter was driving. She suffered several broken ribs and began experiencing chest pain, though it was unclear if the latter was a result of the accident.
In June, Potter began experiencing issues digesting her food. “She could not keep any food down. Everything she ate or drank kept coming back up,” he said in the video.
In August, they learned Potter had a blockage in her esophagus that was preventing food from passing through. While receiving this diagnosis, Potter also contracted COVID-19, which prompted the hospital to admit her. Brooks said, “August 20th was the last time she was at home, and she has been in the hospital since then.”
The blockage caused Potter to become malnourished, and Potter needed to raise her nutrient levels before she could undergo surgery. Additionally, doctors discovered a massive, infected wound on her back that was worsening because she was primarily lying down. The wound became very painful, and she began resisting treatment.
Potter was moved to a rehab facility in September to improve her nutrition for the surgery, but she was not making much progress. She was also showing signs of heart and respiratory failure. On Nov. 19, Potter was sent to hospice care at Brook’s aunt’s house. Brooks said they were told his mother “could recover, but it’s kind of unlikely at this point.”
Brooks shared that during her time on hospice, “there was times where it seemed like she was doing good,” but also times when “she was in pain and she was out of it.” The family was all set to see her on Thanksgiving. She died that afternoon.
Brooks noted that one doctor once suggested that her rapid health decline could have been related to the car accident, but he emphasized, “We don’t have that in writing… and there’s no proof or guarantee that all this did stem from that.”
