Why is Whitney Way Thore’s love life so chaotic?

 

Just like most aspects of her life, Whitney Way Thore’s romantic escapades are nothing short of complicated, to say the least. In fact, it’s often said by her staunchest supporters that she has pretty much everything going in the right direction, but that finding true love remains her greatest obstacle to a fulfilled existence. For some reason, she simply hasn’t been able to attain happiness and stability with any partner so far.

The reason for why that’s the case is a matter of great nuance, being a combination of myriad that combine to create the unique conditions for Whitney’s seemingly perpetual dissatisfaction with dating. To understand what’s actually amiss, it’s necessary to take a trip back in time, and grasp the full breadth of Whitney’s circumstances.

Becoming Whitney

Thore started out like most other young girls, with a great emphasis on physical activity and the dramatic arts. She was in great shape up until her teenage years, thanks to frequent dance classes, which she started attending at the age of three. Whitney was highly proficient at many different forms of dancing, including jazz, tap, ballet and others.

Her impressive dancing resume helped with qualifying for and entering numerous national dance competitions, and she was on the way to becoming a proper star. Her father Glenn and mother Barbara – ‘Babs’ – were there every step of the way, helping along their daughter’s future that seemed brighter by the day. However, the joy was cut short by ominous and unexpected news when Thore was in the middle of her teenage years.

A life-altering ailment

She was suddenly diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is a very dangerous health condition that affects one in ten women. Those suffering from it have a tendency to develop numerous small cysts on their ovaries, and that can cause uncountable issues both short and long-term.

PCOS is a complex condition that isn’t fully understood even today, at the peak of modern medicine. It’s believed to be caused by various genetic factors, although the environment may also play a role. Unlike most such mysterious conditions, it hasn’t yet been determined even what those environmental factors might be.

Insulin resistance, inner organ inflammations and hormone imbalance have also been linked to the appearance of PCOS, but those will only serve to trigger already present PCOS-bearing genes. Unfortunately, since it rarely manifests even in those who are genetically predisposed, most women just pass it down to their offspring without knowing that they might become affected.

Thore’s mother doesn’t seem to have ever suffered from PCOS, but fans have theorized that she must feel guilty for not knowing how her daughter would suffer later on. The issue is exacerbated by the fact that there’s no cure for PCOS, but its symptoms can fortunately be treated, to the point of the sufferer being able to live as if they didn’t have the condition in the first place.

Most people who watch “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” and see Whitney moving around like a whirlwind, wouldn’t even think that anything’s wrong with her health, which is a testament to her doctors. The show’s producers also make sure to be extra wary of any potential endangerment of the star’s well-being.

The good within the bad

Although most women who get diagnosed with PCOS tend to take a step back and lose most of their career drive, this had the opposite effect on Whitney. She became more determined than ever before to achieve everything she set out to do, keeping up with her dance lessons throughout the initial ordeal.

This eventually paid off in 2014, when Thore was featured in a YouTube video actually made for a radio show by 107.5 KZL, where she was employed at the time. It showed off her years upon years of dancing practice, made all the more jaw-dropping by how well she moved in spite of her size. The video quickly went viral, garnering her world-wide attention.

It was a year later that TLC had finally begun to air episodes of Whitney’s own show – “My Big Fat Fabulous Life.” The excess weight brought on by PCOS was eventually turned into her strength, as the entire idea of the series was that Thore doesn’t feel bad about her unconventional appearance, that her life is just as fabulous as if she looked what many would describe as perfect.

The looming issues

What keeps Whitney on her toes more than anything else, and definitely causes stress in both her professional and love life, is the prospect of PCOS acting up and its symptoms worsening. There are many troubles that its chronic sufferers have to deal with, and a lot of them influence the physical appearance negatively – something that greatly bothers her, for obvious reasons.

First of all, the condition causes greater-than-normal female hormone imbalance, which leads to irregular and painful periods, excessive facial hair growth, and acne. Most importantly, PCOS leads to severe weight gain, which is how Thore got to the size as she appears today and is televised in. She often finds herself having to follow rather strict diets so as to avoid numerous health issues.

She also has to deal with the possibility of never being able to conceive a child, as PCOS alters the levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is produced in the hypothalamus and is responsible for creating luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Its products stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen and progesterone, while in men it signals the testes to produce testosterone.

GnRH is produced in excess in Whitney’s case, causing the ovaries to create excess testosterone, which in turn stimulates the appearance of masculine features, such as facial hair. Her ovulation cycle is also rendered almost non-functional, and doctors have to take great care of her reproductive system through frequent check-ups.

The hormonal imbalance also has a massive influence on Whitney’s feelings, causing her to be more vulnerable, trusting, but ultimately explosive. Fans have speculated that she may not have entered at least some of the publicly known relationships, had she only been feeling a little less, and thinking somewhat more.

The long wrong train

Since Whitney far from resembles a fashion strip supermodel, and her weight is approximately 300lbs, almost 140kgs at the moment, it’s not really surprising that she has a hard time navigating romantic endeavors. There’s admittedly someone for everyone out there, but it’s been particularly tough for Thore to find this special man.

Fans have many theories as to why her former partners entered a relationship her, with the more cynical ones suggesting that the only real benefit of dating Whitney is her status as a reality TV star. It is coincidingly also true that pretty much every single one of her exes had the goal of making a lot of money.

Lennie Alehat

Whitney’s dating history goes back to high school, at which point she had an online boyfriend. This didn’t work out, however, as the relationship turned sour upon Thore realizing that the man was her cousin. Her first publicly known boyfriend is Lennie Alehat, whom she dated in the second season of the show in 2015.

They dated for approximately a year and a half, but then had to end the relationship due to various differences. More specifically, it was 2016 and the fourth season of the series when Whitney became very suspicious of Lennie’s private matters, supposing that he may have cheated on her.

Had a lot of haters today spouting nonsense but I’m always grateful this wonderful person has my back. pic.twitter.com/mVBG76G4Pp

— Lennie Alehat (@LennieAlehat) December 20, 2018

This scandal was never clarified, however, and so Lennie managed to save face quite well, as nobody has a negative thing to say about him today. Fans have wondered whether Thore simply over-reacted too a perhaps delusional claim that she never bothered to thoroughly check. What definitely influenced the situation were Whitney’s aforementioned health issues, with raging hormones causing all kinds of emotional reactions, as per usual.

Whitney left Lennie on camera, in the middle of an episode. He definitely didn’t expect a decision so strong and yet so sudden, but still managed to prevent himself becoming overly emotional and blowing his top. The break-up left the two on amicable terms, which was evidenced many years down the line. In mid-2023, the two are good friends and they chat from time to time.

Avi Lang

It looks like Whitney wasted no time finding someone to fill the hole Lennie left behind, as she found herself dating another man mere months later. She secretly began seeing a certain Jewish man named Avi Lang, but the need to keep a secret wasn’t Whitney’s.

It was Avi, in fact, who asked her to keep the whole relationship strictly hush-hush. Whitney thought that Lang was perhaps ashamed of her, and started thinking the worst. Again, it didn’t help that her PCOS was causing excess hormones to run rampant.

Instead of confirming her fears, Avi told her that he’s actually very self-conscious about his nose, having sent her a detailed childhood story in direct messages. He was apparently the only Jewish child in his class in the UK, and the others didn’t appreciate his unconventional nose shape, having made fun of him on many occasions.

Stuck in middle school with these supposed bullies until the ripe age of 18, Avi purports that he developed massive insecurities by the time everything was already over, and that he can’t even bear to look at his nose or have others see it. Hence, Whitney posting selfies with him on social media would greatly inconvenience him.

She agreed to the request and proceeded to secretly date Lang for another seven months, during which time the fans had barely a shred of information about what was going on. Whitney went as far as to try a wedding dress on for Avi, but things came crashing down just as she reached peak fulfilment.

A certain Nada Louis reached out to Whitney in March 2016, explaining that she was actually dating Avi, who was double-timing her. She sent pictures as evidence, and Thore’s heart broke yet again. It was later revealed that Lang had swindled another 20 women of similar shapes and sizes, evidently using their lack of confidence for his twisted benefit.

The women all came together and formed a support group for everyone wronged by Avi, and at least he never achieved any positive attention from appearing in the show, since he had to avoid that as well.

Chase Severino

Whitney’s definitely most talked-about ex is Chase Severino, whom she met through her fitness buddy and professional trainer Ryan Andreas. On a side note, Whitney and Ryan swiped right on each other on a dating app, but decided after meeting only once that it’d be better if they remained friends. They’ve had a loving and fulfilling friendship since making that decision, and there have been no issues with Ryan whatsoever.

Chase was introduced to Whitney’s life and the show as well in 2019, its sixth season. They quickly took a liking to one another and to hit it off, with Thore especially being overjoyed with Severino’s muscular appearance.

Naturally, many fans wondered whether something was going on behind what they could see, as Chase seemed to be far out of Whitney’s league. Most suspected ulterior motives and foul play, but they could do nothing except wait to be proved right later on.

Chase proposed to Whitney in October 2019, and they became engaged. However, it was good for the TV star that they never went through with that engagement, as her hubby-to-be turned out to be cheating, big time. Their relationship promptly ended in early June 2020.

Not only was he sleeping with multiple women throughout their relationship, Chase also had another full-time girlfriend, whom he ended up impregnating. It was then too late to remain in the lie, and he came clean to Whitney in front of the cameras. She was obviously disgusted, and once again heartbroken and disappointed.

The French Man

Thore’s most recent relationship is with a certain French man, whose identity she tried her best to keep hidden. However, the audience was one step ahead of the production team, and their tiny slip-up gave the hungry fans more than enough information as to who the new beau might be.

Several viewers of a regular episode caught in a video call that the man’s name was Nil, and they got around to working with the rest of the community to figure out his identity. The mob eventually settled on a certain French rapper named Nail Rayner.

While everyone is aching to know more, Whitney has remained relatively tight-lipped about her new partner, stating only that the two are in an open relationship due to not being able to see each other very often. Still, in spite of the fact that they live in different countries, the audience couldn’t help but wonder why Whitney can’t find more time for him.

As far as everyone can tell, Whitney’s love life is still as mysterious and as dramatic as ever, with even her latest boyfriend not providing a semblance of what is normally the wealth of having a partner. Perhaps until she changes the way she goes about this business, Thore is possibly on the way towards another trainwreck.