‘1000-Lb. Best Friends’: Meghan & Vannessa on Inspiring Viewers in New TLC Series
Q&A
After the hit success of 1000-Lb. Sisters, TLC is back with another dynamic duo going through the highs and lows of weight loss on the new series 1000-Lb. Best Friends, which premieres February 7.
Viewers may recognize best friends Meghan Crumpler and Vannessa Cross from the Discovery+ series Too Large, but they are ready to take life by the reins and start a new journey to achieve their weight loss goals together. Also joined by friends Tina and Ashely, this fierce foursome hopes to inspire viewers with their powerful stories and strong relationships, proving that unbreakable bonds can help you overcome anything.
Meghan and Vannessa sat down with TV Insider to talk about the new show, their journeys thus far, and what they hope people will take away from the series.
You two have known each other since middle school. How has your relationship grown and changed over the years?
Meghan: Well, you know, for a little bit when I first started having health issues, I did kind of seclude myself. We stayed connected, obviously, you do that when you’re friends, but it became more of chatting on the phone and calling each other through video chat and things like that because I wasn’t able to get out of the house very much with my oxygen. Thank God that has all changed for me and we’re able to do a lot more than we used to. But yeah, we’ve pretty much been friends our whole lives, as well as the other girls.
Vannessa: Well, it’s been amazing. Like any friendship, you have your falling outs, you have your get-togethers, but we’ve always stayed best friends. And I would say probably over the past 10 years, we’ve gotten extremely close because being as big as we were, we really didn’t have anybody else. So, we didn’t see each other much because, pretty much, we were housebound, but we talked, like, every day, you know, we live chat almost every day and stuff. So, our friendship has been going strong for a long time.
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Your good friends Tina and Ashely are also featured on the show. What has it been like having them on this journey with you?
Meghan: Well, I actually live with Tina in her basement, so we share quite a bit. I would say the show does feature me and Vannessa because we were on Too Large together, but I would definitely say that Tina and Ashely both are just as amazing as we are, and I think you’ll find that out once you get to see the whole thing unfold. And they’re just amazing women, period.
Vannessa: It’s so amazing to be able to show the world that us four girls, we can overcome — that any woman can overcome anything. But, having Tina and Ashely and being able to show the support they give, the love they give — so they can understand that yeah, me and Meghan, we’re pretty strong women, you know, we do good, but having your girls, that helps so much. I really believe without Tina and Ashely, I don’t even know if I would’ve gotten my act together.
Since your friend group is all going through similar situations, does that support system help you through tough times?
Meghan: Oh, it really does because what’s good about not just having one best friend but multiple best friends — if it was just me and Vannessa or me and Tina or me and Ashely, you know, we might be able to persuade each other. But, when you got the four of us together, you got the other two going, ‘Uh, uh, uh!’ So, we’re a lot more responsible, let’s just put it that way, when there’s four of us to keep each other balanced, and there’s nothing like having someone who can relate to you. There’s nothing like someone who understands back fat and side boobs and things like that.
Vannessa: Because knowing that they’re on the same thing, losing weight, that I am, if I want to mess up, if I’m having a really bad day, stressed out, and I’m at the gas station and I’m looking at the row of pastries and I just want one, I can call any of them girls at any time and be like, ‘Look, this is what’s going through my mind,’ and they’ll be like, ‘Oh my God! I went through that two days ago. Yeah, this is what we gotta do. They’ll show me how to overcome that, and that’s just hard to find.
Vannessa, you say in Episode 1 that it’s hard for you to find “real, true friends” that won’t “use you, judge you or put you down.” Do you feel like bigger women are often mistreated in different kinds of relationships?
Vannessa: Oh, most definitely. I used to think it was only me, but once I turned into an adult, I realized that people will be your friend just because you have good things going on in your life. You get a good job, you get good money, so they’re gonna hang out with you. But, the whole time, they’re talking about you, putting you down, just using you. So, it’s extremely hard to find people that are honest and real. I mean, I don’t wanna, like, put skinny people down at all because there are some skinny people that are really good people, but fat people, for some reason, we don’t like to talk junk, we don’t like to put people down because we know what it feels like, so we don’t want to do that to anybody else. That’s why I feel like big people are more friendlier, more honest, more trustworthy. Just my own opinion.
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Meghan, you have gone through weight loss surgery before while Vannessa has not. What was it like going through that experience?
Meghan: Well, I would definitely say it’s the best thing I ever did in my whole entire life and I should have done it sooner. I am very proud of myself and I hope that Vannessa — as you can see, she’s kind of been struggling — I hope that she takes it for what it is and knows that I had the best intentions when I approached her about the surgery. And yeah, I’m pretty damn proud of myself. It’s been worth every sweat, every bite that I couldn’t eat, which is definitely something you have to learn to give up is certain foods and change your way of life. It’s been worth the struggle.
Vannessa, you say that food is your “joy,” and the first step in taking on a new diet is getting rid of your “joy.” Has your relationship with food changed as you’ve continued down this weight loss journey?
Vannessa: I had to start looking at food different because it was my joy, my happiness, my comfort. I had to find something else, so I’ve been reading and coloring and things of that nature. I get angry, I get upset. I’ve noticed that having to say ‘no’ to the things that I love, it’s emotional. That’s why I go through therapy. So, now instead of letting food be my comfort and my joy, I’m trying to find it in every other aspect of my life, because for so many years, the food was just there, so now I go out and I look and I explore and try to find things — coloring, reading, sewing, just anything to keep my mind occupied.
Meghan, toward the end of the first episode, Tina helps you go through your old, bigger clothes. What did it feel like to see your progress visualized like that?
Meghan: Honestly, I’m a visual person, and it has definitely helped me realize that I’m not the same person I was, for the better, obviously. But, sometimes letting go of that past is not always easy, and that’s something I’m working on.
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What do you hope viewers take the most from the show? What do you hope people who are going through similar situations get out of it?
Meghan: For every one negative comment I get, I have so many positive ones, and I’ve had a lot of private messages that say, ‘Thank you for sharing your story with me.’ There were many years that I used to sit on the couch and watch shows like this and thought, ‘What if? I wish I could do that.’ Even my father was encouraging, telling me, ‘If they can do it, you can do it.’ And that’s what I want these women to know, that it doesn’t matter how far you think you are down in the hole, you can get out of it. There is a way out. As long as there’s breath in your lungs, you can fight back and you can do this. And I believe in you. I believe in each and every one of these people watching, and I hope that they take that and hope it empowers them that we should all inspire each other.
Vannessa: I want everybody to see the struggles of all four of us — the goods, the bads, the uglies — and hopefully be able to help some women or men overcome being this big and want to better themselves in life. I just want them to see that in all four of us girls, the struggle is different and in its own way. So, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to reach somebody that just needs to hear it and help them to start losing weight and getting their life together as well. I would give anything if I could reach just one person to change their life. That would make me feel so good.
1000-Lb. Best Friends, Series Premiere, Monday, February 7, 10/9c, TLC
