Linda, 42, Married, 3 kids
Harasses her daughter for being overweight
5’6” and 200 lbs.

Linda calls her daughter Leighann nasty names about being overweight and she stands by smiling as her 13-year-old son Kevin does the same. Linda says that Leighann is too lazy for her own good and she desperately wants her to lose weight.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HER ABOUT HER WEIGHT?
She makes me very frustrated. When we’re cleaning, I’ll ask her to sweep up everything. She’ll put a chair in the middle of the floor and sweep as she sits down. I’ll call her “you fat bitch! Please get off your ass and do something.” You’ve got to remember Leighann is 260 pounds and she’s got the broom in front of her. I say, “Leighann, you stay in and don’t get exercise, so please stand up and do it.” And I get so annoyed. My favorite thing is to call her fat bitch! She answers to bitch, but not fat bitch. I know it hurts. I’ve called her “fat f***!” many times. She’ll do a chore wrong on purpose. I start with the cursing.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF OVERWEIGHT?
I do consider myself overweight. I’m 5’4” and 210 pounds. Leighann and I even share clothes. I just hide it well. I’ve always battled weight. I don’t want her to suffer in school like I did, getting called “Truck Driver.”

DO YOU AND LEIGHANN FIGHT ABOUT HER WEIGHT?
We have arguments. She gets nasty, and I get nasty back. Leighann will put her bathing suit on and not come in. I’m trying to get her to do things, but she won’t. I told her to get out of the house. My parents and I share a pool. I got very aggravated because all she wants to do is sit down and watch movies with me. She reads books, but that’s not exercise.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HER ABOUT HER EATING?
Sometimes I’ll turn around and say, “Leighann, didn’t you have enough?” when I see her eating too much. I’ll buy five cases of pop, and two days later all of the pop is gone. I’ll say to Leighann, “Excuse me, there’s only four of us in the house! Did you drink all the pop?”

DO YOU THINK SHE GETS ENOUGH EXERCISE?
I tell her “Get up off your fat ass and move.” It’s not good. She needs to be moving around more. She can’t sit around, listening to radio and constantly eating. Yes, she’s a fat bitch! When I ask her to do something, she finds an excuse. She always has a headache of convenience. She’s getting extremely lazy. I’ve always got to pull her away from TV.

HOW HAS LEIGHANN TRIED TO LOSE WEIGHT?
She’s tried diet books and Weight Watchers, but she never sticks with it. She was only losing a pound a week. She got frustrated and stopped. Then she asked me to get chromium picolinate, a fat-blocker and a carb-stopper. You take it before your meal. She lost about 16 pounds with this, but when you stop taking it, the weight comes back. The book said you don’t have to diet with this pill, so you lost the weight but only temporarily. She won’t go to the gym because she’s embarrassed.

WHY DID LEIGHANN START GAINING WEIGHT?
She goes overboard on things she likes. She loves all the bad foods. She’ll put four scoops of ice cream in a bowl, then put chocolate syrup on it and top it with walnuts. Then she’ll go back and get more. She’s spoiled with cake; she will only eat a homemade chocolate cake, not a store-bought cake. I make her a special cake just for birthday parties. She’s a carb junkie. She loves to eat bagels and macaroni and cheese. She drinks a lot of pop. If I buy soda, she’ll sneak it. She doesn’t realize I do watch what she touches. At school, she eats a hamburger and French fries every lunch.

DO YOUR OTHER KIDS HAVE WEIGHT ISSUES?
I have a 13-year-old boy named Kevin. He’s constantly fighting with Leighann. The 21-year-old moved out. He’s heavy as well. He’s on a carb diet. Kevin was heavy, but this summer thinned him out when he grew taller. He’s 170 pounds and 5’8”.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR HER?
She’s in a shell and when she’s ready, a beautiful thin woman will step out. I tell her right now she’s in a costume and she’s the ugly duckling we just have to find the swan.

WHAT DOES YOUR SON KEVIN SAY TO HER?
He called her Oompa Loompa in the Laundromat. He was inflating cheeks and jumping up and down. That’s why she was chasing him around. He loves to antagonize her. He thinks it is funny.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAMILY’S WEIGHT HISTORY LIKE?
My mom gained a lot of weight after she had her last child. She was about 400 pounds. So I was responsible for the food shopping. I had gained a lot of weight myself. I was 12-15 years old. I was up to 265 pounds. I basically had my brother’s old clothes. I looked like a boy. My first year of high school, I tried to dress up a bit and a young man called me: “Look, the truck driver’s wearing a skirt!” That was my nickname, also “steamroller.” I went on a diet. I stopped eating and I started being very active. I went down to 140 pounds. My sisters have had gastric bypass surgery. How can you be happy living like that? You can’t eat. My sister can’t go out and eat anymore because she can only eat a tablespoon.