Another ‘My 600-lb Life’ Cast Member Gone: Pattern of Death Worries Fans
Dolly Martinez from My 600-lb Life has died at age 30.
Martinez appeared on the TLC weight-loss show in 2022. Her cause of death was congestive heart failure, her mother told TMZ.
Martinez’s sister, Lindsey Cooper, mourned her sister in an April 11 Facebook post.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my beautiful sister, Dolly,” she wrote. “Dolly had the brightest personality she could light up any room with her laughter, her kindness, and her loving spirit … Rest peacefully, Dolly. You will always be loved, always be missed, and never forgotten.”
More than a dozen ‘My 600-lb Life’ alums have died
Martinez’s death comes a little more than two months after the death of another My 600-lb Life star, Charity Pierce. Pierce, who appeared on season 3 of the reality series, died January 27 at age 50. She had been in hospice care for about two months due to various health issues, including lymphedema and fluid buildup in her lungs, People reported.
The deaths of Martinez and Pierce are part of a pattern for alums of My 600-lb Life. More than a dozen people who appeared on the show – which stars Houston weigh-loss surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, aka Dr. Now – have passed away since it premiered in 2012.
Aside from highlighting the serious health consequences of extreme obesity (Martinez weighed 593 pounds in her episode), the recent deaths have sparked concern among people who follow the show.
Critics call TLC reality series a ‘carnival sideshow’
On Reddit, several commenters argued that My 600-lb Life was exploitative and that people in dire financial circumstances might agree to filming in order to access potentially life-saving medical care.
“I feel like the world would be a slightly better place if we didn’t turn people looking for medical help into a carnival sideshow,” one person wrote.
“The people featured all have a similar economic background, which tells you everything about the exploitative nature of the show,” someone else commented. “Turning themselves into entertainment was a trade off to have the network pay for their physical and mental treatment to recover.”
But one fan pointed out that for some participants, My 600-lb Life might be their last chance at qualifying for bariatric surgery.
“Without a show like this though, I’d worry that a lot of the people on My 600lbs Life wouldn’t even have a chance to get better,” they wrote. “Once people get to Dr. Now, they are at the point where their health is so severely impacted that bariatric surgery is a matter of life/death. It’s all very sad. I like the show and seeing the success stories and sadly a lot of people’s stories aren’t successes. There are patients who have died shortly after filming.”
“Someone dies from the show and now people want to get on their high horse and frame it as a problem because of the show? The show didn’t create eating disorders,” another person wrote.
Viewers aren’t the only people who have concerns about the ethics of My 600-lb Life. Before her death in 2021, Gina Krasley sued My 600-lb Life for negligence and emotional distress, arguing that producers put a concerns for ratings above her health, E! News reported. She was just one of several past participants who took legal action against the show’s producers, Megalomedia. In 2022, those lawsuits were dismissed by a Texas court.
Meanwhile, the future of My 600-lb Life on TLC is unclear. New episodes last aired in early 2025, and Dr. Now has a new show, The 6000-lb Diaries, on Lifetime.
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