Darlene Cates

Lost 244 pounds in 2012, bringing her weight from 575 pounds to 331.
Author and screenwriter Peter Hedges saw a tape of her on the segment of Sally Jessy Raphael (1983) entitled, "Too Heavy to Leave Their House." On the show she spoke of her self-imposed imprisonment. Hedges, writer of What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) offered her the role of the morbidly obese mother in the film, which she accepted.
After years of loneliness, reclusive behavior and chronic depression, she began to return to the world despite her obesity with help of an anti-depressant medication and her story became public news.
Has since done children's school seminars on weight and self-esteem.
In her early years she took solace in food. Her overeating, compounded by a thyroid condition and slow metabolism, led to substantial weight gains, and in 1986 pelvic infections kept her bedridden for two years, during which she gained 150 pounds.

I wish everyone that's kind of hiding away at home still could understand or could have the same experience that I did. Once I did the [Sally Jessy Raphael (1983)] show, all of a sudden I realized that if I went out and people stared at me, I wouldn't know if they were staring at me because I was fat or because they recognized me from being on TV. That empowered me.
[about working on What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)] I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a risk and do something exciting. I talked with the author,Peter Hedges. There were some things in the book that I didn't like. We talked about those extensively and I trusted him because the character was based on somebody that meant something to him in his life. So I knew that it wouldn't be anything horrible. As we went along I was so proud of the way that the character was portrayed and so proud of the way that the children came around to see that this woman had these good qualities, and how much she really did care about her family.