Latonya Pottain, who gained notoriety as a memorable subject of “My 600-lb Life,” died as a result of congestive heart failure. She was 40.
The reality star died May 17 at CHRISTUS Highland Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana.
A spokesperson for the Natchitoches Parish Coroner’s Office confirmed Pottain’s preliminary cause of death was congestive heart failure. The final autopsy report has yet to be completed.
According to TMZ, Pottain’s family members visited her at her home on Saturday morning and noticed she was having trouble breathing and said she was “extremely uncomfortable.”
Paramedics were dispatched to the residence later that day after she went into cardiac arrest, Pottain’s brother told the outlet.
Pottain first appeared on Season 11 of the TLC reality series “My 600-lb Life,” which chronicled her unsuccessful attempts to lose weight.
The show’s star, Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, the bariatric surgery expert also known as Dr. Now, often locked horns with the morbidly obese hairstylist for failing to comply with the weight-loss program he designed for her.
“When I eat, it takes the stress away,” she rationalized in one episode. “That’s what I do to help me cope with things.”
She lost weight on only one occasion, after she was hospitalized due to her heart issues.
Every other time, Pottain packed on pounds instead of dropping them.
When she first visited Nowzaradan’s Houston-area clinic, the motorized wheelchair-bound woman weighed 482 pounds. Five years later when she returned for the show, Pottain weighed 631 pounds.
“I know the food is unhealthy and not good for me,” she said, adding: “But with the habit that I have for long, it’s hard to change it. I’m disappointed in myself for getting to this place.”
Off the show, fans kept up with her continued attempts to get healthy on social media.
On several occasions in the fall, she promoted a GoFundMe campaign to help with financial assistance following a hospitalization.
In her fundraising message, Pottain explained that since the show she relocated to Houston to have her surgery.
“While being in the Houston hospital, the medication they gave me, my body rejected it and almost killed me. So for 6 months, I have not been able to sit up on my own without assistance. I am still on my weight loss journey, but not being mobile makes it hard to get things done.”
