The former world’s fattest man who once weighed 80 stone before losing weight reveals how he piled the pounds back on after his relationship ended

The former world’s fattest man – who at his heaviest weighed 135lbs (63kg) – has revealed how he gained weight again after previously losing it when he found love with an American 13 years his junior.

Paul Mason from Ipswich has spoken openly about his fluctuating weight, admitting he now weighs 60lbs and is bedridden, but that he is determined to continue enjoying life and helping others not make the same ‘mistakes’ as he did.

Speak with The mirrorhe said, ‘A doctor once told me I’d be happy to reach 40, and now here I am, almost a pensioner.

“I may not be able to walk now, but I’m okay with it. I just want to use my time to help others and make sure they don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

He had previously lost weight to 19 stone after finding love in 2010 and undergoing gastric bypass surgery. But he gained the weight back after his relationship with American Rebecca Mountain, 13 years his junior, ended in divorce.

When his relationship with American Rebecca Mountain (right), who is 13 years his junior, ended in divorce, Paul Mason returned to the UK from the US and began to gain weight again.

Paul, from Ipswich, has spoken candidly about his fluctuating weight, saying doctors predicted he would die before he was 40 (pictured in 2008, when he was at his heaviest, 80 stone).

Paul, who has beaten all predictions and reached the age of 64, weighed 80 stone at his heaviest ever (pictured in 2023)

In 2021, he hit rock bottom with depression and attempted suicide after reaching “the end of his rope” and becoming “desperate,” but immediately regretted it and called an ambulance.

However, the elevator in his building was broken and because of his size, two fire engines had to be called before eight men could carry him out in a sling.

He said: ‘It got so bad I couldn’t breathe and they sent a paramedic who insisted I go to hospital. It was horrible – there were people outside taking pictures.’

Paul claims he is determined never to hit such a low point again and now lives in a purpose-built apartment in a care home on the south coast.

He can’t walk, so he gets around in an extra wide electric wheelchair. He also has a new hobby: gardening.

Paul shot to fame in the documentary The World’s Fattest Man, which showed him weighing 70st and eating 20,000 calories a day, including 40 bars of chocolate, huge portions of fried food and takeaways.

He previously made headlines when he revealed that a hospital was planning to cremate him in a special animal slaughterhouse if he died, saying they couldn’t handle his size themselves.

Paul said he was “disgusted” by the plans drawn up during his three-year stay in a hospital ward, which included cremating an animal if he died.

Paul started going to the gym in 2018 to keep the pounds off, but after the breakup with his girlfriend, the pounds came back on.

Paul dropped to 19 stone after finding love in 2010 and undergoing gastric bypass surgery

The former postman told ITV documentary The World’s Fattest Man: 10 Years On that he was treated inhumanely as he battled his increasing weight.

“If I died in the hospital, they couldn’t handle someone my size. So they put a form out that said if I died in the hospital, they would have to take me to a slaughterhouse, where the big animals go to die… And I would be cremated in the animal cremation,” Paul said.

“I thought it was disgusting. I couldn’t believe they did that,” he added.

Paul explained that it became increasingly difficult to leave the house when he was at his heaviest. Because his diet of 40 bars of chocolate a day caused his teeth to crumble, he pulled out the cracked ones himself, according to the Sun.

He claimed he could kill a nerve by heating needles and sterilizing his mouth before inserting the needle directly into his gums. He estimates he has removed at least a dozen of his own teeth using this method.

After successful gastric bypass surgery in 2010, he was reduced to 220 pounds and soon moved to the United States to be with Rebecca Mountain, who was 13 years his junior.

While living in the United States, Paul underwent surgeries to remove his excess skin.

But he soon found himself weighing more than 50 pounds again after indulging in pizza when his relationship with Rebecca ended.

The basic health insurance he could afford in the US was not sufficient for his health condition, Paul previously told the Mirror.

Before Paul went to work for Mrs Mountain, a 150-pound vegetarian, in Massachusetts in 2014, caring for Paul cost the British taxpayer £100,000 a year, an estimated £1.5 million in total.

Paul, who rose to fame on the TLC series World’s Fattest Man, said at his worst he pulled out his own teeth because they were crumbling from his diet of 40 chocolate bars a day (pictured from 2009)

The former fattest man in the world still had 8 stone of excess skin in 2013

However, he soon found himself weighing over 50 pounds again after indulging in pizza when his relationship with Rebecca ended.

He can’t walk, so to get around he uses an extra-wide electric wheelchair and he’s even taken up a new hobby: gardening (photo from 2017)

During a medical emergency in 2002, firefighters had to remove a window and some brickwork so a forklift could transport the man from the house and to hospital in a five-ton ambulance specially built for obese people.

In 2009, he required life-saving surgery after consuming 20,000 calories a day, including three family meals a night.

In 2010, he underwent gastric bypass surgery, which reduced his stomach to the size of an egg.

In 2013, Ms. Mountain contacted Mr. Mason after watching a documentary about him. The couple became engaged, and in May 2015, he had four bricks of excess skin cut from his body in a nine-hour procedure in New York.

The NHS refused to perform the £30,000 operation until his weight had been stable for two years.

Despite losing 220 pounds, the couple called off their engagement in September 2015.

In 2019, he returned to the UK ‘to get the help I needed to get my life back on track’. Paul claimed at the time that he required multiple operations, including new knees, a hip and numerous hernia operations, costing the NHS more than £100,000.

If you would like to speak to someone, call the Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit Samaritans.org