The Tragic Story Of My 600-Lb Life's Dottie

Dottie Perkins (married name Potts) first appeared on TLC's My 600-lb Life in 2016, according to Distractify, at which time she weighed 641.9 lbs. While she became one of the cast members who underwent a dramatic transformation, Dottie's journey has been anything but easy. Dottie, who hails from Oxford, Miss., struggled with obesity throughout her childhood and teenage years, as she turned to food as a coping mechanism because she felt neglected by her mom, according to The Cinemaholic. By 18, Dottie weighed over 300 lbs. She first appeared on TLC's series when she was 34 years old.

Dottie had two sons and her eldest, Daniel, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which understandably was a struggle for Dottie and triggered more weight gain, per The Cinemaholic. So she started working with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan (aka Dr. Now) and he hospitalized her to monitor her progress. In the midst of her weight loss efforts, however, Dottie lost Daniel in 2016 when he was just 13 years old, per Distractify. This loss devastated Dottie, but she still managed to stay on track. However, when she appeared on TLC's of My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?, Dottie had some pretty major decisions to make. Here's what went down.

Dottie Perkins appeared on TLC's My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now? in May 2020 and the follow-up series offered some major updates. Since Dottie began her journey with Dr. Now, she had lost 271 lbs, per Distractify. However, an incision made during one of her surgeries had opened after Dottie started putting on some weight, landing her back in the hospital. She said of her younger son: "I feel like I'm in hell, and I have to get back home to see Landon. He can't keep going without me."

Tragically, that was not the only thing going on in Dottie's life. Dottie moved into a hotel with Landon to get out of her house and away from her husband, Chris Potts, due to his drinking, according to The Cinemaholic. "I honestly don't think Chris is going to really change like he needs and truly give up alcohol because I've been through this before with him a long time ago," Dottie said of Chris, according to Distractify.

"But the only way for me and Landon to go back home and into that environment again is for him to care about us more than getting drunk and lying about it," Dottie added. "So if he wants us back, he's going to have to change all that for good. But I just don't see that happening." Dottie also came forward to speak out about her time on My 600-lb Life and she didn't have good things to say.

After Dottie Perkins finished filming My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?, she ended up filing a lawsuit against Megalomedia, the studio behind the TLC series, according to Starcasm. In fact, Dottie is the sixth cast member to sue the production company.

Dottie claims that producers lied to her, telling her she was gaining weight when she was losing it. Plus — and this complaint is consistent for all six cast members — the producers supposedly lied about covering their medical expenses, per Starcasm. So Dottie was left with unpaid medical bills after allegedly being told by Megalomedia that the production company would pay for all weight loss treatments, according to Distractify. 

To make matters worse, Dottie's lawsuit claims that Megalomedia made her eat excessive amounts of unhealthy foods to keep up the "narrative" that Dottie was failing at the treatment plan given to her by Dr. Nowzaradan, according to Starcasm. It certainly makes one question how "real" (or how ethical) reality TV can sometimes be.