TV Personalities and WLS: Is it taboo to mention WLS on TV?

If you happened to catch tonight's new episode of My Cat from Hell, you probably were able to guess that Jackson Galaxy had WLS, but the show does some fancy editing so it seems like it's some big secret. He shows a photo of himself weighing 400 pounds and states that he knew he had to change his life. But there is no mention of how he changed his life! A quick internet search reveals that he had gastric bypass, but why can't he just come out and say that on tv. I think that it would help dispel misconceptions that people have about WLS if tv personalities were more open about it. What do other people think? Is this kind of editing misleading? Does it give MO people the impression that they can lose weight "on their own," leading them to blame themselves when they fail?

Sure it would help relieve the stigma. But the TV personalities might end up losing their popularity if they tell.  Much of the public sees weight loss surgery as cheating and taking the easy way out.

The easy way out lol. That is so far from the truth.

I agree the stigma needs to be lifted from seeking medical treatment of any kind for obesity. More studies like this http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150406193001.ht m on the long term effectiveness (or lack of) of most commercial weight loss programs for those affected by obesity will help... and more understanding of what causes obesity... a quick look at any WLS stories comment section online will find ignorant comments like "should have got off the couch and moved more" "stop eating crap and push away from the table" etc. It's lack of understanding... those that are affected know it's waaay more than putting down the bread roll and jogging. If it were that "easy" there wouldn't be 93 million people affected by obesity.

I love this simple web of the causes of obesity ;) http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html and this video is cool for explaining some of the science https://twitter.com/Eggface/status/588119168777465856  hopefully with education and more and more people sharing personal stories the stigma will ease. 

~Michelle "Shelly"

It's a difficult one.  In principle, by being honest, they are helping others. But over here in the UK a couple of well-known people had surgery and they were lambasted by the gutter press and social media. And in fact, the effect might have been negative as all the tabloid papers vied to find horror stories, often wildly inaccurate. 

The show and "celebrity" you speak of are not on my personal radar, so I will give my "take" on celebrities, in general.

I'm no great fan of Star Jones, but remarks she said made some sense (she's a lawyer-she chooses her words carefully). She said she never wanted to publilize her WLS, because her adoring fans (she's pretty conceited), would follow in her footsteps, get WLS, and then might have bad results, blame her, and sue her, etc. and she'd "feel bad"...something like that.... Carnie Wilson was VERY open--even having her WLS live, on the internet. The girl has had hell on earth, with the press, with her regains, etc. She probably wishes SHE had kept her mouth shut..

It's sad that we, as a public, think celebrities owe us their EVERYTHING. For me, my ticket $$ entitles me to the best acting, singing,etc the celebrity can give me. PERIOD. I don't give a rat's ass who he votes for, who he sleeps with, how many drugs he uses, or how he maintains his weight....none of my business

Yeah that is what Al Roker said as well. He wanted it secret because he said if someone had it and died because of him he would feel horrible. I believe they are welcome to have spme private in their life.

But Al said it in a much nicer way...but that's probably just MY perception, because I like/respect HIM, while Star makes my butt want to take a dip of snuff...

I agree with you 100%. Starr kept denying it all the way while Al was gracious about it and forewarned people. Plus he and I went to the same college so I kind of like him for that.

I agree that celebrities have a right to privacy, but his reasoning really bugged me.  He was okay with publishing Al Roker's Big Bad Book of Barbecue, which is going to be much more harmful than saying he had this surgery.