The 'My Big Fat Fabulous Life' star is speaking out.
Whitney Way Thore is addressing the criticism against her. One day after it was revealed that season 11 of My Big Fat Fabulous Life will feature footage of Barbara "Babs" Thore's funeral, Whitney took to Instagram to defend her family's decision to allow cameras to capture the somber occasion.
Whitney shared a screenshot of a text message exchange with her father, Glenn, and brother, Hunter.
"I've read some of the comments that are critical of us allowing Babs funeral to be filmed," Glenn wrote in his message to his kids. "When I was making the decision to allow her funeral to be filmed I thought about people like Princess Diana or more recently the Queen of England whose family felt that having their love one shared with an adoring public was the reason to put their privacy aside."
Whitney responded to her dad by writing, "Of course, that's why we did [film the funeral]."
"You made the right decision," she wrote to her dad. "Don't read the comments anywhere except on my posts -- everywhere else people are more likely to be heinous. The normal supportive fans comment on my stuff. Love you, Daddy! Mommy is so very proud of you!"
Hunter agreed, chiming in, "Whitney is right. Love you guys."
Whitney added a lengthy caption to her post, a tearful, audio version of which was also included.
"I know a lot of people hate me, and I don't care why," she began. "I know that I've dealt with stalkers, vandals, death threats, and harassment online and off to the point of developing severe anxiety and almost never leaving my house."
"I've dealt with this for the last decade, mostly very quietly, but PLEASE, I am asking some of y'all to think. However much you need the hate that you feel toward me to keep you busy, or entertain you, or distract you from your own s**tty life, PLEASE remember, just for this one instance, that you're talking about my dead mother and there is a family who reads this," Whitney continued. "There are humans who are grieving who read this."
"I know my life is a big joke to many of you -- something you can hate watch and gossip to your friends about," she added. "But the way some of y'all are is terrifying and my poor father does need to read this s**t. I'm asking you, just this once, to think about my father and my family. He doesn't deserve to read these things."
Barbara died from cerebral amyloid angiopathy in December. She was 76. On Tuesday, TLC unveiled the season 11 trailer for My Big Fat Fabulous Life. The early look at the season showed Whitney eulogizing her late mother at the funeral.
"I don't know how we're gonna go one without her," Whitney said in the trailer, "but I know that she would want us to figure it out."
My Big Fat Fabulous Life will return for season 11 Sept. 5 on TLC.
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