A woman has revealed how being publicly fat-shamed on a flight by a flight attendant inspired her to turn her ordeal into a novel.
In 2013 YA author Kelly deVos from Gilbert, Arizona was about to board her flight for a business trip to Salt Lake City in Utah.
However, speaking to the New York Post, the now 43-year-old revealed that as she was boarding, a flight attendant stopped her and told her she would need to buy a second seat because she was too big for a single one.
Inspiration: YA author Kelly deVos, 43, from Gilbert, Arizona has revealed how being publicly fat-shamed on a flight by a flight attendant inspired her to turn her ordeal into a novel
Shamed: In 2013 deVos was about to board a flight to Salt Lake City in Utah but was told she would need to buy an extra seat for $300 because of her weight
‘They forced me to buy a second seat for $300,’ the married mom who weighed 333 pounds at the time explained.
While she immediately offered her credit card, she worried about how she was going to explain the added expense to her boss.
Positive: She has since used the experience to her advantage, drawing inspiration from the ordeal for her new YA novel
However, as the flight was overbooked, deVos needn’t have worried – the same flight attendant immediately refunded the second ticket so another passenger could avail of the seat, and deVos easily slipped into her original single seat unaided.
While she described the experience as humiliating, deVos didn’t let it go to waste and used her experience as inspiration for her novel Fat Girl on a Plane.
DeVos’ debut novel follows a young, aspiring fashion designer across two timelines: the ‘before,’ when Cookie is a plus-sized 17-year-old, and the ‘after’ two years later, when she’s lost a significant amount of weight via a punishing diet.
‘Fat or thin, [Cookie] always had the capability to achieve her dreams,’ deVos explained.
‘You don’t always have to be involved in some weight-loss story. You can be both fat and happy.’
She has also recently undergone gastric sleeve surgery in February 2018 after she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Unnecessary: As the plane was overbooked, her extra seat had to be given to another passenger and Kelly was able to fit into her original seat with ease
Changes: The author weighed 333 pounds at the time but has since lost 60 pounds after she underwent gastric bypass to help manage her diabetes
Since then, she says she’s dropped around 60 pounds, has got her diabetes under control and feels healthy.
She’s also written a personal opinion piece for The New York Times about passing on her own body issues to her daughter after she found out her daughter wanted to lose weight but kept it a secret from her.
‘The problem with today’s version of body positivity is that it refuses to acknowledge that no one approach is right for every person,’ she suggested.
‘One teenager might grow up to be healthy at any weight, and another might end up in the hospital. It left my own daughter afraid to approach me about a topic on which I have both personal experience and expertise. It left me feeling that I couldn’t voice the rational concerns I have about diabetes.’
‘In my case, I’m still trying to get it right. But I’ve come to feel that loving yourself and desiring to change yourself are two sentiments that should be able to peacefully coexist,’ she added.