Whitney Thore’s Path is getting candid about her split. In an interview with ET’s Deidre Behar, the My Big Fabulous Life admitted that she is still in love with her ex-boyfriend, who viewers only know as the Frenchman.
“I’m still in love with him. We actually broke up in April, a year ago,” she said of the mystery man. “… He’s the best. He’s the best man I’ve ever met.”
As for why they couldn’t make it work, Thore explained, “Unfortunately, that’s one of those things that comes with reality TV, which is, I would say, one of the downsides. He doesn’t want a public life at all.”
“That’s the biggest (reason we split) for sure… He’s not interested (in reality TV),” she said. “What happened after the speculation and this and that (is) he saw how crazy people on the internet were (and) that was it. He was done.”
Now, Thore is re-entering the dating world, though she’s not exactly jumping in headfirst.
“I haven’t been out much… I haven’t been approached by a single man at all. The dating sites are pretty bad in Greensboro… There’s not a lot to choose from,” she said of her North Carolina hometown. “Especially when you have this other person, this other relationship that you love so much, it’s really hard to get excited about dating. But I don’t want to be alone forever, (so I’m) trying to make an effort to meet a man.”
Ultimately, Thore said she is “trying to move on” from the Frenchman.
“If someone amazing showed up at my door, I would, but you know how it is when you love someone. It sets a high bar,” she said. “I joke about being desperate, but the truth is, I wish I was. If I was really desperate, I could have someone. But I’m not. I know what I want. I know what I deserve. I don’t even think my standards are too high or anything. I think they’re just the bare minimum. I’m still working through that, but I’m also certainly open to dating.”
Thore’s relationship status is one reason she feels like she’s been “in the midst of a midlife crisis” since her 40th birthday in April.
“I turned 40 and I cared a lot. It hit me like a ton of bricks, actually,” she said. “… Part of it isn’t even necessarily how I feel about being 40. I think regardless of how I feel about it, society has certain expectations of a 40-year-old woman and what her life is like. I feel like it’s not that different from being fat. I can be confident in myself all day long, but people are still going to perceive me with their own judgments.”
Another reason for her discontent is that she is “examining my fertility.”
“[I’m wondering if]I’m going to have kids and mourning the fact that it really might not happen,” she said. “… That’s a real thing that I kind of have to deal with. I’ve been struggling, for sure. I’m not ready to get another cat at this point.”
While many women have decided to pursue motherhood on their own, Thore told ET that she doesn’t feel like that’s an option for her.
“If I don’t have a partner, then I don’t want a child. People say you can adopt, you can do it yourself. Of course you can. I think that’s wonderful for women who want to take that on. It’s not something I want,” she said. “I know, no matter how much you plan, you can always end up being a single mother… but I’m (not) going to do that intentionally. It’s not something I feel confident enough about.”
“I’ve thought about it a lot and I could imagine my life without children if I had a partner, but I can’t imagine the rest of my life without a partner,” Thore added. “I’m still dealing with it… It’s something I’m not used to thinking about. It’s something I always assumed would happen, and so accepting that it won’t feel like a loss… It feels like something I’m grieving, honestly.”
Looking ahead to the next few years, Thore said her priorities are threefold: a relationship, her family and her zest for life.
“I want a partner. That’s true. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to say that. I think I could accept not having children. It would be very hard for me to accept another five or 10 years without a partner,” she said. “That doesn’t sound like fun to me. It’s hard now with dating, because you find that a lot of men aren’t looking for a 40-year-old woman.”
As for his family, Thore, whose mother, Barbara “Babs” Thore, died in December 2022said, “My dad is almost 80, my brother is in a relationship… I’ve always been extremely close to my parents. Once you lose one parent, it becomes a little more real about (potentially) losing another one. I want to make sure I’m living the best life I can with my dad, having experiences with him, just not taking anything for granted and enjoying the rest of my family.”
As for the third point, Thore noted, “I started this season really trying to get back in touch with things that bring me joy, like taking dance lessons.”
“I know it’s been four years since the pandemic, but I still feel like I’m in that shelter-in-place, isolation mode. I’ve never really come out of it, and it hasn’t been great,” she said. “I just want to keep getting back to my roots, getting back out into the world and just trying to find joy and the little moments in life.”
My Big Fabulous Life returns July 9 on TLC. Subsequent episodes air Tuesdays on TLC.
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