1,000-Lb. Best Friends star Vannessa Cross can’t hide the emotions before her next surgery.
In Luxury Handbag Shopping’s exclusive sneak peek from the Tuesday, November 26, episode of the hit TLC series, Vannessa, 46, tries her best to hold back tears as she prepares for a skin removal surgery.
“I’m happy, I’m sad. I’m not sad,” she shares while holding back tears. “I’m just scared and happy and I never thought I’d be here. But I just, I’m genuinely scared that because anything can happen when you’re on that table.”
Viewers have watched Vannessa lose over 200 pounds and keep the weight off for over a year. Through the ups and downs, the reality star has tried to keep her positive attitude and sense of humor.
“It’s like people say they’re born again Christians, born again skinny bitch,” she joked on her way to the hospital. “That’s wild.”
All jokes aside, Vannessa acknowledged the risks that come with elective surgery. But after seeing her close friend and costar Meghan Crumpler lose weight and become an even happier version of herself, Vannessa wanted to do all that she could to feel her best.
“Elective surgery is not something you go into lightly and the fact that these people are gonna chop me in half and in quarters and in pieces and take things off and add things. It’s scary,” she said in a confessional interview. “One of my main, major concerns is not waking up off the table, him going in, something happens, some kind of complication. I’m just hoping that in the end, it’s all gonna be worth it.”
When the TLC series began in 2022, Vannessa weighed in at 448 pounds. After battling obesity for decades, the Georgia resident decided to make a change and allow cameras to document her health and wellness journey.
“The past 40 years of my life, I’ve been in a 400-pound prison,” she said. “And even at that weight, I didn’t feel I was ugly. I didn’t feel I was a piranha in the world. I didn’t feel I was a bad person.”
After her bariatric weight loss surgery, Vannessa received big news from Dr. Charles Procter. During an appointment, he set a new goal for her to be 180 pounds.
“When [he] set that goal and at first, if anybody pays any attention, I was like, ‘What 180? No!’” Vannessa told Luxury Handbag Shopping in October. “Alright, well let’s go on and say a girl reached that goal. OK, your girl has reached 180. I’m doing amazing.”
1,000-Lb. Best Friends airs on TLC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
