For years, viewers have watched TLC's My 600-Lb Life, witnessing morbidly obese patients completely transform their bodies and lives. The patients profiled on the show all start out hundreds of pounds overweight, with the devastating health and emotional problems that come with that. From being unable to walk and do everyday tasks to being homebound, the patients suffer the most extreme physical and emotional consequences of obesity.
INSIDE EDITION watched when David Smith, the 650 pound virgin, lost 400 pounds. Now, three years later, Smith has sadly put much of the weigh back on. Within six months of starting my gambling in earnest, I was playing $100 slots – the highest available - at $200 a pull. For me it was only about the high - the greater the risk, the greater the reward. I could not lose money fast enough. Within six months of my intense gambling I had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. During a year-long gambling streak, Terry lost a mind melting $204 million dollars at two Vegas casinos. Both gambling halls are owned by Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. And Watanabe's staggering. If you were an adult, old enough to lose $5,000 at a poker game, it is really unlikely that you be asking strangers how to tell your parents. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that you are just attention seeking. But perhaps I am wrong, so why don't you explain exactly how you lost the money.
Hannah Hails, 42, was excited to start dating again after losing more than 200 pounds in a year. But she didn’t expect that her weight loss would make it harder to find love.
But all of them have something in common — hope and a desire to change. In comes the show's central figure, Dr. Younan Nowzaradan. 'Dr. Now,' as his patients call him, is a bariatric surgeon who performs weight loss surgeries on his patients and coaches them along the road to a healthy weight. Over the seasons, dozens of people have made a complete turnaround, going from barely mobile to active and fit. And while most patients on the show lose weight, there are some that really stand out.
Check out some of the most stunning weight-loss success stories to ever be chronicled on My 600-Lb Life.
Amber Rachdi
Amber Rachdi's transformation is one of the most jaw-dropping. When she first appeared on the show at age 23, she weighed 657 pounds and said she felt like a 'nasty, yucky monster.' Her legs carried a great deal of her weight, and, as a result, she said she couldn't stand for more than 30 minutes at a time. After losing 20 pounds in order to qualify for gastric bypass surgery with Dr. Now, she underwent the procedure and ended up getting down to 377 pounds within a year!
But she didn't stop there, she ultimately lost over 400 pounds and kept it off, profiling her journey with glamorous pinup-style selfies on Facebook and Instagram, where her profile once read: 'I spent a long time not liking me, so I'm documenting moments I feel pretty.'
Rachdi, who confessed on her episode of My 600-Lb Life that her weight prevented her from being intimate with her then-boyfriend, now has a lot to celebrate when it comes to her personal life. She got engaged in 2016 and has since tied the knot.
Brittani Fulfer
Brittani Fulfer's story is nothing short of remarkable. She started out weighing 605 pounds at only 5 feet, 1 inch tall. She was so motivated to change that she and her husband, Bill, moved from Oregon to Texas in order to be near Dr. Now's office, where she underwent weight loss surgery.
According to Women's Health magazine, she lost almost 400 pounds and dropped down to 222. She explained her reason for having surgery to the mag, 'I felt I had more to offer myself, friends, and family than just having them help take care of me. I was too young to feel so old.'
She said she is cherishing every moment of her new life, and she told Women's Health, 'I knew when I started this journey that my life was going to get better. But, I had no idea that my life was going to be this amazing! My weight was my prison. Now I am free, and I can do whatever I want whenever I want.'
Angel Parrish
Angel Parrish weighed 570 pounds when she first appeared on the show, riding in a wheelchair and relying on her boyfriend, Donnie, for everyday needs. She said that her eating habits had been triggered by the trauma of placing a baby for adoption at age 14, and the situation got worse when she later experienced postpartum depression after giving birth to a son with Donnie.
Donnie went so far as to say (via the Daily Mail) that she 'just stopped living' after their son Andrew was born. He threatened that if she didn't get help, he'd have to leave her and take Andrew with him.
Parrish rebounded in a big way by losing over 150 pounds through diet changes, and then undergoing weight-loss surgery with Dr. Now. She adopted a fitness routine and ultimately dropped over 300 pounds. After losing the weight, she reflected, 'It's been a long time since I could look at myself and see someone that I thought was beautiful.'
After slimming down, she was able to be a more active parent, and said, 'I wake up and it's not to eat — it's to get Andrew ready for school!'
Melissa D. Morris
Melissa D. Morris was one of the first people to be profiled on the show, and she started her weight loss journey over a decade ago. She began her journey at 653 pounds and was forced to ride around in a scooter to carry out basic tasks like grocery shopping.
After undergoing weight loss surgery, she dropped down to a stunning 137 pounds! And to make things even sweeter, after 12 years of trying to get pregnant, she finally became a mom, welcoming three children over the years. She struggled with her weight after her pregnancies, but still weighs significantly less than she did when she began. She told TLC in 2017, 'I weigh myself every single day. I am so fearful of gaining all my weight back, especially because it was so easy for me to gain [weight] while pregnant.'
She also shared some advice for people who might want to change their lives like she did. 'I advise others that the first step towards a healthier life is identifying what you're doing wrong. You must first figure that out because you cannot fix what you don't acknowledge,' she said.
Christina Phillips
Christina Phillips weighed in at 673 pounds at only 22 years old when she first visited Dr. Now, and said that she was so embarrassed about her weight that she only left the house at 3 a.m. when she was unlikely to see many people.
She told Women's Health, 'Getting up and walking just a few feet made me feel like I was going to die. I couldn't drive, walk far, or go out with friends and family. I was miserable, and I knew I had to do something.'
With the help of Dr. Now, Phillips had weight loss surgery and experienced a shocking transformation — her weight loss ended up being so extreme that she actually lost too much weight! The doctor advised her to gain 15 pounds in order to be at a more healthy weight.
In 2017, she told Women's Health that she weighed in at 171 pounds and said, 'My life has changed so much since the weight loss! I can do things I never imagined possible... I've been able to try indoor skydiving and... I can walk miles without getting tired.'
Nikki Webster
Nikki Webster is one of the most notable success stories on the show. She originally weighed in at 649 pounds, and her weight was affecting her career in costume design. Luckily, she had strong support from her family (her dad lost 40 pounds in solidarity) and was able to undergo gastric bypass surgery with Dr. Now.
According to Peoplemagazine, she ultimately lost 450 pounds. In 2017, she told the mag, 'It's hard to imagine now how I used to live. It's just become so vastly different. ... It has been the hardest two years of my life, but it's been the most victorious and exciting.'
She explained how she stays fit, telling People, 'I do a lot of walking, that's my favorite thing to do. I'll walk at least 2 to 3 miles a day or I try to. I'll also try to do weight training and that kind of thing. I go to the gym every now and then and do those sorts of things.'
In 2018, Nikki revealed on Facebook that she'd gotten married, writing, 'I kind of got married. He's the absolute best, and I honestly couldn't be more happy...It's been a busy few months.'
Paula Jones
When Paula Jones decided to lose weight, she had a powerful and tragic motivation — her husband had died from weight-related complications from weighing over 600 pounds. A year after he passed away, Jones herself weighed 542 pounds and worried that she too would suffer a life-threatening complication from obesity, leaving her four children on their own.
She decided that it was time to change and paid a visit to Dr. Now, but she was stunned when she set foot on the scale and saw her weight. 'I'm huge. I look like a monster,' she said sadly.
Jones followed through with her commitment to trim down, moving her family from Georgia to Texas in order to have surgery. According to Woman's World, it paid off and she experienced amazing results, ultimately losing 400 pounds! The mag reported that her relationship with her kids has improved, with Jones saying, 'I can be more active with them. I've learned how to be emotionally healthy as well as physically healthy.'
Chuck Turner
Chuck Turner weighed in at 693 pounds when he first appeared on the show. He said that he started gaining weight years earlier after his first wife was murdered. He eventually married his second wife Nissa and they adopted a son together, but his marriage became strained when his obesity prevented him from helping her with anything around the house.
According to In Touch Weekly, his situation had grown even more complicated because a 40-pound growth called a lymphedema had developed on his leg, hindering his movements even further. He told TLC producers, 'I'd rather be a dead man than have to live like this for the rest of my life.'
Luckily, he was able to have weight-loss surgery with Dr. Now, and he ended up losing 433 pounds! Unfortunately, he and Nissa eventually split up, but, according to In Touch, he said in a reunion special that he was looking for love again.
Zsalynn Whitworth
Zsalynn Whitworth's story is remarkable due to all that she had to overcome to lose weight. On her episode of My600-Lb Life , she described joining a fat-acceptance organization and flying around the world to party with men who enjoyed the company of large women.
Unfortunately, by the time her weight had crept up to over 600 pounds, it wasn't so fun anymore. Now a mother to a young daughter, she found it hard to move around and spent up to 8 hours per day watching TV. She said she now 'hated being this size' so she embarked on a journey with Dr. Now, and just a year after her weight loss surgery, she had lost 247 pounds.
But unfortunately, according to the Daily Mail, her husband Gareth liked larger ladies and wasn't a fan of her slimmer frame. He encouraged her to eat unhealthy foods so that she could gain weight. She had to decide whether to stay with someone who was actively trying to sabotage her weight loss success, or get a divorce, and she reportedly ended up opting for the latter.
Donald Shelton
Donald Shelton's weight loss journey was a bit of a bumpy road with lots of twists and turns. When viewers were first introduced to him, he weighed 678 pounds and his weight made it hard to move around, causing him to ride in a wheelchair. His immobility led to severe bouts of depression.
After weight loss surgery with Dr. Now, he was able to lose almost 400 pounds, but, according to In Touch Weekly, he was unfortunately diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which affected his ability to walk and required him to be wheelchair-bound again. Unfortunately, after this devastating setback, he reportedly gained back 200 pounds.
But, like the other highly motivated stars of My 600-Lb Life, Shelton didn't give up. According to In Touch, he was ultimately able to drop some of the weight he put on, and he looked trim and happy in later social media posts.
Laura Perez
Every story on My 600-lb Life is heartbreaking, but when Laura Perez revealed the origins of her episode of the show, it made for particularly difficult viewing. At five years old, an older cousin began abusing her, and food became her coping mechanism. 'I never told my parents anything, so the molestation went on for years,' she revealed (via the Daily Mail). 'My whole life just changed, so I turned to food. That was my comfort.'
When viewers were introduced to Perez in season 3, she weighed 594 pounds. She was confined to a wheelchair and needed an oxygen tank to breathe. 'She is physically in one of the worst shapes I have ever seen,' Dr. Nowzaradan said. The surgeon removed 80 percent of Perez's stomach during a gastrectomy and she managed to shed an amazing 412 pounds, but her new figure caused problems with her marriage.
During her March 2018 Where Are They Now special, Perez revealed that her husband was having a hard time accepting the new her. 'Joey and me seem to be fighting more than ever,' she said. 'I want to keep becoming more independent and get a job and have a career. He doesn't want me to do that... I'm not 600 pounds anymore, I don't need to be trapped.' In April 2018, a man named Eric Juarez revealed that Perez (who has been going by the name Angelika) had left Joey for him.
Diana Bunch
Like Laura Perez, Diana Bunch's food addiction was triggered by childhood trauma, but it didn't take over her life until years later. According to The Wrap, she 'was molested by two older boys at 11 years old,' and binge eating helped her cope. But her mother pressured her to diet even though Bunch spent her teenage years weighing around 115 pounds. Once she flew the nest, however, that all changed.
According to InTouch, the Seattle resident joined the Air Force, but was discharged because her size meant she couldn't perform her duties. Out of work, Bunch started getting bigger. She became confined to her one-bedroom apartment, eating herself to a dangerous size — a reported 620 pounds at one point.
'When you're morbidly obese, everyday life, just getting through it, it's miserable,' she said during her first appearance on the show. 'Pain is a constant visitor throughout my day, but my legs are what hurt the most.' Her lymphedema was crippling, leaving her with swollen legs covered in open sores. 'I don't look human,' she said. 'If I don't get help, I know that this apartment is where I'm going to die.'
It was her niece, Megan, who convinced her to move to Texas and see Dr. Now, who removed 70 percent of her stomach. She was able to shed 265 pounds as a result, and is now living life to the fullest. Every Tuesday, Bunch updates her Facebook page with something she's thankful for.
Tara Taylor
Tara Taylor tipped the scales at 606 pounds when she made her debut on season 2 of the show. The mother-of-two was practically bed-ridden, with the extra pressure on her joints making it too painful for her to walk. She relied on family to care for her children, but surgery gave her the chance to be a mother again. The Louisiana native managed to burn 300 pounds, though losing that much weight so quickly took a toll
'When I was 600 pounds I was very healthy, never got sick or anything,' Taylor told TLC for an update in 2018 (via Starcasm). 'But since I had the surgery and lost all this weight, I get sick so easily.' She was fighting off a head cold at the time, but My 600-lb Life viewers will be happy to learn that life is otherwise good for Taylor. In fact, she's engaged. Turns out she's set to marry Eugene, the old friend she went on a date with during a 2015 catch-up episode.
'I have never in my life been on a traditional date,' she admitted at the time (via the Daily Mail). 'I don't know if I am ready, but I am going to take a chance ... Now that I have lost the weight, this is a whole new world for me. The reason I am willing to give Eugene a chance is that he is a good man.' Before the year was out he'd popped the question.
June McCamey
When My 600-lb Life viewers first met June McCamey, her relationship with her girlfriend had reached breaking point. Longtime partner Sadi was buying fast food for McCamey on a daily basis, sometimes making up to three trips out a day in order to avoid confrontation. 'She acts like an addict,' Sadi said. 'Her fix is food.' McCamey was well aware that she'd become a burden on her girlfriend, admitting that she felt like a prisoner in her own home.
'I'm living in a nightmare,' she said during her first appearance on the show (via Life&Style). 'I feel imprisoned into my body. I have three seats; the bed, the bathroom toilet, and my chair. My world is confined. I feel suffocated.' McCamey had steadily gained weight over the course of four pregnancies, and let herself go altogether after the tragic death of her 17 year old son, Mack. By the time she agreed to meet with Dr. Now, she was worried that her knees were about to give way. 'I don't think they're going to last,' she said.
They did last, however, and today those knee joints are under considerably less pressure. After going under the knife, McCamey was able to start losing weight for the first time in a long time. By 2018, she'd dropped in excess of 200 pounds. 'I'm way more mobile than I was almost a year ago, I'm not sick like I use to be,' she said. 'I'm truly enjoying life again.'
Nicole Lewis
Nicole Lewis was only 23 when she popped up in season 5, but she already weighed a mind-blowing 684 pounds. She was so wide that she couldn't fit through her bathroom door, which meant her boyfriend had to wash her out on the back porch. She has two kids with longtime partner Charlie, who also loves food — the two used to go on grocery shopping dates. 'It's kind of romantic in a way,' Lewis said.
Her obesity meant her mother was having to help them raise the kids, which made her situation at home more dire than ever. 'When I was little, me and my mom never really got along, because she had a really bad temper, and would explode on me for things that I just didn't understand,' Lewis said (via the Mirror). 'And when that happened, I would always run to the garage, because my dad would be out there working on something. So I would just sit with him, and he would give me a snack.'
When her dad was put away on drugs charges she soon started gaining, hitting 400 pounds by the time she was 16. Recent reports suggest that Lewis finally has her weight under control, however. She was initially said to have shed 200 pounds, but Starcasm is claiming it's a 'far higher figure' than that. Her Where Are They Now episode is currently being filmed, but until then you can check out her amazing progress on her Facebook page.
The Great Georgian Gambling Epidemic
By Cheryl Bolen
How many regency heroines are rendered impoverished by their late father’s gambling debts? Way too many to count. What seems like an overdone plot contrivance, however, is solidly based in fact. The nobility of the Georgian era did lose their estates at the gaming tables, and there were few aristocrats of the era whose fortunes were not affected by the rampant gambling epidemic.
One of the earliest Georgians to find himself in Faro’s grip was the Duke of Richmond, who paid off his gambling debts in 1719 by pledging his 18-year-old son (and future duke) to the 13-year-old daughter of the Earl of Cadogan. The two were promptly married, but the bride did not see her husband again until she was 16.
Later in the century Lord Lyttelton wrote of his dread that 'the rattling of a dice-box at White’s may one day or other (if my son should be a member of that noble academy) shake down all our fine oaks. It is dreadful to see, not only there, but almost in every [gambling] house in town, what devastations are made by that destructive fury, the spirit of play.' (Murray)
In the middle of the eighteenth century, play centered around the men’s clubs which were springing up on St. James. The most famous of these was White’s, which moved to St. James in 1755. Formerly a chocolate shop, it was originally established in 1693. Directly across the street from White’s, the famed Whig club, Brooks, was founded in 1778. (Fourteen years earlier Brooks had been established as Almack’s gambling club.) Boodles, established in 1762, also occupied sumptuous quarters on St. James, along with The Cocoa-Tree, which dated to 1700. Nearby, at 81 Piccadilly, Waiter’s (named for the regent’s chef) opened for business in 1807 but closed in 1819, allegedly because of huge gambling losses suffered by its members.
According to The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims, 'A boy...is sent to school to be initiated. In the course of a few years he acquires a profound knowledge of the science of gambling, and before he leaves the University he is perfectly fitted for a member of the gaming clubs into which he is elected before he takes his seat in either house of Parliament...Scarcely is the hopeful youth enrolled among these honorable associates than he in introduced to Jews, to annuity brokers, and to the long train of money lenders. They take care to answer his pecuniary calls, and the greater part of the night and morning is consumed at the club. To his creditors and tradesmen, instead of paying his bills, he offers a bond or annuity. He rises just in time enough to ride to Kensington Gardens; returns to dress dines late; and then attends to party of gamblers, as he had done the night before.' (Steinmetz)
One of the most prolific gamblers of the era was noted Whig statesman Charles James Fox, the second son of Lord Holland. One of Lord Holland’s last acts was to settle a staggering 140,000 pounds of his son’s debts, but the indulged Fox continued to win and lose huge fortunes in a single sitting. He once gambled from Tuesday night until Friday with no sleep, taking time off one evening to debate in the House of Commons. He played hazard from Tuesday evening until five Wednesday evening, covering 12,000 pounds he had lost, but losing that and 11,000 more before going to Parliament. At eleven that night he went to White’s and drank all night, returning in the morning to Almack’s (later to be known as Brook’s), where he won 6,000 pounds, then rode to the races at Newmarket, where he lost l0,000 pounds.
Because of his charismatic personality, he had many friends who were perpetually loaning him money — or offering subscriptions for annuities toward his many debts. It is said that at one point the Earl of Carlisle was paying one sixth of his own income toward the interests on Fox’s debts. (Foreman)
Though he was possessed of a keen intelligence that would have allowed him to profit at games of skill, Fox avoided these in order to wager on games of pure chance which he found more exciting.
Like Fox, Colonel Aubrey craved the rush he got from gambling. He did nothing but gamble morning, noon, and night. His life was a continual alternation between wealth and poverty. He made two fortunes in India — the first he lost gaming on the journey home, which necessitated a return to India, where he made his second fortune. His greatest pleasure on earth was winning at cards; his next greatest, losing.
Another big loser was Admiral Harvey, who lost 100,000 pounds at White’s and offered to sell his estate as payment. Fortunately for him, the Irish gamester to whom he lost agreed to settle for 10,000 pounds.
Lord Sefton was not as lucky. When he succeeded, he immediately settled his father’s gambling debs of 40,000 pounds.
Lord Thanet lost his entire income of 50,000 in one sitting.
The deepest play occurred in the 1770s when five thousand pounds were stacked on one card at faro, and 70,000 pounds changed hands in one night. (Trevelyan)
Club men wore special gambling clothes that consisted of frieze greatcoats (or their regular coat turned inside out), leather sleeves to cover their ruffles, high crowned straw hats to hold back their curls and shield their eyes, and masks to conceal their emotions.
Horseracing, cards and dice weren’t Lady Luck’s only lures. Wagers at White’s included items as diverse as betting on a change in weather, the birth of a child, color of a coach horse, or an article in the newspaper. Until it was outlawed in 1774, gamesters even wagered on when people would die.
While most gamblers lost heavily, a handful of gentlemen increased their wealth by virtue of gambling. But not their own gambling. Thomas Raikes’ journal tells us: 'He (Lord Cholmondeley) was one of the four who set up that celebrated faro bank at Brook’s which ruined half the town. They would not trust the waiters to be croupiers, but themselves dealt the cards alternately, being paid three guineas an hour out of the joint fund, and at this rate, Lord ____, and other noblemen of the highest rank, were seen slaving like menials till a late hour in the morning. Their gains were enormous, as Mr. Thompson of Grosvenor Square and Lord Cholmondeley realized each between 300,000 and 400,000 pounds. Tom Stepney had a share, but would always punt against his own partners, and lost one side what he gained on the other. A Mr. Paul, who brought home a large fortune from India, lost 90,000 in one night, was ruined, and went back to the East.'
In the early nineteenth century it became fashionable to wager on whist. Lord Rivers once lost 3,400 pounds because he did not remember the seven of hearts was in. It is said he won nearly 100,000 pounds, but lost it — and more.
The addiction for gambling spilled over from the clubs to all the ton’s social gatherings. Trevelyan worte: 'On whatever pretext, and under whatever circumstances, half a dozen people of fashion found themselves together -- whether for music or dancing, or for drinking the waters, or each other’s wines -- the box was sure to be rattling, and the cards were being cut and shuffled. The passion for gambling was not weakened or diverted by the rival attractions of female society; for the surest road into the graces of a fine lady was to be known as one who betted freely, and lost handsomely.'
During the reign of George III aristocratic women were as likely as men to lose at deep play.
Perhaps the heaviest loser of the period was Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who at one time ran a faro bank at her home. There was no time in her married life (and she married on her seventeenth birthday) that she was completely free from gambling debts. Even one of the largest fortunes in England was not enough to insulate her against crippling losses. Consider that her husband’s properties included seven of the kingdom’s most magnificent residences: Chiswick, Chatsworth, Lismore Castle in Ireland, Burlington House and Devonshire House in London, Bolton Abby, and Hardwick House. His annual income was 60,000 pounds; her pin money for a year was 4,000 pounds. (A vicar at the time could raise a family on 200 pounds a year.) It is calculated that the duchess’s gambling losses totaled a million pounds. Confessing the extent of them to her husband was something she could never bring herself to do.
At one point in 1885 the duke wrote a note of 1,300 pounds to settle her debts, but instead of paying it to her bankers she gambled it away — and 500 more. Just weeks before delivering her second child she would sit up all night at faro. A friend at that time wrote, 'The duke has paid five thousand pound for her and she owes three more.' (The duke, too, suffered large losses at Brook’s, where he would gamble all through the night.) Another acquaintance wrote, 'I heard the Devonshire estate is put to nurse and the family reduced to a small (sarcastic) pittance of 8,000 a year. It will really be poverty to them who could not keep within their original immense income.'
The duchess’s gaming never failed to worry her mother, Lady Spencer, who herself lost vast sums gambling. Lady Spencer’s letters to her daughter are full of admonishments against gambling. In one she wrote, 'Pray take care if you play to carry money in your pocket as much as you care to lose and never go beyond it. If you stick to commerce and play carefully I think you will not lose more than you can afford, but I beg you will never play quinze or loo, and I shall be very glad if you will tell me honestly in each letter what you have won or lost at what games every day.' Her daughter did not comply.
The duchess’s younger sister, Harriet (Lady Bessborough) and her husband also gambled for high stakes. Unfortunately, their income was a fraction of her sister’s. Harriet’s annual pin money was 400 pounds, while her husband supported their family on 2,000 a year. Harriet was reportedly once arrested for debts. In 1793 Lord Bessborough wrote to his wife, 'I really believe you are become sensible that we cannot go on as we have done, and that for the furure you will be firm in a resolution to contract no new debts. You must see that in exhorting you to this I am pleading not only for ourselves but our children.' (Bessborough)
Another noble lady was prosecuted in 1797 for running a gaming house. Lady Buckingham was said to actually sleep in the parlor with a blunderbuss and a pair of pistols at her side to protect her faro bank.
Steinmetz, in his The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims, lays the blame for the gambling epidemic upon the hedonistic Prince of Wales (later regent). He said the prince’s Carlton House was 'almost as great a scandal to the country as Whitehall in the time of improper King Charles II. The influence which the example of a young prince, of manners eminently popular, produced upon the young nobility of the realm was most disastrous in every way and ruinous to public moralty.'
Indeed, the prince (who, not incidentally, was a great friend of Fox and the Duchess of Devonshire) amassed staggering
gaming debts that forced him to marry his loathed cousin. And it was gaming debts that sent the prince’s former favorite Beau Brummel into exile in France.
General Blucher, one the heroes of Waterloo, lost 25,000 pounds at the prince’s Carlton House, forcing him to flee England the year before Waterloo.
Lost 400 Pounds Gambling Winnings
When the regent became King George IV and moved from Carlton House to Buckingham House, his debauchery diminished somewhat, and when his niece became monarch in the decade after his 1830 death, the aristocracy, for the most part, adopted her prudish ways. Perhaps they had no choice. Their ancestors had likely already squandered away their fortunes.
Sources: Lady Bessborough and Her Family Circle, Earl of Bessborough, 1940; The Age of Elegance, Arthur Bryant; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman; My Lady Scandalous, Jo Manning; An Elegant Madness, Venetia Murray; Prince of Pleasure, J.B. Priestley; The Gaming Table, Andrew Steinmetz; George III and Charles Fox, George Otto Trevelyan.
Lost 400 Pounds Gambling Calculator
This article was first published in The Regency Plume in the May-June 2006 issue.