Star of My Big Fat Fabulous Life dies aged 76

My Big Fat Fabulous Life star Barbara “Babs” Thore is dead. She was 76.

Barbara, best known as Whitney Thore’s mom on the TLC reality show, died of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, according to an Instagram post shared by Whitney on Thursday.

“My mother died last night just as the credits rolled on her favorite movie,” Whitney wrote alongside a video montage of photos of her mom and family over the years.

“Dad, Hunter, and I held her as she took her last breaths. It was 10:32pm, the same exact time she brought me into this world almost forty years ago,” she said.

Whitney revealed her mom had cerebral amyloid angiopathy, “an untreatable progressive condition caused by proteins in the blood vessels of the brain that can cause dementia, seizures, or like in my mom’s case, brain bleeding (hemorrhagic strokes).”

Barbara had three strokes since 2017, with the last one occurring on Nov. 13.

Whitney’s shared a touching tribute to her mom, writing: “My mother is our family’s greatest gift. We could never love, revere, or value another person more.”

“If you’re reading this, you’re familiar with her magic: her southern charm, her hilarious sense of humor, her well-timed witty remarks, her beauty, and her ability to make everyone around her feel comfortable and cared for,” she shared with her followers.

The My Big Fat Fabulous Life star also thanked fans for loving and watching her mom in recent years. “She delighted in her newfound television career more than we can describe!” she shared. “It gave her such a sense of purpose and excitement and something to look forward to every time the crew came around.”

Whitney ended her post with a sweet and simple sign off: “I love you, Mommy.”