What happened between the Slaton sisters and their mother Darlene Slaton?

“1000-lb Sisters,” a reality TV show produced by TLC since 2020, may have to change its title soon. Tammy and Amy Slaton, the two sisters, are still the main cast members, however, their half-brother Chris Combs and half-sisters Amanda Halterman and Misty, née Slaton, Wentworth, all of whom struggled with obesity, got more screen time in the last two seasons. Moreover, the title’s number is no longer accurate because of Tammy; she is no longer at her peak weight, 717lbs or 325kgs, which the scale showed at the beginning of the fourth season.

In all fairness, Tammy had a good reason; she could barely move in the prior season, and had to use a walker and a wheelchair. Additionally, very little oxygen went to her brain, forcing her to use an oxygen tank. Thus, her doctors’ predictions about her health were grim. Unfortunately, their warnings weren’t a wake-up call, yet their prognoses were spot-on. Tammy stopped breathing in the season three finale, and doctors put her on a ventilator to save her life. After four days in a coma, her siblings didn’t know if she would make it.

Several months after waking up from a coma, Tammy underwent a bariatric surgical operation, weighed around 400lbs or 181kgs, and fully used the second chance at life. Another crucial decision that she made was eliminating all negative influences, starting by divorcing her allegedly lazy and unhelpful husband, Chris. Moreover, after her mother, Darlene Rednour refused to wait for her to leave the operating room, Tammy distanced herself from her, too, although they were never very close. On that note, we explained why Tammy and Amy don’t feel much love towards their mother and why Darlene rejected Amy’s invitation to visit Tammy. After all, she had a free car ride to the hospital, a pet sitter for her beloved animals, and only had to smile at Tammy while confirming that her daughter made it out alive.

The Slaton sisters didn’t get enough love

Darlene lacked the energy, time, and willpower to provide Amy and Tammy with love, physical affection, protection, and motherly advice. Consequently, the sisters developed co-dependency issues, and struggled with relationships, self-esteem, rejection, and emotional processing. Without a mother to keep them in check, the sisters turned to food for comfort. Amy came to her senses faster, and underwent her bariatric surgical operation in the show’s first season. That helped her shed weight and keep it off, contributing to her desire to conceive.

Tammy had been quietly suffering until her life-threatening ordeal. She then underwent the same operation, improving her mental and physical health, while becoming more affectionate towards her two nephews, Gage and Glenn. Sadly, her mother was absent for Tammy’s comeback. Darlene refused to be there when she left the operating room, and during the post-recovery period, though she claimed that she was proud of her daughter.

Amanda and Chris, who had bariatric operations and lost weight, presumably also got Darlene’s cold shoulder treatment after their successes. Therefore, the Slaton sisters and brother have a strained, almost apathetic relationship with Darlene. Their mother lost her husband of eight years in 2021, lives alone with her pets, and could have benefitted from reconciling with her children.

The Slaton sisters are hitting the road! Join Amy and Tammy’s road trip to Atlanta on a new #1000lbSisters starting NOW. pic.twitter.com/zvxSlRXRZW

— TLC Network (@TLC) January 9, 2020

Their mom was absent growing up

Fans of the show know that Tammy and Amy claim that their mother’s relationship with them, or lack thereof, has contributed to their issues with weight. Darlene debuted in the first season when the sisters swung by to tell her the good news that they had a straightforward weight loss plan. Darlene was indifferent and let them in as if someone would, say, a courier. Even worse, she mocked Tammy, claiming she would ‘chicken out’ of her plans.

Amy and Tammy told the camera that their mother constantly worked when they were children, and their tone suggested that Darlene picked up some jobs so that she wouldn’t have to be home. They explained that their grandmother raised them, and provided all the adoration and support, while their mother didn’t know how to show love. Quite the opposite; she called them lazy, stupid, ugly and fat, and told them that they wouldn’t amount to anything. Thus, many things that Amy and Tammy do, including losing weight, being good sisters, and becoming an attentive and supportive mother, so far only in Amy’s case, are a way to prove Darlene wrong.

With that in mind, the sisters understandably felt unprepared to face the world when their grandmother died. They started eating frozen food because it was easy to prepare, which while convenient, was high in calories and lacked proper macronutrients (fat, protein, and complex carbohydrates) and vitamins. Most importantly, no one was around to supervise their portions or count the meals; hence, the sisters’ appetites spiraled out of control.

The housing situation may be Darlene’s fault

Lacking motherly love manifested emotionally, and the girls’ messiness became another noticeable detrimental trait. Although they make enough money to live apart, the sisters lived together in a one-story duplex in Dixon, Kentucky, Tammy on the left and Amy on the right. Instead of helping each other keep the place – last valued at US$239,000 in May 2022 – clean, they kept their things scattered all over. Tammy’s lack of contribution to cleaning was somewhat understandable. She had trouble moving and frequent joint pain, so cleaning may have put her at risk of injury.

On the other hand, she could make things messy, thus, the state of their home came down to Amy admitting to being a hoarder. She said the problem is generational, that her mom and grandmother were hoarders who left ‘barely a snake line to get through the house.’ People also spotted a cockroach in one of her YouTube videos, and Amy discovered a dead mouse in her pantry in December 2021.

Amy’s lousy habit followed her

Viewers thought that Amy would get a fresh start and eliminate her lousy habit after moving out. Sadly, they noticed that Amy’s things were quickly in disarray after she bought a $37,000 home in Kentucky in 2021 to live with her husband, Michael, and their son, Gage.

Amy blamed it on her son’s numerous toys and the lack of space to put them. However, she had no explanation for the clips before the move, when she loaded her old mattress, which was undoubtedly off-white and even had brown stains on the sides and the top, instead of buying a new one. TLC’s cameras, unsurprisingly, made sure to zoom in on the details, and people posted screencaps to social media when the segment aired on TV.

The siblings had different fathers

Having a different father from their siblings contributed to Tammy and Amy’s unhappiness. They clarified that Darlene felt pressured to care for five children while working three part-time jobs. Hence, she couldn’t devote enough time to every child, and the grandmother jumped in to help.

Although the Slaton family tree isn’t explained in the show, and the TV stars call their half-siblings ‘brother and sister,’ the investigators among viewers concluded that Amy and Tammy had the same unnamed father, who died in 2018 and reportedly weighed as much as Tammy at her peak. However, he had a gastric bypass operation, and his weight dropped to about 200lbs or about 90kgs before his death. Although a drop of roughly 500lbs or 226kgs is an immense weight loss success on paper, his death could indicate an underlying health problem.

Moreover, the available information suggests that Misty, Chris and Amanda have the same father, but not Ammy and Tammy’s biological one. Another hurdle to getting their mom’s attention in recent years is Darlene’s last husband’s biological daughter from a previous marriage, Crystal Collins, who announced Frank’s death in 2021. We’ll get to that shortly.

Their mother dismissed their efforts

Although Amy and Tammy often resented their mother, they tried to get closer to her a few times in the show. Amy’s second wedding is a perfect example; she married Michael Halterman on 15 March 2019 but had been dating him since 2015. Unsurprisingly, Darlene missed the wedding ceremony, but Amy tried to patch things up by inviting her to another wedding celebration about two years later, thinking that dress shopping would interest her mother. Moreover, Amy wanted to celebrate her post-weight loss efforts, and fit into a new, smaller-sized dress to have her dream wedding. This traditional mother-daughter moment would have brought them closer, but Darlene rejected Amy’s pre-wedding invite, and missed the second ceremony, too.

Tammy and Amy experienced the same coldness from their mother when they wanted to organize a Mother’s Day in 2022, which was Amy’s first. They seemed ecstatic in person and during confessionals, but once again, viewers saw Darlene appear disinterested while drinking tea. Even when all three put on hats and laughed about their ridiculous looks, comparing them to lily pads, their mother stared blankly and didn’t laugh. Moreover, their mother criticized the amount of frosting Amy put on her cake and tried to warn her that her bariatric operation would be in vain. Furthermore, she kept advising Tammy to get up from the wheelchair and exercise. That was hypocritical; Darlene was severely obese, likely did not exercise at her age, and failed to acknowledge Tammy’s weight loss progress after a near-death experience.

Darlene wasn’t by Tammy’s side after her operation

None of Darlene’s behavior caused so much outrage as her absence during Tammy’s major surgical operation, which happened in late 2022 but was broadcast in February 2023. As a reminder, Tammy lost a significant portion of her total weight beforehand, 300lbs or about 135kgs, in the Gibsonburg, Ohio, rehabilitation center. She signed up for treatment in the fourth season’s first episode, achieved her incredible weight loss in about 14 months, and even met her ex-husband, Caleb Willingham, whom she married in November 2022, at the center. Unfortunately, they broke up after five to six months, and Tammy filed for divorce.

What upset viewers the most wasn’t that Darlene was missing, but that Amy and Michael did everything they could to bring her, yet she made several ridiculous excuses, claiming that she ‘couldn’t leave her babies, and that the trip would be too long for the state of her legs, so she wouldn’t be able to handle it.’ Those ‘babies’ were her two dogs, so Amy offered to get a dog sitter. Darlene also wouldn’t have to walk anywhere except from the car to the hospital entrance.

Although she praised Tammy during their conversation, it seemed that Darlene also took digs at her daughter when she said that ‘it was God’s will for Tammy to get that far and that she got over her bull-headedness to get the job done.’ What truly enraged people at home was Darlene’s finishing statement, ‘Hopefully, they [her children and doctors] don’t call me and say, ‘Hey, your daughter died,” which sounded cold.

Darlene has different priorities

Darlene clearly doesn’t have a connection with her daughters, but that was partially because she has a large family. According to her Facebook page, she was from Shawneetown, Illinois, but lives in the nearby city of Morganfield in Kentucky, meaning that she could visit her daughters more often if she wanted. Moreover, Darlene has many pictures with her husband, Frank Rednour, whom she married in 2013, but who passed away at 62 on 6 January 2021.

Therefore, it seems that she’s still in love with Frank and hasn’t got over his death. Moreover, her profile reveals how much she loves her cat, Snowball, and the two dogs. After all, she didn’t want to leave them behind to be there for Tammy. Most importantly, she explains that she loves being a stay-at-home mom, and grandmother to 10 grandchildren.

Fans are speculating about the show’s future

It is evident now that Darlene is physically and emotionally distant from Amy and Tammy, and puts her other children, grandchildren, and pets ahead of the two sisters. As they were growing up, she wasn’t there for them, so they considered their grandmother their mother. Even when they succeed in life, losing weight, getting their TV show, marrying, and having children, Darlene rejected their efforts to improve their relationship.

She refused to show up even during dire situations, such as Tammy ending up in the hospital on life support, leaving the operating room after a major procedure, and losing over half of her initial weight, yet claiming that she was proud. That was disingenuous and showed that, deep down, Darlene cared very little.

Darlene has a chance to atone for her behavior

Luckily, not all hope is lost; a perfect opportunity for Darlene to make it up to Tammy and Amy’s is coming. Someone broke into the sisters’ house in February 2023 and took almost everything; Amy was living with her then-husband while Tammy was in the Ohio facility, so they weren’t present. Things worsened for Amy since her husband filed for divorce a month after the robbery, and left her with their two children. Tammy, who was supposed to live there, got luckier, in a way; she was scared and had nothing to return to, so the Halterman family relatives helped her. They gave her access to their 1,372sqft or 127m2 home about 10 miles from the sisters’ duplex, with a bathroom and two bedrooms. Even better, Amy, who reported feeling overwhelmed after the split, moved to the new home with Tammy, a blessing in disguise.

Amy wanted to spend less time on camera so that she could parent her two children, while Tammy sought a book deal to document her success story and inspire others. Darlene would fit right in. Amy would get some help while she is still emotionally vulnerable, and Tammy could write a section about her mom’s return to her life. Even if they didn’t develop their relationship, Darlene’s presence would improve the viewers’ opinion of her, and score her some points with her family and friends.

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