World’s Most Obese Man Gets Married
Posted October 27, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Manuel Uribe’s dream of walking down the aisle never came to pass. But his long cherished goal of getting married did.
The man the Guinness Book of World Records once cited as the planet’s heaviest human being was transported in a truck in Monterrey, Mexico Sunday to reach the hall where he married his fiancée, 38-year-old Claudia Solis. The pair has been together for four years.
The 43-year-old, who once tipped the scales at over 1,000 lbs. and has been unable to leave his bed for the past six years, was surrounded by a throng of reporters as he made his way to his nuptials. The special conveyance where he’s lived out most of the last half decade was decorated with a canopy, gold trimmed bows and flowers.
The event had become so celebrated it took two police patrol cars in front of him to ensure he finally made it.
Clad in a white shirt with a sheet wrapped around his badly swollen legs, Uribe waved to the crowds and watched as his bride emerged wearing a strapless ivory dress, a tiara and hot-pink lipstick.
He broke into tears when a notary finally declared them husband and wife, and with good reason – Uribe’s morbid obesity had led him to wonder if he’d live to see this day. The former mechanic gained weight after moving to the U.S. and becoming addicted to junk food.
He’s since shed more than 500 lbs. on a special diet under a doctor’s care and his journey and attitude have gained him worldwide fame. As he struggles to lose even more, he’s looking forward to a future that once seemed impossible.
“I have a wife and will form a new family and live a happy life,” he proclaims.
“I’m very happy. This is a really special day for me. God has permitted this day to arrive and for a beautiful woman like Claudia to marry me. We will start a new adventure together.”
Everything seems more or less normal for the happy couple, although there was one thing different at this ceremony – Uribe never touched a piece of his five-tiered wedding cake. “He didn’t break his diet,” mom Orquedia Garza explains. “His doctors are here and they are watching him very closely.”
Uribe now weighs 717 lbs., down from the 1,230 that gained him his fame. His family supports him through a small wholesale clothes business and donations.
But he’s determined to have that wedding dance with his bride someday, hoping for a new moniker from the Guinness people: the world’s greatest weight loser.
There’s no immediate word about the honeymoon.
Previous stories:
World’s most obese man goes outside for first time in months
World’s most overweight man gives diet advice to 990 lbs. counterpart
990 lbs. man dies after pleading for help
Photo credit: Edgar Qunitana/AFP/Getty Images
