Chaz Bono, child of singing sensations Sunny and Cher, has had his share of difficulties throughout life. The pressures of having famous parents, an addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol, and a long journey from being born a girl to choosing gender reassignment surgery have been closely scrutinized in the media throughout his life. Now Bono is about to tackle another difficult issue, his weight.
The writer, musician, and LGBT activist reveals on The Doctors November 14 how he has struggled with his weight his whole life. Dr. Travis Stork lays out a plan for the 250-pound, 5 foot 5 1/2 in. Bono to lose 50 to 80 pounds. An upcoming episode will reveal the transformation.
Although he said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that discussing his weight is painful for him, Bono knows that he needs to get help for the problem. “I don’t like to talk about this issue. It’s very personal for me, and very difficult,” he said.
While we applaud Bono’s effort to achieve a healthier weight, it is interesting that he chose to get help from Stork, an emergency medicine physician with no background in weight loss management. He has his M.D. from the University of Virginia and worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center’s emergency room, specializing in trauma care and acutely ill patients. Although well-qualified as a physician, a specialist in weight loss, with experience in fitness training and nutrition, would be a better match for Bono. Stork is better known for his appearance on The Bachelor than any weight loss program. He wrote a weight loss book called The Lean Belly Prescription, but then, he also penned Don’t Be That Girl, showing he feels his expertise is very multi-faceted.
Bono is no stranger to intense fitness programs, as he appeared on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club in 2006, losing 30 pounds, and then on Dancing With the Stars in 2024. On Dancing With the Stars, he quickly lost five pounds within six days, according to his dancing partner Lacey Schwimmer. He maintains that he currently works out four times a week through dance, mixed martial arts, and weight lifting, but that lasting weight loss has remained elusive.
Along with the physical side of weight loss, Bono faces a tough battle mentally as well, which is why a mental health professional could also help in his journey. He tells Stork on The Doctors, “I wasn’t an overweight child, but I was put on diets all the time. So there was a lot of pressure to be underweight growing up.” That would be a confusing relationship with food for any child. He also says that obesity runs in the family on his father’s side.
Good luck to Chaz Bono, and we hope that he loses weight for good but above all, in a healthy manner.
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How to Stay Mentally Focused During Weight Loss