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Presenter Willis Raburu has discussed his history of being bullied due to his body weight.
Speaking on comedian Dr. Ofweneke's show, Raburu revealed that his decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery to lose weight was due to long-term bullying.
Raburu mentioned that his experiences of being ridiculed for his weight did not start in adulthood but began when he was a child.
He said that by the time he was in eighth grade, he already weighed 100 kilos, and his classmates would often mock him.
“I began suffering from ridicule since childhood, and you know, when I was a child, by the time I was in eighth grade, I already weighed 100 kilos,” he said.
“I can't say I’ve gotten used to the ridicule, but you know, back then, people would mock me in Luo, thinking that since I wasn't Luo, I wouldn't understand their taunts. But I did hear them. They would say, ‘Look at this guy, he’s so fat,’ calling me ‘Rao rabet,’ meaning ‘a big hippopotamus.’ And at that time, I was in eighth grade and about 14 years old,” Raburu added.
He said that he faced such ridicule until he reached high school and even into adulthood when he joined social media, where people would start criticizing his body weight as soon as he posted pictures.
Raburu mentioned that the issue of being mocked constantly troubled him, as he had never had the confidence to look at himself in the mirror and see his naked body.
“For a long time, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror in my birthday suit. I couldn’t. I don’t think there was ever a time I looked at myself naked in the mirror. To be honest, I looked at myself in the mirror naked for the first time after having gastric bypass,” he revealed.
