Published: May 14, 2008 03:48 pm            

‘I don’t hate fat people!’

Adan appears on national TV show, tells her side

Ada — An Ada woman who was taped for the May 14 episode of “The Dr. Phil Show” says the show completely and purposely misrepresented her actual views. Michelle Childress claimed she was invited to be a guest of a show that would deal with personal phobias.

Instead she found herself on an episode entitled “I’m Hot, You’re Not!” She said her appearance and phobia were taken out of context, and that she was portrayed as a has-been beauty queen who hated obese people.

This all started in 2006. Childress replied to a message posted on the Dr. Phil website discussing phobias by relating one of her own. She wrote that since childhood, whenever she saw extremely large people eating a huge meal in a gluttonous way, it made her nauseous. “I get physically sick ... I said that it makes me sick, and my mom has the same thing.” The same thing happens whenever she sees a mouse; physical sickness.

Childress said that she was just explaining her unique phobia online, and she wondered if there was anyone else out there that suffered from something similar. And that’s when someone from the website’s staff responded, assuring her there probably were, and that maybe Dr. Phil could help her overcome her ailment.

Childress said she’d never gotten the phobia diagnosed by an actual medical professional. “I’ve never really talked about it,” she said.

She first became aware of the condition at a young age while in the company of her obese aunt and uncle, both of whom had voracious appetites. “It wasn’t like, you know, I didn’t love them,” she said. “I could hug them, I could be around them. It was just if they would eat, it would make me have to go to the bathroom and get sick.”

Phil McGraw’s staff contacted Childress again and indicated they were eager to discuss her phobia.

Childress said staffers described the show as one that would focus on different people and their different problems. “So I thought ‘oh, I’ll do that,’ you know. It’s no big deal,” said Childress.

When a camera crew arrived to film Childress in her home, she said they coached her to repeat the questions they’d asked as answers. She said the camera crew was especially interested in getting her on film, saying “I hate fat people.”

Childress said while she obeyed early on in the shoot, she soon refused to say what the crew wanted.

“It was all deceptive,” she said. “It was all... I mean, it wasn’t like who I was.”

The camera crew also spotted framed pictures of Childress in the house of when she won the title of “Mrs. Ada” in 2002, and pictures from her younger days as a model.

Both Childress and her parent became suspicious when the camera crew insisted on seeing more of her modeling and pageant photos.

But they were assured by the camera crew that McGraw only wanted to see Childress on film and to see pictures of her at different times in her life to get a better idea of everything she’d accomplished over the years.

But the more Childress thought about the situation, the more dubious it seemed. So she called the show in California to ask what the title of the show would be that she would be appearing on. No one would tell her, but they all assured her that show would just be about different people and their problems, and nothing negative. “I said, ‘well, I don’t want to act like I’m better than everybody, because I’m not. I don’t think that at all,’” said Childress. But she was again assured that it wouldn’t be anything like that, it would just be a show dealing with different guest’s phobias.

“I found out the title of the show two minutes before I went on. They put the microphone on me, and I had to sign some (contract) really fast, and pushed me on-stage,” said Childress. “This girl told me right before I went on. She said ‘you don’t know what it’s called?’ I said ‘no!’ She told me it was called ‘I’m Hot and You’re not!’

“And I’m like ‘wait a minute!’ But I’d signed that contract, and I was scared to do something. My nerves were shot when I was up there.” Childress said that she didn’t have time to see what exactly it was that she’d signed since everything was happening at the last minute. And when she later asked for a copy, no one would give her a copy.

One of the first things McGraw said to Childress, she said was “so you’re repulsed by obese people.” “I said ‘no, not at all!’ I said ‘I’m repulsed by obese people when they’re being gluttons, when they’re eating so much.’”

But the second part of Childress’ response didn’t make it onto the sound-byte on the trailer for the show. It simply shows Childress saying “I’m repulsed by obese people.”

If she had only had a better idea of what she was getting herself into, Childress said that she never would have taken part in the show. “I have friends and family that are obese that I love dearly that I would never, ever hurt or say anything bad about,” she said. “It’s a phobia that I have. It’s just a fear, it triggers something. It has nothing to do with me not wanting to be around anyone. And that’s what I want everyone to know.”

        

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