Story at a glance
- Jennings opens up about her mental health and body image in the seventh season of her TLC reality show “I Am Jazz.”
- Jennings says she has experienced fat shaming from her family, who are concerned about her eating habits.
- The 21-year-old activist was accepted to Harvard University in 2019, but has delayed going because of mental health struggles.
The transgender activist and reality star Jazz Jennings said she’s struggled with mental health issues and weight gain in a preview for the seventh season of her reality TV show “I am Jazz.”
In a first look at the new season of her TLC show, Jennings, 21, says her mental health began to deteriorate two years ago after getting accepted into Harvard University, to which she has delayed going. That led to binge eating and weight gain of nearly 100 pounds.
“Having all this extra weight, I can’t do so many things with my body that I used to be able to do,” she says in the video.
Jennings says that she does experience fat shaming from her family, and in one scene is interrogated by family members over how much butter she added to a pasta dish.
“It makes me feel really humiliated,” she says.
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Jennings, who was assigned male at birth, has been in the spotlight for more than a decade.
She first appeared on the ABC News program “20/20” in 2007 and, wearing a dress, spoke to Barbara Walters about her experience as a transgender child at a time when trans voices weren’t often featured in mainstream media.
Since then, Jennings has written a children’s book and a memoir and, with her family, founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation, in addition to starring in her reality television show.
Jennings underwent gender confirmation surgery in 2018, telling ABC’s “Nightline” it was “like a dream.”
“This is really the last thing that will validate my identity as a woman,” she said at the time. “There is nothing else after this.”
Jennings shared photos of her surgical scars on social media last year, writing that “I’m proud of my scars and love my body just the way it is.”
In an interview with the New York Times last year, Jennings said she posted the photo to promote a message of courage, strength and body confidence.
“We all have bodies — some are bigger, some are smaller, some have scars,” she said.
The seventh season of “I Am Jazz” premieres Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. EST on TLC.
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