TLC Star Whitney Thore's Complex Relationship History

The most interesting plot twists on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" surely come from Whitney Thore's love life. The popular TLC show has been going strong since 2015, with several of the ten seasons featuring Thore's significant others of the moment. From serious relationships to getting seriously scammed, Thore's been through it all for love.

Lennie Alehat was the first of Thore's boyfriends the audience got to meet, but the two ended up getting along better as friends. They might turn (back) to something more as the show goes on, but probably not until Thore's Frenchman is out of the picture. While many believe the foreign boyfriend storyline is fake, the reality star insists the two are meant to be despite having an ocean between them. We can only hope that her current beau won't leave the fans with a bad taste in their mouths, like Avi Lang and Chase Severino, two of Thore's most notorious ex-partners. After getting scammed by Lang and cheated on by Severino, is Thore headed toward yet another relationship disaster?

The first relationship Whitney Thore showcased on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" was with artist Lennie Alehat. The pair met on Tinder in 2015, and Alehat first appeared on the hit TLC show in its second season. When their relationship was nearing its end, Thore had a pregnancy scare. "Even though the doctor said that I was never pregnant, I thought that I was. So to find out that I wasn't, after a week of thinking that I was, it felt like a loss, and I grieved it like a loss," she told People at the time. While they were happier not having a baby, the false pregnancy caused both of them a lot of tension and anxiety, Thore admitted.

The couple called it quits about a year after getting together, even though their relationship seemed perfect, at least on screen. While Alehat and Thore never fully explained why they broke up, according to The U.S. Sun, there was potentially cheating involved. The exes remained on great terms nonetheless, with Alehat appearing on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" on multiple occasions after their split.

Despite claiming to be just friends, they have both expressed signs of jealousy over one another on the show and even shared a kiss on a vacation in Saint Lucia in Season 10. Alehat later confessed to having some feelings left for Thore, revealing, "Maybe there's a little spark that we need to figure out."

After Lennie Alehat, Whitney Thore started dating Avi Lang sometime in 2016. According to Thore's Instagram, Lang reached out to her on Facebook to share his thoughts on her Ted Talk, in which she touched upon being bullied as a young girl because of her weight. They kept a low profile as a couple, as Lang didn't want his family to know he was dating a non-Jewish woman. "I hid him from the producers and everybody because he didn't want to be on camera," Thore shared with Newsweek in 2018.

That's what he claimed, at least. The truth was far darker than that, as it soon became obvious that Lang was hiding something (or someone). Around the same time Lang was introduced on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" as Thore's new love interest, the reality star found out he was involved with multiple women other than herself, which was also documented on the show. The couple obviously broke up following the drama and haven't remained on good terms.

Thore grew close with one of the women Lang was connected to, Nada Louis, who was actually his fiancée at the time Lang dated Thore. "I feel so blessed that life put us in each other's paths, even if it was the hard way," Louis wrote in an Instagram caption she shared for Thore's birthday. Both of the women confronted Lang in person after finding out what he did, but the scammer had nothing substantial to say.

Whitney Thore met Chase Severino in 2018 through a mutual friend, Ryan Andreas, whom she went out with once but didn't have chemistry with. After only a few months of dating, Severino proposed to Thore in Paris in December 2019, as featured in Season 7 of "My Big Fat Fabulous Life." The couple shared the happy news in announcements on social media, which they've both since deleted. "We can't wait to see the new season and watch as we hang out for the first time, go on our first date, fall in love, and make life-changing plans in Paris," Thore wrote in her post, according to Cheat Sheet.

However, their love story was short-lived, as Severino cheated on Thore soon after popping the question. The couple broke off their engagement in May 2020, with Thore later disclosing that Severino was expecting a baby with the other woman in October 2020.

About a year later, the exes caught up in front of TLC's cameras, when Severino revealed he was engaged to the mother of his child. In her confessional, as reported by People, Thore said, "It's crazy to think that within a year, someone that I used to be in a relationship with is now a father and is engaged." Despite the heartbreak, she has repeatedly wished Severino nothing but the best.

Whitney Thore's last official boyfriend to be featured on "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" is an anonymous French man. The reality star first claimed they met on a language learning app, according to Soap Dirt, but later revealed it was actually on Tinder. In a clip from the show, the privacy-clad Frenchman (as Thore refers to him) didn't seem too interested in meeting her in person. "I can't say he's matching my level of enthusiasm," the visibly disappointed Thore stated in a confessional.

After eventually meeting, Thore spent six weeks in France, but she still hasn't shared any relevant details about her new beau. However, fans of the show claim to have found out who he is — according to a Reddit thread, the Frenchman's name is Nail Rayner. He's a part-time rapper and has allegedly (and surprisingly) worked as a cameraman on the Paris proposal segment with Chase Severino.

In an episode from October 2022, Thore revealed the two now have an open relationship on top of doing long distance, People reported. "The Frenchman and I, we're realistic about the amount of time we actually get to see each other physically," Thore explained to her friends. "So we've officially loosened the bonds in our relationship." Many TLC viewers believe Rayner was actually hired to play Thore's boyfriend to create a more interesting storyline, which fits pretty well with the open/distant relationship scenario. We'll have to stay tuned to see how this one turns out.

Buddy Bell is Whitney Thore's longtime friend, with whom the star has been engaging in mild on-screen flirtation from time to time. While the two have never been a couple, Bell can be considered a fling of Thore's, as they've both shown some mixed feelings about each other. When Thore met an ex-girlfriend of Bell's, she tried to play it cool, but it was clear she wasn't too pleased that Bell's attention was directed towards someone else. On the flip side, when Thore called things off with Chase Severino, Bell actually moved in with her to help her process everything that was going on, as was documented on the show.

The two have kissed on camera before, but it was far worse than it may have seemed — at least that's what Thore claimed later on. "When I kiss Buddy, it's always weird. There's always a weirdness [coming] from being friends with him," she shared with Newsweek. Still, Thore acknowledged they have some chemistry going on and noted something did happen between them. "Buddy and I had some time together a few years ago," the reality star said in the 2018 interview.

However, despite sparks flying, their romantic connection never fully blossomed. It also most likely never will, as Bell is engaged to Courtney Marsh, and Thore is involved with her mysterious French man.