Mom of Two Weighs Almost 700 Lbs. After Growing Up with Drug-Addicted Parents

23-Year-Old Mom of Two Weighs Almost 700 Lbs. After Growing Up with Drug-Addicted Parents

Nicole Lewis, a 23-year-old mom of two, turned to food for comfort while growing up with drug-addicted parents, and now weighs almost 700 lbs.

Julie Mazziotta

Published on March 1, 2017 12:52PM EST

Growing up with unreliable parents, food was Nicole Lewis’ only consistent ally.

When her mom was yelling at her, or her parents were doing cocaine, Lewis would eat to find comfort.

“Even as a toddler, I remember food was what made me happy,” she says in an exclusive clip from Wednesday’s episode of My 600-Lb. Life. “When I was little, me and my mom never really got along, because she had a really bad temper, and would explode on me for things that I just didn’t understand. And when that happened, I would always run to the garage, because my dad would be out there working on something. So I would just sit with him, and he would give me a snack. And that was safety.”

“I never wanted to leave his side, but my dad was a truck driver, so he was on the road a lot. And when he wasn’t there, all I had to run to was food.”

By age 14, Lewis was over 200 lbs., but her problems only grew worse from there.

“My dad started using cocaine on the road, and he brought it home to my mom, so they both got addicted, and things got a lot more violent in my house after that,” she says. “My dad and mom would get so angry because they would run out of cocaine. My mom would stay up for hours, screaming and crying for more drugs.”

“And when my parents were doing the drugs, I would get so mad I would scream and holler at them, and they’d just ignore me, and I’d go and lay on my bed and just eat and cry for hours until I fell asleep. Food was a comfort to me because when I would eat something and get full, I would feel comfortable and safe. I felt secure. And so I just didn’t stop eating.”

Now 23 years old and a mom of two toddlers, Lewis weighs almost 700 lbs., and needs her family’s help for daily tasks. Her boyfriend, Charlie, has to spray her down with a hose on the porch because Lewis can no longer fit in the bathroom to shower.

The mom hopes weight loss surgery will save her life, and stop her children from losing their mother.

My 600-Lb. Life airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on TLC.