oof, soft

Ruth Smith was born into a family of fat lady circus performers, with her mother Ada Smith being known as the Human Blimp.

Ruth was already fat as a kid, but also got a job at a candy factory, which definitely didn’t help. (or maybe it did who’s to say) Eventually, she followed in her Moms footsteps and joined the circus first as Ima Waddler, then Lady Beautiful, before settling on Baby Ruth

She worked with Barnum and Bailey earning $300 a day (over $6k in 2026!) and that’s where she met her husband Joe Pontico, a balloon salesman.

She only weighed 4-500 pounds but advertisers kept adding to it, which made her want to give the truth to her audience and she worked to gain 772-815 (sources vary) at her highest.

However, she wanted to be the first woman to weigh 1,000 pounds and seemingly her whole life was dedicated to this (seems VERY FAMILIAR)

“Smith) installed large three-way mirrors in her home and dressing room so she would be able to admire her body from all angles…She seemed to completely enjoy the process of gaining weight, from the eating of the foods to the appearance of new fat on her body”

Other fun feedist fic things about Baby Ruth

They had to widen to doors to her sleeping quarters on the train because she couldn’t fit

She had an operation to remove loose skin, but it had to be postponed when the bed broke and her pulse shot up (i mean that speaks for itself imo)

When she went to visit her sister, she fell through the floor and needed to be rescued by crane

She did pass pretty young due to (seemingly) a mistake in anesthesia administration to remove a fatty tumor.

Idk if she was a feedist or not but it’s cool to learn about fat people throughout history. She seemed full of joy and loved her job and body and had a family who loved her too. I hope in whatever life comes after this, she got to her goal weight and then some.

of course i had to include some of her measurements because im a FREAK

Sources