Aretha Franklin's Mysterious "WLS"

I happened to run across this article in People magazine from over 6 years back and found it really puzzling and intriguing. Aretha apparently had some kind of surgery that caused her to lose 85 excess pounds, but specifically denies it was "gastric bypass" or even any kind of "bariatric surgery". WTH? Did she ever reveal what she had (or someone expose it)?

http://people.com/celebrity/aretha-franklin-still-wont-revea l-nature-of-surgery/

That is a strange article!

No ones business but why bring up she had some type of surgery that made her lose weight, just keep quiet if you do not want to talk about it. Then to publicly add the doctors comment at the end that surgery she had will add 15 years to her life but not tell what the surgery was.

Reminds me of Star Jones. She had RNY and lost 160lb, but kept insisting her weight loss was due to "portion control and pilates." Her body, her business, but the lie kinda irked me.

http://www.today.com/id/20042725/ns/today-today_entertainmen t/t/star-jones-opens-about-weight-loss-surgery/

Agree. That is some of the misinformation out there that causes people to have the negative opinion of wls (including me). I specifically remember when Star Jones was denying she had anything done. I remember watching Al Roker lose weight on TV and thinking how much it sucked that he could afford the cheater's way out. Like they just magically got rhin suddenly. Would be so much more helpful if they told the truth about it.

Speaking of Al, I was wondering if he has had problems with regain and then re-losing .. I saw some talk program he was on last week (no idea when it was taped) and he looked pretty "beefy" again. But then I saw him doing his weather thing the next day and he looked like he was at his post-op weight again. Confusing.

He has spoken about re-gain, especially when he was doing some cooking shows for the Food Network. Too many opportunities for B L T's (bites, licks, tastes)

I love Al. I think he has done phenomenal considering how far out he is and been able to lose his regain and maintain.

I do remember hearing that he'd had some regain, but he got really strict about his eating again and lost it...

While people who are successful in one area often have a hard time admitting that they need help in another endeavor, and there are a lot of stigmas (real or perceived) in the entertainment business, Aretha's story is plausible in that the RNYGB is based upon a 140 year old procedure (called a Billroth II) that was first developed for treating gastric cancer, and is also used for other GI maladies. So, her weight loss may be incidental (needed as it may have been) to some other treatment.

Curiously, a high fat, low carb diet is often prescribed in such cases as a means of minimizing the resultant weight loss, something for the keto/paleo enthusiasts to ponder.