Think you know everything about Dr. Now from “My 600-lb Life“? Well, there’s another fascinating story behind the scenes – that of his ex-wife, Delores Nowzaradan.
Born Delores Ann McRedmond in 1953, she went from being a secretary to spending 31 years as the woman behind the famous bariatric surgeon. From managing a household of three kids to caring for her mother-in-law for 21 years, here’s her untold story.
Delores Nowzaradan’s Early Life
Delores Nowzaradan was born Delores Ann McRedmond on November 20, 1953, in Los Angeles, California. She was raised in a wealthy family of entrepreneurs in Tennessee, where she was the daughter of Louis and Edith McRedmond.
She completed her high school education locally in Tennessee and pursued further studies in college. However, not much was known about her college education, as she didn’t come into the spotlight until she married Dr. Now.
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All we know is that she worked as a secretary in her early career until she became a housewife after marriage.
Also, fun fact, Delores grew up with, wait for it, nine siblings! She has seven sisters and two brothers. This huge number probably gave her some of the “patience” she would need later in her life. Don’t worry, that’ll make sense in a moment.
Delores Nowzaradan’s Step Into the Fame
Delores’s name started hitting the media after she married Dr. Younan Nowzardan (Dr. Now) in 1975, an Iranian-American surgeon with over 55 years of experience in the field.
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Dr. Now is famous for his show “My 600-lb Life” which started in 2012 and is still airing today. The show is about how Dr. Now helps morbidly obese people lose weight through diet and surgery.
The idea itself isn’t one of a kind. However, what’s unique is how “savage” Dr. Now is with his patients on the show. He’s blunt with his expressions and somewhat slaps his patients with medical facts.
In an episode, there was an overweight woman who needed to eat something because she was hungry. He told her that she was not going to fade away if she didn’t eat for a while.
Her answer was: “I still need to eat something,” to which he responded: “You’ve already eaten the food that belonged to the next four years ahead of time.”
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He said it with a straight face that you can’t even tell whether he’s sarcastic. We’re not kidding. Have a look yourself.
This is only one of the multiple blunt encounters that Dr. Now had with his patients. It’s highly possible that it’s just an industry language used to accentuate the show’s drama to gain some views.
However, whether Dr. Now is that harsh in real life or not isn’t really known, but it is very possible that he’s that blunt in real life.
If that’s true, there’s a good chance that it was one of the contributing factors to his divorce. That’s right, after 31 years of marriage, Dr. Now and Delores are together no more.
The Breakup
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Delores Nowzaradan filed for divorce from Dr. Younan in 2002 after nearly 30 years of marriage, citing “cruel treatment” and “insupportability” as the primary reasons for the split.
In legal terms, “insupportability” refers to a situation that is intolerable, allowing for a no-fault divorce without needing to prove wrongdoing by either party. So she was pretty much completely done with it.
It’s sad to see a 31-year marriage break like this. Delores was very supportive of Dr. Now since the beginning.
After their marriage, she transitioned to being a housewife, dedicating herself to raising their three children: Jonathan (born 1978), Jennifer (born 1980), and Jessica (born 1983).
During this time, she also worked as a primary school teacher at Oakridge Elementary in Houston, Texas.
Plus, there’s the fact that Delores took care of Dr. Now’s mother for over 20 years! That’s right, her mother-in-law lived in their house for 21 years, and she had to juggle between taking care of her, his children, his house, and her students.
Stretch that for 30+ years and add the mistreatment that she claimed, and you can have an idea of the “patience” we talked about earlier.
The Aftermath
The divorce proceedings became contentious, with Delores accusing Dr. Nowzaradan of complicating the legal process by withholding records and obstructing discovery.
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Ultimately, the court found him at fault for the breakdown of the marriage, leading to Delores being awarded 70% of their joint assets during the final settlement in 2004.
Final Words
Delores’s existence in the spotlight disappeared quickly after the marriage as she chose to lay low and focus on raising her children.
Not much is known about what she does now. She didn’t return to formal employment, but she became involved in the family business after inheriting shares from her father’s estate, which contributed to her financial stability.
We don’t know the other side of the story, but we do know that she struggled for years. The settlement she got should be enough to make up for that, and we wish her, and him, a happy life.
Featured image source: Google
