Willis Raburu is opening up about the harsh reality of living under the spotlight while dealing with body image issues.
In a revealing conversation on comedian Dr. Ofweneke’s podcast, Raburu shared his painful experiences with weight-related stigma, which ultimately led him to undergo gastric bypass surgery.
Raburu candidly discussed how the torment over his body began long before he became a public figure. He recounted his struggle with body shaming starting from his childhood. By the eighth grade, he weighed 100 kg and faced relentless teasing from his classmates.
“I started to feel the pain of being teased from a young age. In eighth grade, I already weighed 100 kg,” Raburu shared.
He also revealed how his peers would mock him in Luo, assuming he didn’t understand the language. They would call him ‘Rao rabet,’ which means ‘fat hippopotamus,’ while he was just 14 years old.
The bullying didn’t end in school. Raburu faced ongoing harassment in high school and continued to be targeted on social media, where trolls relentlessly criticized his appearance every time he posted a photo.
The relentless ridicule severely impacted his self-esteem to the point where he couldn’t even look at himself in the mirror.
“For a long time, I couldn’t look at myself naked in the mirror. I never did until after my gastric bypass surgery,” Raburu confessed.
His decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery was not merely about losing weight but about reclaiming his life after years of being undermined by body shaming. Raburu’s story serves as a poignant reminder of how deeply hurtful words can be and how challenging it can be to recover from their impact.
