The Chantel family star Winter Everett used to be in the shadow of her glamorous sister Chantel Everett, but now, after losing 150 pounds following bariatric surgery, she has risen to prominence. Winter played the loyal sister and girlfriend and now it’s time for her to live for herself. She may still love her sister Chantel, but her toxic ex, Jah, is a thing of the past and long gone. Winter is a nice person who has been so open about her weight loss journey. She didn’t pretend it was a perfect experience. Her directness makes her relatable and endearing.
While Chantel is also sometimes easy to relate to (who hasn’t been as heartbroken as she was when Pedro Jimeno left her?), Chantel has a “princess” quality. She was the conventionally pretty older sister who was effortlessly beautiful 24/7. She was like a reality TV Barbie that had just come out of the box. She conquered the world partly because of her beauty – Chantel is a model maker. Growing up in the shadow of a Barbie like Chantel must have been horrible at times. Winter is beautiful, but she didn’t have Chantel’s signature prom queen look.
Winter’s conquering fans
She’s a star in her own right
Winter loves Chantel, but having this thin, beautiful sister probably tested her. Winter noticed that society tends to value Chantel’s look – it fits the beauty ideals of this time. Winter curves, although feminine and attractive, do not fit into everyone’s idea of what beauty is. Some people only see beauty in people who fit the Barbie or Ken mold. Now, winter is stunning, just like Chantel. They don’t look alike, but they are both stunning women. Chantel’s sister’s take on winter white in the Instagram post shown above.
However, society is changing. Even the modeling business is. On fashion catwalks, there are more examples of different body shapes and ages. This doesn’t mean that overweight people don’t feel undervalued and excluded at times. There is progress, but not enough. Some haters talk about “health” when they belittle other people who are above the ideal weight range, but this is usually just a way of disguising their cruelty with concern.
After Winter had bariatric surgery, she lost 70 pounds and looked more confident. She was still a curvy woman, but her curves were streamlined and she seemed to prefer her post-surgery silhouette. However, this sleeker look came at a cost.
Bariatric surgery is difficult – it takes time to recover, and once a person has it, they can eat very little. Food is a comfort and losing it to achieve drastic weight loss is very hard on the psyche. Most people who are overweight become that way because they eat for comfort – they calm themselves. Food makes it easier to forget about problems for a while. Therefore, not being able to eat much after weight loss operations can actually feel like torture. Winter struggled with all of this, and it was so easy to have feelings for her.
Winter got serious about her season 4 journey. It was interesting, genuine and yet another reason to respect her. She educated others on what it’s really like. Now she does the same online, talking about her journey and showing off the results. Attending The Chantel family star is fascinating. She is blooming like a rose. She deserves a spin-off, and if the producers really think about who the fans relate to (one of them called her “splendid” in the comments of her post in white clothes, they will give her one.