Whitney Way Thore Admits She’s Still in Love with Her Ex, Explains Why She Won’t Be a Single Mom (Exclusive)

Whitney Thore Road is getting candid about her breakup. In an interview with ET’s Deidre Behar, the My Big, Fabulous Life She admitted that she was still in love with her ex-boyfriend, who viewers only know as “The Frenchman.”

“I’m still in love with him. We broke up in April, a year ago,” she said of the mystery man. “… He’s the best. He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”

As for why they couldn’t make it work, Thore explained: “Unfortunately, it’s one of those problems that comes with reality TV, which is, I would say, one of the negatives. He doesn’t want a public life at all.”

“That’s the main reason we broke up, for sure… He’s not interested in reality TV,” she said. “What happened after the speculation and all that was he saw how crazy people on the internet were and that was it. He was done.”

Today, Thore is getting back into the dating world, although she’s not really going all in.

“I haven’t dated a lot… I’ve never been approached by a single guy. The dating sites are pretty terrible in Greensboro… There’s not a lot to choose from,” she said of her North Carolina hometown. “Especially when you have this other person, this other relationship that you love so much, it’s really hard to get excited about dating. But I don’t want to be alone forever, (so) I’m trying to do what I can to meet a guy.”

Ultimately, Thore said she was “trying to move on” with the Frenchman.

“If someone great showed up at my door, I would be totally up for it, but you know how it is when you love someone. It sets high standards,” she said. “I joke about being desperate, but the truth is I wish I was. If I was really desperate, I could have someone. But I’m not. I know what I want. I know what I deserve. I don’t even think my standards are too high or anything. I think they’re just the bare minimum. I’m still processing that, but I’m definitely open to dating.”

Thore’s relationship status is one reason she’s been feeling “in the throes of a midlife crisis” since turning 40 in April.

“I turned 40 and I put a lot of emphasis on it. It actually hit me like a ton of bricks,” she said. “… It’s not necessarily about how I feel about being 40. I think that, regardless of how I feel about it, society has certain expectations for a 40-year-old woman and her life. I feel like it’s not that different from being fat. I can be confident all day long, but people will still perceive me with their own judgments.”

Another cause of her displeasure is that she is “examining my fertility.”

“I’m wondering if I’m going to have kids and I’m grieving the fact that it might not happen,” she said. “It’s a reality I have to face. I’m struggling, for sure. I’m not ready to have another cat at this point.”

While many women have decided to become single mothers, Thore told ET she doesn’t think it’s an option for her.

“If I don’t have a partner, I don’t want kids. People say you can adopt, you can do it yourself. Absolutely. I think it’s great for women who want to take it on. It’s not something I want to do,” she said. “I know that no matter how much you plan, you could still end up being a single mom… but I’m not going to do it intentionally. It’s not something I feel confident in.”

“I’ve thought about it a lot and I could imagine my life without kids if I had a partner, but I can’t imagine the rest of my life without a partner,” Thore added. “I’m still processing that… It’s just not something I’m used to. It’s just something I always assumed would happen, and so to accept that it’s not happening feels like a loss… It’s like I’m grieving, honestly.”

For the next few years, Thore said his priorities are threefold: a relationship, his family and the joy of life.

“I want a partner. That’s true. I’m not ashamed, I’m not embarrassed to say it. I think I could accept not having children. It would be very difficult for me to accept living another five or ten years without a partner,” she said. “It doesn’t seem very pleasant to me. It’s difficult today to go out with someone, because we see that many men are not looking for a 40-year-old woman.”

As for his family, Thore, whose mother, Barbara “Babs” Thore, died in December 2022said: “My dad is almost 80, my brother is in a relationship… I’ve always been very close to my parents. Once you lose one parent, everything becomes a little more real about the (potential) loss of another. I want to make sure I live the best life I can with my dad, have experiences with him, take nothing for granted and enjoy the rest of my family.”

As for the third point, Thore noted, “I started this season just trying to reconnect with things that bring me joy, like taking dance classes.”

“I know the pandemic has been going on for four years, but I still feel like I’m in lockdown, in isolation mode. I’ve never really gotten out of it, and it’s not great,” she said. “I just want to continue to get back to my roots and reconnect with the world and try to find the joy and the little moments in life.”

My Big, Fabulous Life returns July 9 on TLC. Subsequent episodes will air Tuesdays on TLC.

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