For years, content creator Millicent Chebet Mwangi, better known as Milly Chebby, has lived her life under the relentless gaze of bullies, both online and offline.
Weighing 120 kilos today, says she cannot recall the last time she weighed below 100kg.
“Milly Chebby has heard it all from bullies about her body,” she begins the interview, acknowledging a journey filled with unsolicited remarks, stares, and whispers.
Having “tried many methods to reduce her weight” without success, she is now seriously considering what she calls “a reward”, a permanent weight-loss procedure as she turns 40 years old.
“But I am doing it for me and not because of haters or bodyshamers,” she tells Nation Lifestyle.
“I’ve been bullied all my life, directly and indirectly,” she says. “In matatus, walking on the street, it never stops. I don’t remember ever being tiny. I have always been the big girl in my circles, whether in class or even with my friends.”
“I was young but with hips, and I used to be punished because of my ‘tight skirts’, yet it was my body.”
But at the time, she did not recognise this as bullying.
“I didn’t know what bullying was. I thought teachers didn’t like me because I came from Nairobi. I knew I had a good figure, and even the attention I used to get from boys confirmed it. But now, turning 40, I understand what bullying is.”
Often, she notes, strangers, particularly men, feel compelled to comment on her body.
“You’ll hear a man say something about how I look. I’ve taught myself to ignore it,” she says.
Content creator and YouTuber, Millicent Chebet, aka Milly Chebby.
Photo credit: Pool
The hostility deepened after she found success online. Over the years, Millicent has amassed a huge following online, friends and foes, with about 600,000 followers on Facebook, 438,000 on TikTok and 659,000 on Instagram, among others. She says trolls now target the one thing she cannot change overnight: her body.
“The people who resent my success realised I can handle most of the trolling, so they went for what I can’t change, and that’s my body,” she says.
Sometimes, they attack her through her husband, too (Terence Creative, whose real name is Lawrence Macharia),
“You know, telling me that my husband doesn’t love me can’t really get into me, because I already know he does very much, but when they say I am fat, calling me a pig, a hippo, that gets into me somehow, because it is something that I can’t change.”
Even when her husband, also in the public eye, is involved in unrelated matters, trolls find a way to link their attacks back to her weight.
“Things turn around, and they [bullies] start talking about my body to bring me down.”
Trolling turns into money
At some point, the emotional weight became unbearable. “I used to cry,” she admits.
“My husband shared some of the haters' photos on social media, and I can tell you for sure they are not close to the hard work I put into it, at least to their social media handles.”
“There are so many other big people around, and so now I look at it like jealousy. They are people who are jealous of my hard work. Most of them are women, and I wonder if they are the ones who spend more time online. I see it with even other content creators being trolled by women,” she says, adding that despite the assumptions, she is not a plus-size model. “I’m a lifestyle content creator. Fashion only comes in by default; it’s not my niche. I just make lemonade out of it.”
But nowadays, she has learnt to turn those same offensive comments into revenue, noting that she realised non-controversial social media posts attract little attention.
“Now Facebook is paying, and that is why I look at it positively. I post something and they troll me, and I end up making over Sh200,000 through the haters,” she says.
“If I wake up and just post ‘good morning’, that post will not attract people, but when I just get petty and say, ‘good morning Cyberbullies’, that post will blow up with all kinds of trolls.”
“I grew up with a very brave mum who taught us that no one should ever demean you so long as you are okay with yourself. The naysayers can never define me,” she says, adding, “it is time people know that cyberbullying can lead to death, and even depression, be kind to each other.”
Content creator and YouTuber, Millicent Chebet, aka Milly Chebby.
Photo credit: Pool
Open to weight loss surgery
Nation Lifestyle asked if she would consider a weight-loss procedure, and Milly is candid:
“I would maybe do it, and it is something I have done my research on, and for real, and I would not mind doing a permanent procedure. I am clocking 40, and so one of the things I am working towards is living a healthy life. Surgery has been part of my plans, and I feel like maybe it is time. I am loving how people are taking health into their hands. Abroad, people are doing it, and also I’m loving that Kenyans are embracing it, so why not?”
If she goes ahead, she already knows what she prefers.
“I will go for a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass [gastric sleeve is a procedure where a large portion of the stomach is cut out, limiting how much food one can eat. Gastric bypass is a procedure where the stomach is divided into a small pouch and the small intestine is rerouted so the body absorbs fewer calories.] I want something that I have no worries about if I stop it, my weight will come back,” she tells Nation Lifestyle.
Is she planning to do in Kenya?
“I will do it in Kenya since I believe we have the best surgeons in our country,” she says, adding, “I also don’t mind partnership. I have built my brand, and so if I want to do it and I approach a hospital and they agree for a partnership, then why not? I am a walking billboard, a walking radio, a walking TV and all that, saving a whole Sh500,000 for something like that, I would gladly do it.”
Her friend, media personality Willis Raburu, has informed much of her research into weight-loss options. “One of my friends, Willis Raburu, did a gastric bypass, and we hang out a lot. I have seen what he eats. I have had a lot of conversations around the procedure he did, and I have seen it work for him. Also, so many other Kenyans have talked about it, and it has worked for them.”
“I don’t mind more children, and so, when I was doing my research on the kind of procedure I will go for, I ensured that it is also part of my main concerns. The experts have assured me that the procedure is very safe for pregnant women, nursing mothers and all that,” says the mother of one.
Before considering surgery, Milly says she attempted nearly every known method.
“I have tried so many methods. I got haemorrhoids, which were very bad because of skipping meals. I tried the OMAD (One Meal a Day) meal plan. It failed terribly. I have tried talking to a nutritionist, but still, that is not working despite having a single meal. I also tried tablets and I lost some kilos, but after a while, the weight came back,” she says.
She goes to the gym, which she says has become more of a mental sanctuary than a weight-loss strategy.
Among her friends, she says many have successfully undergone different weight-loss procedures.
“Some of my friends who have successfully lost massive weight through various procedures include Maureen Waititu and Pritty Vishy, among others,” she said.
