14 DAY TRIAL // Keith Martin is believed to be the world's fattest man at the moment. Costing taxpayers a fortune and requiring the help of an entire army to go through the day, he's pleading people at home not to judge him – at least, not until they've walked a mile in his shoes.
Details emerged the other day about the high costs Mr. Martin's care requires, all supported by the taxpayers because he hasn't worked in over a decade.
For years, the 42-year-old man has been bedridden, which means he requires an entire army of people just to get him through the day.
After the Daily Mail and other media outlets in the UK have exposed the immense costs his care implies, Mr. Martin wants to defend himself.
“It’s either that or I would end up dead. Until people have lived like it, they can’t judge,” he says, speaking to the Mail out of his London flat.
“Some people need help. Smokers get help, rock climbers get help if they get injured. Some people have bigger problems than others. I am trying to get my weight down. Hopefully it won’t be too long,” he says.
While he doesn't want people to judge, he says he can only blame himself for what he's become.
He started binge eating and drinking, and stopped exercising at 16, when his mother died. He let himself go and is now in an almost completely vegetative state, since his weight only allows him to watch TV, play games or read.
“I blame myself, I don’t blame anyone else. It was my fault, I am the one who ate the food. No one held a gun to my head and made me. I hate what I have done to myself,” he says.
“I let myself go. It wasn’t comfort eating, I just didn’t care. I got so bloated on sausages, bacon and roast dinners. I just ate whatever I felt like,” he adds.
Right now, Mr. Martin weighs 58 stone (812 pounds / 368.3 kg) and he gets £500,000 ($784,350 / € 599,014.8) a year in care and benefits.
He doesn't pay a dime for any of this and, as he puts it, he doesn't even believe he should.
Here is more on how this money is spent and how Mr. Martin is trying to lose weight.