Beds Break Under Her 54 Stone: Private Life of a Fat Lady in Sydney, 1938

Thousands at 1938 Sydney’s Easter Show are visiting the tent in Side-Show Alley which advertises “The Mexican Rose—Fattest Girl in the World,” but PIX magazine visited Miss Rose Nanez, one of the guests at a Flinders Street (Sydney) residential, and there secured these private views. “Mexican Rose” Nanez weighs 54 stone or (343 kilograms).

When a girl is 23 and still gaining on 54 stone she has to keep her strength up. Not over-eating but over-working of her pituitary gland is responsible for Rose's size.

In show costume of Mexico where she was bom, a normal baby.

Back View. “I wouldn’t trust just one chair, even if it was wide enough for me to sit on.” So Rose takes two.

Not Getting Into a Car. In America, Rose Nanez has her own specially-built Nash sedan. Too wide to travel by train, she is transported in the back of a big 7-sea ter Buick while in Australia.

Wash-day Revelation. Fifty-four stone is six times the weight of the average woman, needs six times the accommodation.

One-third of a Ton comes down stairs. And the stairway’s barely wide enough for Rose. Climbing stairs is very difficult for her; she has to have ground-floor rooms, outside cabins on ships.

No Light Sleeper. Rose Nanez has broken many beds, the latest at a Maitland (N.S.W.) hotel. A specially enlarged bed was required on the ship from America. Fattest of all the Fattest Ladies on Earth, Rose is 8 feet “around the equator.” Rose Nanez is keen-witted and by temperament, jolly, doesn’t worry about her size, laughs and grows fatter. Her hobby is amateur photography.