TLC Reality Television Star Dies of Heart Failure: Sister Confirms Death of Dolly Martinez

Dolly Martinez, who appeared on TLC’s My 600-Lb. Life, has died. She was 30.

The TLC star’s half-sister, Lindsey Cooper, shared the news of Martinez’s passing in a Facebook post on April 11, with Martinez’s mom, Staci Thurman, confirming to TMZ two days later that her daughter had died of congestive heart failure while hospitalized.

Thurman shared that Martinez had been ill for a while prior to her death and that she was hospitalized on March 29 with fluid on her heart and lungs. She was put into a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator the next day, but never recovered.

The reality personality was surrounded by friends and family as she passed.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my beautiful sister, Dolly,” Cooper wrote on Facebook on April 11. “Dolly had the brightest personality she could light up any room with her laughter, her kindness, and her loving spirit. She had a way of making everyone feel special, and her warmth will stay with us forever.”

“While our hearts are broken here, I find comfort in knowing she is now reunited with our dad in heaven. I can only imagine the joy of that reunion,” she continued, adding, “Rest peacefully, Dolly. You will always be loved, always be missed, and never forgotten.”

Martinez appeared on TLC’s 10th season of My 600-Lb. Life in 2022, opening up about her journey with food addiction and mental health struggles. While Martinez moved from Fort Worth, Tex., to Houston on the show in order to be closer to her doctor and to help her qualify for weight loss surgery, her 40-lb. weight loss was not enough to move forward with the procedure during her time on the show.