My 600-Lb. Life star Dolly Martinez dies at age 30 as sister announces passing with heartbreaking tribute

Dolly Martinez, who appeared on season 10 of My 600-Lb. Life, has died at just 30-years-old. 

Dolly's sister Lindsey Cooper announced the loss with a touching tribute praising the woman who 'could light up any room.' 

'It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my beautiful sister, Dolly,' she began in a post uploaded to Facebook. '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. Rest peacefully, Dolly. You will always be loved, always be missed, and never forgotten.'

Days before her sister's death, Lindsey had taken to Facebook with an alarming post that read: 'Today is national siblings day and it for sure was a hard one. I haven’t made any post or let many [people] know but my sister Dolly is in the hospital and is fighting for her life. 

'At this time I ask for prayers and privacy as we as a family navigate through this hard time.'

At age 25, Dolly weighed 593 pounds and was on oxygen when her episode of My 600-Lb. Life aired in 2022. 

She sought the help of Dr. Now to lose the weight and ultimately lost 40 pounds. However, she did not qualify for weight loss surgery. 

Dolly laid bare the turmoil she was in during her episode, saying food was the 'only thing powerful enough to distract me from darker thoughts.'

'Food is my go-to drug that takes my pain away,' she said and called it 'more than just a pleasure, it's my reason for existing.'

'I can't wait for the first bite of something that will make me forget about all the misery of my life,' she said. 'Food has caused all of the things I hate about my life but it's the only thing I've ever had to make me feel good.'

Dolly's eating issues began long ago.  

'Ever since I can remember, food was just a coping thing... It just made me happy. It still does. Food just makes me happy.'

On the show, Dolly recalled being raised by her single mother after her father left the family due to his drug addiction.

'I was left alone a lot and that's how it started, my relationship with food,' she said.

'Whenever I would think of my dad, I would turn to food and I liked the feeling I had when I was eating.'

Dolly's mom Staci appeared on the show and gave insight into her daughter's troubled childhood.

'Dolly [was] always a bit different than other children,' she explained. 'And other kids [were] harsh and cruel so I've always been the overprotective mother.' 

Her mom added, 'Being singled out as the fat girl is quite uncomfortable.' 

Following her appearance on TV, the blue-haired star wrote in her Instagram bio that she was no longer homeless, 'losing weight and feeling good.'

The profile account was made private, but she declared in the visible portion that she was 'living day by day' and that she loved 'God and Family.'

'I can see how much I'm losing. It's a journey and I'm seeing my worth now,' she wrote in a June 2024 Instagram post, according to Us Weekly.