After months of online speculation about her weight loss, 30-year-old TikTok star Remi Bader is opening up. In a newly published interview with SELF, the content creator shared that her decision to undergo weight-loss surgery was rooted in a desire to improve her health—not to appease internet critics.
During her conversation with the outlet, Bader revealed that she was dealing with several health concerns prior to the surgery, including back pain, excessive sweating and high cholesterol. Her doctor also informed her that she was “becoming infertile.”
In search of a long-term solution, her doctor recommended a single anastomosis duodenal-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S), a newer procedure recently endorsed by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The surgery involves reducing the size of the stomach and rerouting part of the small intestine to help the body absorb fewer calories and regulate things like blood sugar and cholesterol.
Bader underwent the procedure in December 2023, expecting a relatively smooth recovery, but the reality was far from that. “I need to say that it was the most brutal thing,” she said of the experience. “I get the surgery. I was in recovery hours, hours, hours, hours, throwing up. It was not normal. I was supposed to leave [the hospital] in one day. I could not stop projectile vomiting, and I couldn’t drink water. They won’t let you leave if you can’t drink water.”
The complications also took a serious toll on her mental health. “I’d gotten into a very, very deep depression, and it was truly the scariest time of my life,” she continued. “I couldn’t tell people. I really—I wanted to die.”
Now, Bader says she feels happier and healthier, but stresses that healing is still a work in progress. “I don’t want people to go and run and get a surgery that I’m not fully advocating for. I’m saying, I think it helped me, but will it help me in a year? What if I gain all the weight back? What if I get sick from the [lack of] nutrients?” she poses. “I’m not a doctor. I don’t have it all figured out.”
As for the internet’s pressure to speak out sooner: “I think I’ve let so many people take my power away for a long time,” she says. “I will never regret having my time to heal, and I’m still healing and figuring it out…. That was none of the internet’s business—these people that don’t know me—and that was for me to figure out.”
