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'Biggest Loser' Winner Reveals Tragic Reason for Rapid Weight Gain

Ali Vincent on 'The Biggest Loser' in 2008
Ali Vincent (Photo: Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank)

Ali Vincent won “The Biggest Loser” competition back in 2008 when she dropped over 100 pounds off her initial weight of 234 pounds. In recent months, Vincent has gained back much of the weight she lost. Vincent recently appeared on an interview with Oprah Winfrey to reveal the cause of her struggles: a sexual assault during a massage therapy session.

In April, Vincent posted a message on Facebook detailing her weight gain:

“On April 16th I did one of the hardest things in my life I joined Weight Watchers and weighed in close to the weight I started at on The Biggest Loser. I swore I would never be there again, be here again. I couldn’t imagine a day again that I would weigh over 200 pounds. I feel ashamed. I feel embarrassed. I feel overwhelmed. I feel like failure.”

But it wasn’t until this weekend’s appearance on “Oprah: Where Are They Now” that she told the story behind her “ups and downs,” and the specifics of her sexual assault. Vincent describes her experience in detail in the video, below:

Sexual assault occurring in massage therapy is not unheard of. “I think it’s more common than people think — not necessarily rape, but inappropriate touching, inappropriate comments,” Dr. Ben Benjamin, founder of the Muscular Therapy Institute in Cambridge, Mass., frequent expert witness for sexual abuse cases in healthcare and massage, and co-author of the book The Ethics of Touch, tells Yahoo Beauty. “There have been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cases in the past five to 10 years that have occurred that are terrible.”

Benjamin adds that, while “98 percent of massage therapists are decent, tremendous, good people,” two percent “is still a lot of people. And in any population, there are sexual predators.”

Resources are available for those who have suffered such attacks, from websites dealing with this specific issue, such as Rubbed the Wrong Way, to national hotlines like RAINN at 1-800-656-HOPE.

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