Annie van Wanrooy was so fat she could hardly move. One day she visited a freak show at the fair in Tilburg. The owner asked her if she was interested in a job. Since she needed the money, she decided to join the showman as the Fattest Lady in the World. During the season her husband stayed in Tilburg, where he worked. But every weekend he joined Annie. Their young son Henk accompanied his mother. He attended the travelling school and became very familiar with the showmen’s world. Annie worked at the fair for sixteen years. It was a hard life. Her living space was limited. She lived in a ‘room’ in a truck, 3 by 3 meters. Her ‘home’ was draped with canvas to avoid Nosey Parkers. Her working days consisted of two three-hour shifts, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. In her spare time she played cards. Annie enjoyed being transported from one fairground to another. She loved to travel. Annie van Wanrooy had a gentle character. She didn’t mind chatting with the audience. Female visitors particularly tended to ask her why she was so fat. But they respected Annie for making a living out of her handicap. Her son Henk van Beurden recalls that his mother always enjoyed her job. “We never had the idea that we were looked down upon. It was an honest way to make a living. Of course we were exploited, but we loved the job. We weren’t bothered by an inferiority complex.” Annie’s first stage name was Big Edda. Henk, also very fat, joined his mother’s act when he was eleven. They were called The Big Family. Henk performed as his mother’s daughter. “The proprietor’s wife bought me the largest dress she could find. I wore a wig. My mother did my face. I really looked nice.” Henk always felt at home at the fair. Annie and Henk were advertised as ‘the 900-pound Mother and Daughter’. Annie’s knee girth was 115 centimetres. At the end of the show the female spectators were allowed to feel Annie’s knee. Belly Vermeulen was The Big Family’s boss. Henk van Beurden says Vermeulen was a good employer. Annie died of diabetes when she was only 38. From 1974 to 1979 Henk worked for Belly Vermeulen again. This time he performed as Miss Lola, the Fattest Lady in the World. He/she weighed 368 pound. Later, Henk worked as a jack-of-all-trades for the showman Kroon. He quit the fair in 1984.