Whitney Way Thore Reveals Open Relationship with Her French Boyfriend: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy'
Whitney Way Thore is updating her friends about "big news" in her relationship.
In PEOPLE's exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday's episode of My Big Fat Fabulous Life, the 38-year-old takes a trip to St. Lucia with a group of her friends. At the start of the vacation, Thore — who is in a long-distance relationship with her French boyfriend — reveals that she is now in an open relationship.
"I have big news… about the Frenchman," the reality star hesitantly says. "Well… we didn't break up but basically I was trying to figure out when we could see each other next and we got to talking about things and basically we've instituted a new, 'don't ask, don't tell' policy."
"I was like, are we in an open relationship? I don't know what it is," Thore adds before her friends, seemingly shocked by the news, explain that's "exactly" what it is.
"So now I've entered into an unconventional relationship," she says while her brother Hunter quips, "I'm pretty sure it was unconventional before."
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Whitney Way Thore/ instagram Whitney Way Thore and her boyfriend
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Thore's relationship began last year after the couple met through online language tutoring. Her boyfriend — who asked to remain anonymous and hasn't been shown in full on Thore's TLC show or her Instagram — lives in Paris, and she's maintained that their relationship is going strong despite not seeing each other often.
"The Frenchman and I, we're realistic about the amount of time we actually get to see each other physically," Thore says. "So we've officially loosened the bonds on our relationship, physically. Just in the event of me maybe having a vacation adventure."
Her best friend Jessica notes in a confessional that while she has reservations about the situation, she's supportive of Thore's decision.
"If they do have these rules set in place and it's totally within the parameters, then I think Whitney should have fun," she explains. "For me personally in my relationship, not really my thing. I don't know, maybe this could take a far left turn."
"It'll be a fun experiment," Jessica tells Thore. "We'll see how it works."
New episodes of My Big Fat Fabulous Life air on Tuesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on TLC and will be available on discovery+ the same day.
