The tallest woman in the world was Yao Defen (China, born on July 15, 1972 and died on November 13, 2012) she measured 237.7cm (7 ft 8 in), weighed 179 kilograms (395 lb), and had size 22 (UK) / 65 (EU) feet, her gigantism was also due to the tumor which impacted her pituitary gland.
Initially the tallest woman in the history of mankind is Zeng Jinlian, whose height when doctors calculated was 8 feet 1.75 inches. But it was only if her severe curved spinal cord was adjusted to be straight. That would have made her the only woman to cross the eight feet mark.
Yao Defen – Tallest woman in the world – Early life
Yao Defen was born in a poor family of farmers in Liuan which was a small town in the Anhui Province of Shucheng. She weighed 6.16 pounds at birth. At the age of 3 she used to eat more than three times the quantity of food that normally a three-year-old eats. When she turned 11 she became 6 foot 2 inches tall. By the age of 15 she stained an incredible height of 6 foot 8 inches.
This “woman giant” came to be known worldwide when she went to see a doctor at the age of 15 regarding her health issues. Later, many companies tried to train her to be a sports girl. Her family had hoped her to be a professional basketball player, but because of her gigantic frame, the sport was making her heart and lungs uneasy to take.
Due to Yao’s poor health conditions all the plans were abandoned. In addition to her misery she was illiterate, so she was forced to earn her living by performing and traveling with her father from place to place. As said by the Shanghaiist, but had to quit the circus in 2004 as she suffered unbearable abuse and was criticized for her ill health conditions by the circus owner.
Yao Defen – Tallest woman in the world – Facts
Yao Defen’s gigantic structure was a result of a large tumor in her pituitary gland, which made the pituitary gland overactive, which released excess of growth hormone which eventually caused her skeleton system to grow excessively. The tumor was removed in a hospital in Guangzhou Province, after which she stopped growing. Unfortunately the tumor returned and she was again treated in Shanghai in the year 2007, Surgery was not done at that time as the doctors expected the treatment to pave a way for a final effective treatment after 6 months of strict medication. When the doctors removed Yao’s tumor in 2006, she had developed a number of diseases including a blood clot in her brain.
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