Season 7, Episode 10
Marquel
Age: 30
Location: South Beach, Florida
Addiction: Alcohol, bulimia, exercise
What’s memorable: This episode makes the “unforgettable episodes” category on account of 1) the intervention that didn’t happen as a result of her roommate figuring out it was the Intervention cameras, and telling her about it and 2) Marquel’s serious denial about her various addictions.
Official Synopsis: Working as a fitness instructor at the most elite gyms and partying on the club circuit at night, Marquel seems to have the perfect life. But her family sees her exercise regime as obsessive-compulsive, and they watch her binge-drinking episodes end up in hospitalizations. They believe she is an exercise addict, bulimic, and alcoholic, and they have turned to interventionist Candy for help.
Original Air Date: February 2010
Interventionist: Candy
I fell in love with her storry. Is the one I seek the most. she might have a compulsion, but she was verry atractive, very active and determined. better than most lazy people who do nothing about themselves. Verry dedicated. I do not condone her exessive drinking, but I realy admire her working out a lot. Better than most people who do nothing at all but eat donuts, drink soda and watch a lot of tv and money making commercials
No…just NO! She was sick with an eating disorder. She wasn’t healthy at all.
Jesus H Christ what an ignorant comment. I bet you would admire concentration camp survivors for be so fit. I mean yes their bodies are literally falling apart, corpse like and a breath away from death by intentional starvation and slave labor, but look how skinny and active they were…Marquel has an eating disorder the nature of which is inherently terminal. the number of people who die from EDs is extremely high, I wager it’s because of idiots who think ignorant shit like this normalizing and glamorizing serious mental illness.
You are gross-you sound like a creeper. This woman has an addiction.
The fact that she is/was “active” is a large part of how she (and others!) define herself as “not an addict/alcoholic.” It’s called “looking good.” (I’ve been there!) This is often called “stinking thinking” and is referred to as denial: I’m not an addict because i go to the gym every day (or i have a management job and my company thinks i’m a great employee). The “because” can be anything the addict/alcoholic believes of themselves and justifies that s/he is NOT addicted.
Believe me, when we look past all that, it’s easy to see the addictions in action. Marquel’s situation is very sad to me and i also feel really sad for her family. To the family i would say this: i think you are very courageous to keep your “bottom line” so you are not enabling her and at the same time you are learning to be healthy yourselves.
ped (sober 34 yrs)
I found her on Facebook, apparently she is either still married or remarried and has given birth to a third child. She still works as a fitness instructor.
What’s her name on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/marquel.wimbley?fref=ts
I’m pretty impressed with how much this woman can work out with all of that alcoholic consumption.
Well I give this much to Marquel , the woman had a hustle in certain parts of her life . She looks so happy now and so in love with her children and husband . She had a baby and looked like Wonder Woman a month later ( as a mom of two near 20 year old children I am still looking for my pre – baby and have been losing that last 10 pounds for 20 years 😉 ). Not to be materialistic or look oriented but she truly does look fantastic . I hope she applies her strict health , workout and beauty routine to kick drinking out of her life and keep it away . She truly is one strong woman . I know she vehemently rejected rehab and sobriety but if she truly is sober now then I honestly think with training in psychology, drug and alcohol counseling and dietician studies she would be a very good sober coach or employee in a part of the field that utilizes eating healthy , exercising and staying fit as part of staying sober and feeling good about it.
I have talked to so many people that had extended care that were happy with their care but said exercise and learning skills for healthy eating and living was lacking . It seems to me that this should be a integral part in achieving sobriety . If looking good is feeling good then truly finding a healthy diet and exercise could help in finding a positive way and place to focus on any void left by the time that was spent before seeking and using your substance of choice. Many people that are lucky enough to achieve sobriety suffer devastating depression and use again to fight depression . Imagine an alternative to antidepressants, benzodiazepines ,antipsychotics and a life sentence to Methadone to fight to keep sober and fight depression and that alternative being exercise and a focus on good physical health .Just a thought but Marquel could help so many people fighting addiction because I have a feeling her desire to be healthy helped her overcome so much .
Anyways I am proud of her and hope she is truly doing well . Her family looks so happy . No facade but truly happy and healthy . I was initially appalled by her reaction but she reacted like many people do just a bit more drastic . And this is neither here nor there but the woman has a 6-8 pack to die for and should be proud of her work especially now that is very obvious that she made mistakes but adores her gorgeous family ( gorgeous in the emotional and loving sense ) . I definitely wish her continued success and I salute her for her having a job she obviously loves and excels at . She is a physical trainer so she helps many people get and stay healthy and openly thanks the people that have helped her and educate her on the ever growing methods of achieving and teaching physical fitness . She seemed like a hard case but she had a big heart all along .
I mean, she was bulimic. Nothing about what she was doing was healthy. To obsessively work out while poisoning yourself with that much alcohol and getting basically no nutrician. She painted a picture of this healthy, fit girl but she was so not healthy!
She is sober, happily remarried, and raising her children and yes their is anew little girl. She’s still a fitness instructor, but works out in a healthy way now. She is a wonderful woman of God and has an incredible relationship with her family. She is kind, funny, and sweet.
Marquel lives in my city and works at one of the gyms. Shes my rolemodel and looks amazing. No longer drinking
I’m glad she is healthy now, if this is indeed the case.
That being said…to those who think exercise addiction is some great lifestyle to aspire to, here’s a suggestion: why don’t you try it for a week? I will be nice and even make you your own training guide. I will go easy, since you probably do an.bsolutely nothing right now. Just walk for, oh, 4 or 5 hours and the go ride the bike for about an hour or two. Nothing strenuous. Maybe some stretching thrown in. Eat a very light dinner and then go to bed. What’s that? You’re starving? Too bad! Now you get to lay there for hours, and this is where the fun begins: your body is exhausted, but it won’t allow you to sleep, because you’re still hungry. The best part of all? That tomorrow will be an ice, relaxing day at the spa? No. You’ve entered a world where there are no days off. Tomorrow will be the same thing. And then you will have to keep increasing the intensity, because your body will stop being challenged by the same exercises. You may join a gym. I’d suggest joining two, because the people at the first gym start to get concerned because you’re there so long, and you don’t want them asking questions, so that’s where the second gym comes in. 24 hour gyms are great for this. But what about my personal life? What about it? Do you think this is some hobby? Do you think you get to enjoy things like dinners out or drinks with friends at this level of training? Kiss those days goodbye. You can’t even afford to take off for holidays anymore. Get used to ignoring calls. Get used to angry friends. There is no room in your life anymore for anything else. The basic nods you exchange with other exercises at the gym will serve as your only social exchanges. You will find that often, even work gets in the way. Normal life becomes a memory. But this is the life you aspire to. This is something people desire to become. This is the good life.
I hope she is sober and happy if indeed that is the case in 2017 I hope she realizes that her girlfriend was not her friend that her family had her best interest and most love At Heart I hope 2017 brings her the peace and the happiness that she needs in her life
In July 2017 she posted about how she was trying to quit alcohol for good. She is still working as an exercise trainer and still seems to be addicted to exercise. She either got remarried or reconciled with her ex because she had another daughter.
Of all the stories I find her the least sick. Yeah, she’s got her problems and not taking care of her kids is a huge problem. That said, I don’t think she is on deaths door like so many of the others.
You think that she was OK? She was in deep denial like delusional about herself and her alcoholism. She mentally very sick from her mother’s death which she clearly never dealt with in a healthy way. just because she was in good shape outwardly doesn’t mean she wasn’t sick. Attractive fit people kill themselves all the time.
I creeped on her Facebook friends list and saw that she was at least Facebook friends with her family and friends featured on her episode, so either she indeed got well or they didn’t hold their bottom lines.
Looks like she just had a double preventative mastectomy & reconstruction surgery. She seems very positive about the outcome.
I really liked Marquel.
A totally independent woman. Determined, brave and bold, focused in her objectives. She took on her own life at early age and fought hard to handle all the consequences of her life choices.
She unfortunately crossed the line between the determination and the obsession (leaveing her little children alone at night was something really unacceptable), but well… i think she brought herself back.
Maybe what was lacking on her was to think more seriously about how her behavior was affecting everyone who loved her.
I really admire her kind of woman, strong and tough, and i wish her the best.
Really bizarre comments above. Just goes to show you that looks can fool.
I hope she’s sober and able to fight her bulemia.
I don’t believe for one minute her dad held his bottom line. I’m willing to believe that she manipulated him into not doing a follow up interview. He’s really addicted to her and it’s sad.
I also have a feeling she never really lost her kids. She has the potential to be an amazing mother, and it’s disturbing she left them sleeping alone in the house to get drunk.
I hope she really did get sober. During the time of the intervention, she just wasn’t ready. She has unresolved trauma, and if that hasn’t been and doesn’t get addressed, she’ll never truly heal from any of her self destructive behavior. I hope she’s doing well, but she does such a great job of appearing “together” it’s difficult to say if she’s sober based solely on social media posts.
The amount of people who are admiring her obsessive behaviors surrounding diet and exercise show such a gross misunderstanding of eating disorders and health, it’s frightening.
I TOTALLY agree! I have been Marquel in terms of exercise and it was NOT healthy.
This is a big reason why so many people with eating disorders don’t seek help: if you’re in a thin body, you’re praised for your eating disorder, so why stop? If you’re in a larger body, most people don’t believe you have an eating disorder, so who’s going to take you seriously enough to help you?
YUP! an old friend of mine was bulimic all through high school & now she exercises everyday (& she’s been like this going on 20 years). she has 3 kids & now she’s so skinny you can see all of her bones. the kicker is, no one seems to say anything bc she works out everyday. i had to cut her out of my life because it was so frustrating for me to her soooo skinny & unhealthy & everyone pretending like nothing is wrong. every time i see pictures of her & see bones in photos you shouldn’t be able to see, i can’t help but be more concerned ab her kids. it’s awful!
Just saw her Instagram. Literally nothing changed. Still addicted to working out/body image & a comment from only 2 days ago was her asking “where we drinking? ;)”. What a shame. She still has her kids, but probably not as attentive as they need just like what partly lead to the Intervention in the first place.
What’s her Instagram profile name? Thanks!
@marquelfitness is her IG!
She is on Instagram and is still a health/fitness instructor and is obsessed with fitness. She is also promoting vegan nutrition products. Her oldest two children have both graduated and are athletes. She has a younger daughter and has pictures posted with her family so they have made amends. Her dad is now sporting a beard. I don’t see anything about drinking or photos of drinking on her Instagram so perhaps she gave it up for good?
I watched this episode for the first time recently and it seemed like Marquel was suffering from some kind of manic episode. Her addictive behaviours started within the few months of her episode filming. She was definitely sick, but her lifestyle hadn’t caught up to her appearance so she “looked” in control. I wasn’t surprised the intervention failed; Marquel hadn’t been low enough long enough to give herself over to sobriety. I was also not surprised that her followup said she got a DUI and went to jail.