A woman whose feet measure a huge size 18 has been crowned by Guinness World Records. Tanya Herbert, 39, had it confirmed by Guinness World Records last month that she has the world’s largest feet on a living woman.
Her right foot is 33.1 cm (13.03 in) and her left foot measures in at 32.5 cm (12.79 in) - meaning that her shoe size is a US women’s size 18, as reported by Leicestershire Live. Her feet are so big her shoes need to be specially made.
Tanya also stands at 6 ft 9 inches tall, making her only three inches shorter than the tallest woman living, in Turkey, Rumeysa Gelgi, who is 7 ft 0.7 inches tall. Tanya, from Houston, Texas, said: "The most difficult part of having big feet is trying to find shoes that fit.
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Tanya said: "My mum was 6 ft 5 in and my dad is 6 ft 4 in so it was inevitable I was going to be tall. My parents were supportive growing up so I didn’t think of being tall as a bad thing."
I never remember getting bullied or anything like that for my height, and my friends made sure I was loved and liked. As I got older, I would buy some of the largest shoes I could find online and extend them out longer and make them wider so that they would fit my feet."
For much of her life, she only had the option to wear men’s shoes as those were the only shoes she could find in her size. She found ways to create her own, feminine, shoes by making them longer and wider so that they would fit her feet.
She added: "I extend women's shoes myself so they fit my feet, or, if I shop in the men's section, I drop down to either a size 16 or 17- depending on the brand. I can find some men's shoes at that size online - but when they arrive, I personalise them to make them look more feminine."
Tanya went viral on TikTok at the start of this year for her big feet, and it was people commenting that encouraged her to go for the record. So, in April 2022, she got in touch with Guinness World Records, who came out and measured her feet.
It took until October to verify her measurements and officially confirm that she had beat the record - previously held by Julie Felton, with US women's size 15.5 feet. Tanya hopes that with her record she can prompt shoe manufacturing companies to be more inclusive by carrying a larger range of sizes, at a more affordable cost for women.
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