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A Texas woman with world record 13-inch feet turned to social media to find rare size 18 footwear – only to receive a deluge of creepy messages from foot fetishists.
Tanya Herbert, 39, from Houston, has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as having the largest feet of any woman in the world, with her right foot measuring 13.03 inches and her left measuring 12.79 inches.
She has found it so difficult to find size 18 women’s shoes for years that she would wear men’s shoes.
Tanya turned to social media and she was able to connect with other women with large feet who gave her advice on how to create her own shoes.
‘I would buy some of the largest shoes I could find online and manipulate those to extend them out a little longer and make them a little wider so that they would fit my feet,’ Tanya told the Guinness World Records.
But Tanya said that she received a deluge of messages from men who wanted her to send them pictures of her feet for money.
Tanya Herbert, 39, from Houston, has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as having the largest feet of any woman in the world, with her right foot measuring 13.03 inches and her left measuring 12.79 inches
Tanya found it so difficult to find size 18 women’s shoes for years that she would wear men’s shoes
‘I never got on social media to be an object of affection or anything like that, or to go into foot fetish world.’
She added: ‘Five percent of men that follow me are the ones who send strange and interesting comments into my inbox asking if I would sell them pictures of my feet.’
Tanya also stands at 6 ft 9 inches tall – only three inches shorter than the tallest woman living Rumeysa Gelgi, from Turkey, who is 7 ft 0.7 in tall.
Tanya has always been much taller and had much larger feet than her peers, and by high school her feet had reached the record-breaking size they are today.
Tanya said: ‘Growing up I was always the tallest around. 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.’
Tanya Herbert, 39, from Houston, has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as having the largest feet of any woman in the world, with her right foot measuring 13.03 inches and her left measuring 12.79 inches
She added: ‘The most difficult part of having big feet is trying to find shoes that fit.
‘I extend womens 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 for Guinness 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.
She said: ‘You can find men’s size shoes that are my size, but trying to find women’s shoes is impossible or extremely unaffordable.
‘Women with size 12 or 13 struggle trying to find shoes, and I’m size 18.
‘Being a world record holder may present opportunities that I may not have been offered beforehand.
‘I want to be a spark to the shoe manufacturing industry!’
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