But, after losing an amazing 48 stone, with the help of surgery, he has found love online.
Paul, 52, who used to consume 20,000 calories a day, met Rebecca Mountain after she got in touch with him following his appearance on a TV documentary.
Rebecca, from Orange, near Boston, Massachusetts, has vowed to raise the money for a follow up operation for Paul to remove his remaining eight stone of excess skin.
Speaking about why she got in touch with Paul, Rebecca said: “I saw Paul’s documentary years and years ago and just felt really connected right away.
“I just felt compelled to reach out and just try to help and just try to help and that’s all it was.”
They pair say their relationship developed over cyber dates, using Skype to speak for hours at a time.
Paul said: “Our first chat on Skype was over four hours and it just felt like we’d been talking for years.
“At the end of the conversation, I just said to her ‘what time tomorrow then?’”
The operation to remove Paul’s excess skin will cost around $16,000 and could leave him wheelchair-bound, but Rebecca says she will support him through whatever happens.
She said: “He’s incredible, a genuine person. Incredibly honest and open about the difficulties he’s been through, which helped our relationship.
“I was never someone who made fun of heavy people but I am someone who’s been very judgmental… I thought, how could he let this happen to himself?”
After only speaking over Skype and Facebook chat, Paul and Rebecca met for the first time this week.
Paul said: “When I met her at the airport, it was far better than the picture you see on Skype, it was so natural- like meeting someone you’ve met 10 years ago.”
He plans to move to America, after a doctor in New York offered to perform the operation for free.
Rebecca is working to raise the money needed to cover Paul’s aftercare, his medication and his stay in hospital.
Rebecca said: “Who is in there now is the person I love and whoever he is after the operation is irrelevant to me.
“I want him to achieve his goals and that’s the most important thing.”
After Paul’s weight gain became rapid, following his father’s death and mother’s health problems, he was forced to quit his job and, eventually, was left unable to walk or even stand.
When he needed an operation in 2002, firefighters had to demolish a wall of his home so they could get a forklift inside to lift him out and into an ambulance.
And Paul is worried about the impact his operation will have on his relationship with Rebecca.
“It’s a question of whether she’s prepared to stay with me whether the next operation is successful or not and if I’m in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.”
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