WEBSTER, Texas — It didn’t dawn on Tanya Herbert that she might have the world’s largest feet until reading a comment on Tik Tok. The 6-foot, 9-inch Webster woman shared a video about her weight-loss journey while getting a pedicure. She mentioned in the video that her shoe size is 18 and the comments started coming.
That's when she contacted Guinness World Records.
It took months to make it official, but Tanya now holds the record for the largest feet on a living female. Her right foot measures 13.03 inches, and her left foot measures 12.79 inches. She wears a size 18 (women’s) or 16-17 (men’s).
For perspective, Shaquille O'Neal reportedly wears a 22, Yao Ming and Kevin Durant wear 18s and Lebron James is a mere size 15.
“One of the things I love about Guinness World Records is that now I’m officially amazing,” Tanya told us. “That’s their hashtag -- officially amazing.”
What’s also amazing is how Tanya embraces her uniqueness. Her size wasn’t a big deal growing up. She comes from a tall family and wasn’t really picked on.
“I think the only people that were trying to bully me were the coaches in sports because they were trying to get me to play basketball or get into volleyball,” she told us. “I just wasn’t interested in sports.”
At 38, Tanya now shares her “larger than” life on Tik Tok. Many of her videos are about her struggle to find shoes. On the rare occasion she spots something in a store, it’s always for men and usually very bright.
“I’ve never owned a pair of heels,” she said. “I’ve never owned a pair of women’s boots or anything like that. “I’ve always had men’s shoes and it’s just the way of life for me.”
Tanya is constantly cutting and gluing shoes together to make them work. She bedazzles men’s slip-ons, cuts straps to add extension ribbons, and does whatever it takes to make footwear look more feminine.
She gets shoe-finding tips and words of encouragement on social media along with comments from the foot-fetish crowd.
“The women are very positive, very encouraging,” Tonya said. “On the other side, the men are in my direct messages, my DMs, they want feet pictures. They want me to sell them feet videos.”
After hearing from other women with larger-than-average shoe sizes, Tanya has a plan for new newfound fame. She wants shoemakers to offer larger footwear.
“We don’t want the shoe manufacturers to go out and make a whole bunch of size 18 shoes, we’re not asking for that,” she said. “We do want the option, 'Hey, in two to three weeks, let us order a pair of shoes, you custom make them, and ship them to us.”
If you're wondering about her height, Tanya is 3 inches shy of the world's tallest woman.