Donna Simpson. Her online membership - "probably 10,000" - is based all around the world, she said. "I even have some fans over there in Australia." Each pays money to watch her gorge on food in pre-recorded video or photos in which she models. "I probably eat three times as much as a regular person would eat," she said. Australian health experts have expressed dismay, saying Ms Simpson is setting herself up for an early death and setting a bad example for her children.

Donna Simpson. Reports have suggested she gets paid $90,000 a year. But according to her management team, "any figures that have been published are complete falsehoods". "She makes some extra spending money, and that's all." She does not own a scale capable of weighing herself because the ones that go up to her weight are hard to come by, she said. "You can only find them online." The last time she checked at a friend's place, who has a capable scale, she weighed "somewhere in the 600 pounds [270-kilogram]" range.

For $7.92 Ms Simpson offers three days' access to her officialdonnasimpson.com site. Paying $19.88 will get you 30 days' access. Payment gets you access to 20 minutes of Ms Simpson eating dinner, some other footage of her eating a pumpkin pie or some video of her squashing someone, which, apparently, is a fetish for some. There's also a bunch of imagery available. To keep fans entertained she often posts videos or pictures around themes. If it's Christmas, for example, she has a Christmas theme. Come Halloween time she does a video or photo around that. "[The fans] want to see me eating different things," she said. Ms Simpson is wearing just a bathing suit in some photos. Asked whether she saw what she was promoting as soft pornography, Ms Simpson said that whatever she did was "whatever you want to call a woman in a bathing suit; to me it's kind of like PG-rated". Ms Simpson said her son, Devin, 15, thought her rise to fame was "funny". "He likes it when we go on trips and we do shows," she said.

"He's grown up with mum being fat ... so it's just kind of natural [to him]." Despite a media report from the Daily Mail quoting Closer magazine that Ms Simpson's 4-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, was her sole feeder, she said that it was not the case. "I'd rather die than bring my daughter [into this]. "It's totally false what the Daily Mail said about my daughter." The report followed news that Ms Simpson had left her long-time partner, whom she said she left about three weeks ago.

Ms Simpson said she could cook for herself. "I like to cook at home," she said. "I don't go out a whole lot. There's a lot of salt in food from restaurants." At times she said she had been known to eat 70 pieces of sushi. Asked if she counted her calorie intake she said: "That's trying to lose weight", which isn't her ambition. In fact, she plans on getting to 450 kilograms in just a years' time. "I've always been comfortable with my weight," Ms Simpson said. "I've always been comfortable being fat."

Well-known Australian nutritionist Rosemary Stanton said Ms Simpson was setting a bad example for her children and putting herself at risk of serious illnesses. "She's increasing her risk of lots of things which would make it very difficult to be a mother to her child ... very heavy people do not make old bones; they die young," Dr Stanton said. "The first thing you'd expect to go wrong would be that she'll develop diabetes but then that triples her risk of a heart attack. It also drastically increases her risk of kidney disease and, of course, there's a huge risk of bowel cancer." The Butterfly Foundation, which supports Australians with eating disorders, urged people not to support Ms Simpson's venture. "This is not a cyber game. This has real consequences for a real person. I strongly urge people to not participate in this tragic example of cyber voyeurism," foundation chief executive Christine Morgan said.

"Butterfly is extremely concerned about any behavior that glorifies the unhealthy abuse of eating behaviors and a person's body. Negative body image is entrenched within our community and has devastating effects. Clinical eating disorders are a critical illness that requires serious medical and psychological integrated treatment." The Butterfly Foundation provides free national phone and email support for people with eating disorders or negative body image. It can be reached on 1800 334 673 or support@thebutterflyfoundation.org.au. Separately, a YouTube channel called Epic Meal Time attracts millions of viewers per episode who watch as the presenters scoff down huge meals containing thousands of calories. This reporter is on Twitter: @bengrubb