Record holders who are among the world’s tallest and shortest people have spoken of their joy at meeting Rumeysa Gelgi.
Savanna Trapp-Blanchfield, a member of the tallest family, and Wildine Aumoithe, the shortest female living (non-mobile) and shortest professional model, both appear in Guinness World Records’ first feature-length documentary, Rumeysa: Walking Tall, all about the world’s tallest woman living.
In the GWR Studios documentary, available to stream from 21 December only on Rakuten TV, Wildine and Savvy travel to California to meet Rumeysa, who is visiting after boarding her first ever flight out of her native Türkiye.
The pair are just two of the record holders Rumeysa spends time with while spreading her message of kindness and acceptance of those with visible differences.
Rumeysa, who stands at 215.16 cm (7 ft 0.7 in) tall, has faced many health issues throughout her life due to her condition, Weaver syndrome, that caused her record-breaking height.
She’s also faced horrendous bullying throughout her life, and battled the isolation that comes along with it.
All she’s been through inspired her mission to support others in similar situations.
While she and Savvy bonded over their ‘tall girl problems’, Rumeysa and Wildine visited a school where they talked to young students about living with a disability.
“Meeting Rumeysa, I would honestly have to say it changed my life,” Savvy confessed.
The 203.6 cm (6 ft 8 in) tall social worker said as she looked back on filming: “I had only met one other person in my whole life that was a girl that was taller than me, and being able to meet Rumeysa, it was just so amazing to be able to bond over our common tall girl struggles that we have and also some of the things that we deal with on a daily basis that a lot of folk might not be able to relate to.
“I feel I was really able to relate to her and became fast friends with her.”
Savvy, who is mum to seven-year-old son Benny, added: “She is such a lovely person, so sweet, so kind, so caring. I really hope I get to see her again sometime soon. I’m all the way over here in Minnesota though so hopefully we can make a trip and hang out again sometime soon.
“She was so much fun to hang out with and she’s so well spoken and just absolutely brilliant.
“I just love visiting with her, and Rumeysa, I wish you the absolute best on your next adventure and I’m so honoured that I got the chance to meet you and to call you my friend.”
In her day-to-day life, Savvy loves her work in the social services, calling it her “soul work” and her way to “give back” to her community.
She’s also recently become a duck farmer and is working on a trailer for a new reality show about her life.
Wildine also shares an unbreakable bond with Rumeysa after meeting her for the first time, although it was much harder for them to see eye-to-eye… at least in a literal sense.
Wildine is 72 cm (28.3 in) tall – 143.16 cm shorter than Rumeysa – and joked she had to crane her neck to look up so they could chat.
She told us: “When I found out about the plan about meeting Rumeysa I was really excited because I’ve wanted to meet her since we connected on Instagram.
“Meeting Rumeysa for the first time in California was really surreal – I knew she was tall but I didn’t know she was actually that tall.
“It was my first time seeing someone with Weaver syndrome and seeing someone that tall, I’ve never seen someone so tall in my life, so it was really cool meeting her and getting to spend the day with her.”
Rumeysa and Wildine teamed up to talk to schoolchildren about disability, but Wildine learned a lot from their time together too.
She said: “Something I learned on the trip is it doesn’t really matter how short or tall you are, people go through things and they just live their lives just the way it is.
“An inspiring takeaway from this trip is it’s really important for children to learn about disabilities. Some parents try to brush it off and they don’t want their kids to learn about it, but disabilities do exist and not everyone in this world is the same, everyone is different in their own way.
“So, I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go to the school in California and talk about myself and my disability and I hope it inspires children to learn that not everyone is the same.”
In the trailer for Walking Tall, Rumeysa is also seen spending time with Samantha Ramsdell, who holds the records for the largest mouth gape (female) and widest mouth (female).
The pair, who have both been bullied over their appearances, have a moving heart-to-heart about the things that make them unique.
Sam says: “It’s a superpower – that’s what I always call it too.”
Stream Rumeysa: Walking Tall from 21 December, only on Rakuten TV.
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