Woman Shares What Grocery Shopping Looks Like for Her at Almost 7ft Tall

Imagine turning heads and everyone looking up to you wherever you go. Sounds like a day in the life of a celebrity? However, one woman in Germany experiences both—not for her celebrity stardom, but for her striking height.

Standing at nearly 7 feet tall (6 feet and 7 inches to be exact), 34-year-old Natalia Vieru, a former professional basketball player and Olympic athlete, towers over most people when she's out and about.

"When I walk around, the reactions differ a bit by country. In the U.S., for example, people often talk to me and asking my height or if I play basketball, and in Europe it is a bit more staring and looking," Vieru told Newsweek.

Last month, she shared a TikTok video to her account (@natali_vieru15) of her getting groceries at a supermarket, offering a glimpse of her everyday shopping experience. The footage shows several people, from children to adults, gazing at her as she walks around the store.

A caption shared with the post reads: "That's the reactions I get when I go shopping...I am roughly 7ft (213cm) tall in those heels..."

One of the funniest reactions she's had to her height so far was "when a guy was sitting on the shoulder of his friend to be on eye level to talk to me," she told Newsweek, who added that dating is "not so easy" for her, as some men are "of course, intimidated by my height."

Vieru's towering height may be down to her family heritage and genes.

Born in Moldova and based in Munich, Germany, Vieru said, "I have a European and Soviet background," with Romanian, Moldavian and Russian citizenship.

A November 2020 study in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet, which measured the height and weight of 65 million people in 200 countries and territories, found an estimated difference of 20 centimeters or higher in the average height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations and those with the shortest in 2019.

Countries with the tallest girls included the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark and Iceland, while those with the shortest girls included Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal and Timor-Leste, according to the study.

The former professional athlete's parents are also "quite tall," she told Newsweek, noting that her father is 6 feet 10 inches tall, while her mom stands at 5 feet 10 inches.

"I was always quite tall," she said, with people already asking about what grade she was in by the time she was 4 years old, "and in Moldova we start [school] at 7."

Vieru was a professional basketball player for several years since she was 16, playing in Slovakia and Russia. The last club she played for was UMMC Ekaterinburg, the Russian professional women's basketball team. She played with the team for five years alongside several American players including Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi.

She started for the Russian national team at the 2012 Olympics, which finished in fourth place, "so, unfortunately without a medal," she said. Vieru stopped playing professional basketball in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The "challenges are everywhere" due to her height when it comes to her daily life, from finding clothes—her U.S. shoe size is 15—to traveling in cars, planes and buses.

She has also dated men who are shorter than her. "For me, the height of a partner is not important," she said, adding that "the character and common interests are the things I value most in a relationship."

Vieru also recalls once hitting her head on a sign hanging in the dining area of a cruise ship and the sign fell down, which was "quite embarrassing."

At her height, "even doors are a problem in Europe since they are usually only 6 feet 6 inches high," she noted.

"There are, of course, also a lot of perks," she added, such as having a great view at concerts or other events and being able to "reach everything" on high shelves.

"People can always find me in the crowd and, of course, it [her height] was a quite nice advantage in basketball or other sports" she played, she said.

Meanwhile, some users on TikTok could relate to Vieru's experience.

Alise Alise commented: "I am 6 [feet] tall and feel that when I go out people looking at me . I am not wearing heels because I don't feel comfortable but I want to wear them."

Julie Cuttiford wrote: "My daughter is 6ft 2" she struggles especially with clothes and shoes. I expect you do too."

Others shared messages of support, such as user soniaryan86, who commented: "love the fact you still wear high heels."

User Borchy_j wrote: "As a 5ft woman, I have nothing but admiration for you!"

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