At over six feet of height, Peet Montzingo is slightly taller than the average man, but he really stands out in his family. He’s the only member of his family who was not born with achondroplasia, a congenital condition that affects bone growth and causes dwarfism. The rest of the family—his mother Vicki, his father Darrell, his brother Andrew and his sister Jennifer—are all little people.
He wanted to be a little person too
Peet’s mother Vicki told Today in 2023 that as a child, Peet couldn’t come to terms with the fact that he was tall. “Peet as a little boy would say to me, ‘Mom, I wish I was a dwarf.’ He fit society’s idea of what a person should look like, but at home, he felt like the odd man out.”
His brother Andrew, who is now a third-grade teacher, recalls that Peet was often angry and sad growing up because of all the bullying his family members received. It was hard for him to see his family being made fun of and the object of rude curiosity. “I hated it. I was always ready to fight with someone,” Peet told Today.
Raising awareness through humor
Peet is now 34 years old and has learnt over the years that anger and sadness won’t achieve much. Nowadays, he lives in Los Angeles and creates content for social media, where he already has millions of followers (18.9 million on YouTube alone). In 2022, Peet even published a children’s book: Little Imperfections: A Tall Tale of Growing Up Different.
He often uses these platforms to raise awareness about dwarfism, with the help of his mother Vicki, who has become an internet star. Together, they make funny videos showing the differences between a “normal tall” person and a little person in a heartwarming way.
“A lot of the audience on TikTok are Gen Zs, and, with the Gen Zs, a lot of them aren’t old enough or haven’t experienced life enough really to have met another little person or really know much about little people,” he told Justin Chan of Yahoo! in 2020. “So it’s awesome to educate them in a way … it’s fun to kind of, like, make fun of it a little bit but kind of be like, ‘No, but, really, this is how you’re supposed to talk to them.’”
“I feel like I’ve finally found my place in the world,” Peet told Today. “I’m educating people about differences. I get so many messages that are like, ‘You’ve changed my perspective,’ ‘Thank you for opening my eyes.’”
“His videos are informative, educational and funny at the same time. He’s normalizing different bodies. We may look different, and we may move differently, but inside we’re all the same,” his mom told Today. She’s proud of his achievements and enjoys participating in his videos.
Watch one of the fun videos where Peet accompanies his mother Vicki’s daily life with a soundtrack on the trombone.
And today we celebrate...