Is there a line when it comes to going under the knife?
There are countless celebrities who undergo surgery each day. Many flying under the radar having menial nip-and-tucks here and there that me and you aren’t even aware of. But sometimes celebrities just can’t help themselves and go a little too far. One procedure goes wrong and BAM! Stuck in the constant cycle of trying to correct their ruined appearance. Lots of these extreme botched procedures and altered appearances provoke extremely negative responses from an online social media audience.
An example that I’m sure many of you will be aware of is Pete Burns. He was known for his openness about his surgery mishaps, and spoke freely about undergoing over 300 operations in order to fix his botched surgeries. Despite the vast amount of time times he had been under the knife he still continued to state how he “was in love with his appearance ” yet somehow also felt “just like Frankenstein”. A confusing paradox from the deceased singer.
(Pete Burns – before and after)
Before his recent, tragic death in October 2016 due to a heart attack, he appeared on the Channel 5 show “Celebrity Botched Up Bodies”. Botched is a popular documentary TV show that interviews celebrity personalities that have either had countless surgeries (and gone too far away from what now may be perceived as a ‘normal’ alteration) or had surgeries that have gone wrong and had drastic consequences.
Here is a trailer for the latest series of the show:
On the show, Pete stated that he first got plastic surgery 20 years ago, when his single “You Spin Me Round” became a success. Then proceeding with four nose jobs, cheekbone implants and countless alterations to his lips.
His rise to fame and consciousness of his appearance in the public eye provoked his first nose job (as it was crooked due to being broken in a previous year). Speaking of his first procedure, he shared: “I realised I was going to be a visual entity and that I had to look good.”
“When you’re young, self-conscious and standing in front of a camera and the photographers are whispering, ‘Can we turn his head to the left?’ you think, ‘I’ll do something about it’.”
When things don’t go as planned:
He then underwent a rhinoplasty to fix it! But the procedure went wrong… He told Channel 5 how he “woke up covered in blood. There was so much blood it was unbelievable”.“He’d removed most of my nose and there was just two nostrils and a little bit of bone in the middle. I nearly fainted.”
The star then underwent more surgery to attempt to fix that cosmetic failure, where he claims – that it was just the first of “probably 300”. Pete states that the “amount of surgeries I’ve had are absolutely minimal compared to the reconstructive surgeries I’ve had”. A very worrying thought that brings into question the addictiveness of cosmetic alterations.
(Pete Burns lips- Channel 5’s Celebrity Botched Up Bodies)
On the show he also recalled the time he was performing on stage and realised there was a problem with his lip fillers. He then went back to the surgeon to get excess fluid drained. “At least a pint and a half of yellow steaming fluid was vomited out of the lip.” (An unsightly thought that makes me feel faint thinking about it).
To make the situation worse, Pete said the filler started spreading to the rest of his face, leaving holes in his skin which would ooze yellow fluid. He successfully managed to sue the surgeon for £450,000 in an out of court settlement after the infection spread to rest of his body with his lips possibly requiring amputation.
Reliving the horrific ordeal, he explained: “I’ve had a major operation a week for two years to remove it from my cheeks where it had migrated, my Adam’s apple, the back of my eyes…They couldn’t do anything about the liver and the kidneys. I had to excrete that out.”
From bad to worse:
The signer discussed how he became clinically depressed and how the ordeal drained him of two years worth of his life.
Things continued to dramatically declined for Pete as he developed blood clots and pulmonary embolisms in his legs, heart and lungs.“I got these black marks on my skin and I thought they were bruises. The next thing my driver came in and I was unconscious, not breathing.”
He was rushed to hospital and told that he had less than two per cent chance of survival! He was put on blood thinners and after 10 days, doctors managed to save him. But despite his brush with death, Pete was undeterred, stating “What I’m trying to achieve with my surgery is my own personal satisfaction. It’s narcissism at its extreme.”
When societal pressures become too much:
Why do celebrities succumb to the pressures of striving for perfection? Especially when the situations they put themselves in are so life-threatening!
Many people are unaware of the pressures put on celebrities to look good. The attempts that they put themselves through to achieve this ‘perfection’ are extremely dangerous and as you can see, sometimes life threatening. Yet, the public chose to ignore this fact (or may even not be aware) but are extremely quick to judge and ridicule. Pete Burns is often used at the ‘butt’ of a joke and is seen frequently tweeted about on Twitter. Here are some examples:
- “I don’t understand how people can get cheap plastic surgery, then be all heartbroken and shocked when they unwrap and look like Pete Burns” – @Tigercha5e (twitter)
- “Watching Pete Burns interviews, loved the music but finding the surgery truly disturbing, awful to see and incomprehensible – why???” – @Judyelon
It’s not only Pete Burns who receives negative backlash from an online audience, child actors such as Amanda Bynes and Lindsey Lohan have been victims of a negative response from the online public too:
Amanda Bynes:
- “Do you think if I got addicted to the narcotics after surgery I could be like Amanda Bynes” – @masonwymerr
- “Amanda Bynes usta be so pretty… until she went and had a s**tload of plastic surgery done” – @EPluribusWiggum
(Amanda Bynes left after surgery, right minimal surgery)
Lindsay Lohan:
- “@lindsaylohan not even surgery could save your face hunny” – @wreckedari
- “@lindsaylohan tooo much surgery “ – @AntoniomoonL
