14 DAY TRIAL // Heidi Montag got her start on the MTV hit reality show The Hills, but it was an entirely different thing that helped her make headlines around the world: her 2009 surgical transformation, which became possible after she underwent a record 10 surgical procedures in just one day.
For a very long time afterwards, Montag kept telling the media that turning herself into a real-life Barbie doll was a lifetime dream of hers, but she’s long come to regret her rushed decision to get this much work done at such an early age.
Today, she’s fairly positive she will never get plastic surgery again.
Heidi became poster girl for too much plastic surgery in 2010
In 2010, when she was only 23 years old and she should have been, by all means, confident and happy about her looks, Heidi went under the knife and emerged an entirely new woman. She got liposuction on her tummy and thighs, she got another nose job, her ears pinned back, her chin shaved down, Botox and fillers, and huge breast implants.
Asked at the time if this kind of “makeover,” which she got in a single day, bespoke a very poor self-esteem and unhealthy body image, Heidi was almost offended at the suggestion: no, she said, she’d always wanted to look like a Barbie and now she was finally getting the chance.
Not even seeing her mother’s shocked reaction made her realize that what she did was terribly wrong – but the pain that came a bit later on did it for her.
The estimated cost of Heidi’s transformation was of about $30,000 (€24,212) but she was forced to get even more surgery last year: her huge implants were tearing through the breast tissue, and she had to opt for a smaller size, despite her earlier wish to get a triple H cup, H standing for Heidi.
No more plastic surgery
The former reality star is now living in regret at having “literally chopped up my own body,” she tells Extra in a new interview, which you can find embedded below.
Today, Heidi understands that she acted out of low self-esteem, but she believes part of the blame also lied with the doctor who operated on her because he didn’t inform her of the consequences of the transformation.
For instance, she says, he didn’t tell her breast tissue could tear from the implants, as neither did he inform her about the pain she’d be left with after getting her chin shaved down.
“I don’t think people do tell you the trauma of what you’re going to heal from. I was in so much pain, I actually thought I was going to die. I’m just done with all of it. I’m going to age gracefully and bow out,” she promises.
Making lemonade out of the lemons life gives you
Heidi’s surgical transformation happened just as her and husband Spencer Pratt’s popularity decreased considerably. Until then, they had been a tabloid fixture, even if their life wasn’t half as scandalous as other celebrities’, but their business deals with paparazzi agencies guaranteed them constant exposure, whether they were simply out for lunch or would stage a photo-op at the beach.
In a way, Heidi got her makeover not just because of self-esteem but also because she’d have a more interesting story to tell. She lacked the right counseling when she made this decision – and that is probably her biggest regret.
But it’s not like she’s stopped capitalizing on it. Heidi is not getting the same media attention anymore, but she’s still got exposure for her surgeries. First, it was for her Barbie story, then for her regret at being tricked by her doctor into getting this kind of work (he died, by the way, and couldn’t defend himself anymore), then for showing her scars and detailing her “ordeal.”
Just last year, before she went under the knife again, she was making the same promise she’s making today: that she would never ever get surgery again.
