14 DAY TRIAL // Mothers usually want to pass something of themselves to their daughters, be it some of their hobbies or passions, or, if not possible, a strong influence as regards their fashion sense or life choices. For Margaret King from the UK though, things stand completely different, since she shares a very unique bond with her daughter, having bought her her first Botox jab for her 18th birthday. Now all Jodie wants is to be just like her mother, as she reveals in a new interview with Closer magazine.
Despite raised concerns by the many plastic surgeons Jodie has visited since she turned 18 – whose number is surprisingly high despite her being only 20 – the young model says she wouldn’t stop having the injections done for the world. Moreover, her mother has scheduled her for a nose job and breast enlargement for her 21st birthday, so it’s safe to assume that this is just the beginning for Jodie.
Still, the young woman says she’s happy with how things are right now. She first started to worry about the lines on her forehead when she was 17 and she noticed her friends had much smoother foreheads. Naturally, she told her mother about it and she reacted in the most unlikely manner possible, by offering to pay for her Botox. Since then, Jodie has spent more than £1,000 on injections (of her own money, since she has a relatively steady income as a model), whereas her mother shed over £45,000 in beauty treatments and plastic surgery.
“My mum’s always looked so glamorous and she uses cosmetic surgery and Botox to keep her looking young. I plan to follow in her footsteps. So what if I’m a teenage Botox addict? I can’t think of anything worse than looking old. I’ll always find a way to pay for Botox. Now I’ve started I can’t stop.” Jodie tells Closer with disarming honesty. Her mother agrees with her daughter seeing her as a role model, which is why she continues to encourage her to get plastic surgery – despite the fact that Jodie is, after all, only 20, and the last thing she’d need would be Botox on her wrinkles or surgical procedures.
Although there is no age limit for Botox, most doctors recommend not giving it to people under 30 since wrinkles are not well formed until that age, which means people expose themselves to the risk of loss of facial expression for nothing. One cosmetic surgeon though warns that Jodie getting the jabs at such an early age could easily be seen as sign of worse things to come, hinting that maybe the girl needs therapy to help her deal with image issues – her mother, too.
“It sounds like this young lady is on a dangerous spiral. She’s obviously getting encouragement from her mother who sounds like she might be addicted to Botox as well. It is very very unusual to have Botox at that age and 18-year-olds should only have it if there is a real facial deformity, not just normal lines when they frown. There is a real psychological danger. This is setting a precedent for using anti-ageing procedures for many years to come. The mother needs to be taking responsibility if she is encouraging her daughter to have injections into her face.” the surgeon says for the same publication.