In another desperate attempt to hold onto some last shred of relevance, Heidi Montag under went 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day.
Heidi burst onto the scene as a teenager, appearing as one of the members of Laguna Beach, an MTV show about rich kid drama in California. Heidi, along with then boyfriend, now hubby Spencer Pratt, moved onto The Hills, another MTV reality show, and quickly became experts on doing anything you can to be famous for being famous (Heidi and Spencer released a book on the very subject.) The only 23 year old Heidi got a notorious boob and nose job, posed for Playboy, married Spencer, tried her hand at fitness DVDs and released an album to beyond dismal reviews and sales, all of which received mass media attention- mainly in the form of mocking and pity.
The transparency of Heidi’s grasps to stay in the limelight is painful to watch, and now, she has taken the cake: Heidi underwent 10 head to toe plastic surgeries in one day to completely transform her appearance. In 24 hours, Heidi had a mini brow lift, Botox, nose job revision, fat injected into her cheeks and lips, chin reduction, neck liposuction, ears pinned back, breasts enlarged even further, liposuction on her waist, hips and thighs, and a buttock augmentation.
The media had a feeding frenzy, ripping Heidi a new one for going to such drastic and dangerous lengths to change her barely done maturing 23 year old body into a stiff, plumped, plastic Barbie with limited use of her facial muscles. They like train wrecks because train wrecks sell.
Heidi landed the cover of People Magazine with a 7 page spread chronicling her surgeries and transformation under the headline “Addicted to Plastic Surgery.” Addiction is nothing to be taken lightly, and I can’t imagine People Magazine would publicize a celebrity in the same way if they were addicted to crack or alcohol, but this ‘addiction’ was almost glamorized.
Not everyone, however, let Heidi off the hook. Good Morning America called Heidi “sad,” “confused” and “hard to watch.” In an intimate interview in her home, she was asked some hard questions about her message to young girls.
Heidi said it was “God’s timing” to undergo her surgeries and has never been quiet about being unhappy with her looks. She has told stories of being teased as a child and felt the pressure to be beautiful even more as she entered the Hollywood scene. Her cure? Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to change her appearance to make others happy.
In her interview with GMA, Heidi was confronted with the message she has sent to young girls.
“You are very much an idol to young girls,” said GMA’s Juju Chang. “You are on a cover of a magazine; you are a big name in Hollywood. And these young girls are reading what you say about Triple D isn’t big enough, that I wasn’t pretty enough. What kind of message does that send to young girls?”
“Well, my main message,” Montag replied, “is that beauty is really within.”
“That may be your message,” she she shot back, “but that’s not the message you’re sending with all of this.”
“I’m in a limelight,” Montag argued. “I’m in a different industry [than they are], and I have to do things that are going to make me happy at the end of the day.”
Chang even questioned Montag if it was an improvement at all. Chang asked fans of The Hills what they thought of Montag’s new look and their responses were harsh.
Even Montag’s equally fame hungry husband, Spencer Pratt, had a few choice words, saying he thinks Heidi needs therapy and was not behind her decision (however genuine you feel his comment is.)
Young girls see Heidi’s star rise the more fake she becomes and internalize the idea that the more you deviate from your true self, the more attention you will receive. I do not blame Heidi, she does what works and is a young girl with too much money and not enough self esteem. I blame the media for giving her a platform to spread this message to young girls enticed by the superficial and glitz of fame. She does not deserve a platform to spread her message of self loathing to our girls, and I sincerely hope that soon, she will stop being given one.
