“I’m giving my little girls plastic surgery for Christmas”
Lacey Wild is convinced plastic surgery can help a woman get ahead because it can make her happier and boosts her self-esteem. Not wanting her children to miss out on success, she is giving them what she thinks is the best gift in life
The Christmas tree is up in my drawing room and while department stores and toy shops are packed with parents buying gifts for their children, I can relax knowing I’ve already done my shopping. And I didn’t have to stand in a queue or even wrap up the presents I’ve got for two of my six children – Tori, 18, and seven-year-old Jenaveve. Because I know the importance of lookingg good, I decided to give them vouchers for plastic surgery.
Jenaveve, my youngest daughter, has been asking for a new Barbie for months and all Tori wants is a new smartphone but the only presents they’ll get from me this year are the $7,000 (Dh25,700) plastic-surgery vouchers. Unfortunately they have both shed a lot of tears over it as they don’t want to go under the knife. But I’m determined to make sure my kids look great now and in the future. I want Tori to have a breast augmentation. Jenaveve, the younger one, will have to wait until she turns 18 before going for plastic surgery, but these vouchers will still be valid then.
It’s my responsibility as a mother to do what’s right for my kids to make sure they feel good about themselves both inside and out. So even though they may hate me for it now, I know some day they will thank me. Any child can have gimmicky toys, dolls and mobiles but it’s rare foramumto care as much as I do about her girls’ looks and to make sure they have an advantage – it’s always the best-looking kids and teenagers who get on.
Few people know the importance of looking good better than I do. Although I’m 45, I look much younger and a lot prettier than I did in my teens and early 20s when I had a boyish frame and stringy hair. I was also extremely shy and my self-esteem was at rock bottom. All that has changed. Of course, it hasn’t been easy – or
cheap for that matter – to look this good but I am happy that thanks to my physical beauty, my self-esteem has sky-rocketed.
Over the past 20 years I’ve spent more than $200,000 on head-to-toe cosmetic procedures. From tummy tucks to full-body liposuction and dozens of face injections, I’ve done it all. Not to mention 12 breast augmentations to take my bust from a natural A to a LLL cup.
But while most women might be embarrassed or ashamed to admit that going under the knife has made them feel happier and more beautiful, I can attest to both.
Poverty robbed me of my self-esteem
My self-obsession with my appearance started when I was a little girl. Growing up I always felt like the ugly duckling as I had a tiny boyish frame and wispy brown hair that I hated.
My classmates picked on me and called me a tomboy as I wasn’t as pretty as the popular girls with their long blonde hair and beautiful new dresses.
I spent my days wishing I was one of the pretty girls, but I was so shy that I didn’t even have many friends at school.
It didn’t help that my family was so poor that I was forced to wear secondhand clothes from my older sister and I never had shoes that fitted.
We were so badly off that we didn’t even have running water or electricity in our house. Some of my friends used to poke fun at me for wearing hand-me-down clothes and over time I think feeling ugly and being poor robbed me of my self-esteem.
I didn’t get to go to school dances or spend afternoons shopping at the mall like other girls my age as my family simply couldn’t afford it.
Instead, I spent every spare hour burying my head in fashion magazines, fantasising what it would be like to be rich and famous like the models on the covers. Even at a very young age I knew I was destined for something great and dreamed of being a dancer or model.
Finally, at 14, I quit school and left home in Illinois in search of a new life. After years of being bullied and never feeling good enough, I felt I needed to make something of myself.
I’ll admit being so young it wasn’t easy or glamorous to be on my own and for the first few months I was homeless, on the streets, begging people for money and eating out of rubbish bins. I was scared but I did not want to return home without making it big and becoming rich enough to buy everything that I wanted.
I didn’t have a plan, I just knew I needed to be on my own and eventually I would figure something out.
I’m sure it broke my parents’ hearts seeing me walk out the door and into the world, but I promised myself that I’d never be poor again. And to this day I’ve never looked back.
I married at 16 and had my first daughter, Ivy. But after five years we divorced and I was back to making ends meet on my own.
For years I travelled across the country, waiting tables and meeting all kinds of people. It was liberating being on my own and taking care of myself and my daughter and I liked the sense of adventure, of not knowing what was going to happen next. I got my big break when I moved to Las Vegas to pursue my dream of becoming a dancer.
Using the money I had been saving up, I bleached my hair platinum blonde, had my first breast augmentation and bought designer brands for the first time in my life.
I even changed my name from the he boring Paula Simonds to Lacey Wildd dd and that’s when everything improved.
Being blonde and with a betterlooking body completely changed the way people responded to me, and after years of being ignored I welcomed all the attention.
Even people who made fun of me all those years in school couldn’t believe my transformation when I went home to visit and they showered me with nothing but compliments whenever they saw me.
For the first time ever I was pretty and popular and I loved it. Within months of my drastic transformation I had become a showgirl dancer in Vegas. Not only did I get VIP service everywhere I went, I was also being showered with lavish gifts from my male admirers including cash, cars and jewellery. And it was all because I was pretty. Eventually at 27 I retired from dancing and settled down to raise a family in Miami, Florida. I am still a working single mum, I make TV appearances, act in films and run a website. And I still believe having a good body and a pretty face is what helps women get ahead in the world and that’s exactly the lesson I’m trying to teach my kids by giving them these vouchers for Christmas.
The minute I left ugly Paula behind and embraced my new life as Lacey, everything changed for the better and everything became easier. In fact, after further altering my body and making it look more plastic, I have begun earning more money.
Never in a million years would I want my kids to suffer the way I did when I was younger, feeling ugly, alone and insecure. Which is why I’ve invested so much energy and money to make sure my kids are happy and successful for the rest of their lives. The only difference is that, unlike other parents who might set up savings
bonds or college funds as an investment in their kids’ futures, I’m investing in plastic surgery for my kids.
My children, however, are against it and have been telling me to buy them something they say would be more useful.
I think plastic surgery can fix all problems
Truth be told, this isn’t the first time I’ve bought plastic surgery for one of my daughters. In fact, years ago I bought my oldest daughter, Ivy, 28, a $5,000 breast augmentation surgery for her 21st birthday and it was one of the happiest days of my and her life.
I remember as she was being taken into theatre she turned to me and said, “Mom, this is the best gift anyone’s ever given me, thank you so much.”
It made me such a proud mom to know my daughter wanted to alter her body like me and I felt honoured to pay for her implants. To this day Ivy still tells me all the time that plastic surgery was the best gift she’s ever received and since then she’s been full of self-confidence.
Which is exactly what I want for Tori and Jenaveve now. Of course Jenaveve will have to wait at least 11 more years before she can legally even consider the surgery. And Tori, who has always been very stubborn, keeps telling me she won’t accept my gift as she has no intention of ever going under the knife. But with dreams of her own to one day become a model, I know Tori will eventually come to her senses and reconsider my offer. She has a boyish figure, and I know what she’s going through with her insecurities and I feel so guilty for passing along those genes to her that I’m desperate to do whatever I can to fix things.
After having two tummy tucks and full-body liposuction I’m living proof that plastic surgery can fix all of your problems and make all those insecurities go away with very minimal effort.
I know that in some respect I may be making my kids’ body issues worse by offering and even pushing them to get plastic surgery, but like any other good parent I just want my kids to feel great and be happy.
I hope if I’ve taught my kids anything it’s that plastic surgery can change their lives for the better, just like it has mine.
Everyone needs to live their dream and go for it and not worry about being judged. I know a lot of people worry that I am hurting myself or my kids. I promise you, I am not.
And while I know Tori and Jenaveve might be mad at me on Christmas Day when all they see underneath the Christmas tree are vouchers for plastic surgery, I also know that one day they will thank me.