Claire Leeson, a London woman is now broke after spending over $30,000 on plastic surgery and cosmetic enhancements to look like Kim Kardashian, according to media reports.
Claire Leeson has spent over $30,000 on plastic surgery and cosmetic enhancements to look like the reality star and is now broke! What's interesting is that her desire to make such drastic transformations to her overall appearance is not just her obsession for Kardashian but also a way to deal with bullies.
According to ITV's This Morning, Leeson said she became obsessed with Kardashian in 2009, when Kim's hit reality TV show, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," first aired. Leeson said she decided to transform herself into a Kim clone after being bullied and called "ugly" all her life.
Her decision to become a Kardashian look-alike came after she tried committing suicide twice. She said that her school bullies drove her into a deep depression. Since then, her quest to resemble Kardashian included a breast implant and many non-surgical cosmetic enhancements, including teeth whitening, butt padding, spray tans, nail treatments, and hair extensions.
All these surgeries have cost Leeson over $30,000, leaving her broke now. Though she occasionally gets work as a Kim Kardashian impersonator, she doesn't have any big money flowing in. Nonetheless, she doesn't regret her decision to transform her looks.
"I work, my job doesn't pay enough ... I've used credit cards to pay for everything. I'm in major debt. I say that I'm going to pay them but as soon as money comes in I just think about getting my Kimmy on," she said, according to Huffington Post. "When I get my Kimmy on I feel like I'm unstoppable and untouchable and I feel like no one can stop me and I can make something of myself. I feel strong ... and I feel that I have built enough confidence to love myself a little bit more."
Leeson said she hopes to undergo additional surgery, including having the fat removed from parts of her body and injected into her butt to mimic Kardashian's bootylicious curves.
Leeson is not the only fan that has paid big bucks to look like her idol. In October last year, Toby Sheldon, a 33-year-old songwriter from Los Angeles, underwent different cosmetic surgeries to achieve Justin Bieber's youthful look, spending a total of $100,000. Sheldon's obsession with his physical looks started when he was 23. He began having treatments for his thinning hair. His obsession grew when Bieber hit the screens in 2008. Upon seeing Bieber for the first time, Sheldon fell "in love" with his looks.
"When Justin Bieber got famous I was so jealous of his good looks! He had this baby face that I just really liked," he said, according to Daily Mail. "By using Justin's charming baby face as my inspiration, I've been able to restructure my entire look to maintain a much more youthful appearance through plastic surgery. I didn't necessarily listen to his music or fawn over him as a celebrity, but his face was just so flawless every change I made was modeled after him."
The look-alike recently featured in the new episode of Botched. According to E! Online, he put Bieber to shame with his singing talent in the recording studio.
"I was in the music business before Justin was four or five-years-old," the Bieber wannabe said. "You have to have that inner creativity, you have to have something to say, you have to be lyrically gifted, you have to know what's catchy, it's just something I've come to master."
In recent years, plastic and cosmetic surgeries have become the trend. People are transforming their appearances to look like a completely new person, not necessarily a celebrity. Last year, a Japanese woman has spent over $100,000 on surgeries to look like a French doll and said she will continue undergoing surgeries until she achieves the desired look.
