I’m a mum-of-5 & I’ve spent £23k on surgery including 2 boob jobs & 2 tummy tucks in desperate bid to look like Barbie
BARBIE is the hit movie that tears up beauty standard stereotypes and sends out the message you don’t need to look plastic to feel fantastic.
While it has been hailed a feminist triumph, plastic surgeons are seeing a ripple effect in clinics as women bid to look just as perfect as leading lady Margot Robbie.
Online searches for “Barbie surgery” have hit 6,000 a week, with women spending thousands to achieve the so-called “Barbie look”.
The film paints an inclusive picture where anyone can be a Barbie but, in today’s Britain, it seems to only apply within the parameters of accepted beauty standards.
AI filters offering social media users Barbie makeovers have taken over TikTok and Instagram, showing insecure women what they could look like with flawless skin, long, flowing locks and tweaked facial features.
Dr Yannis Alexandrides, plastic surgeon at 111 Harley St, says: “Since the launch of the Barbie movie, we have seen an increase in consultation bookings at our clinic.
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“We’ve had more patients inquiring about rhinoplasty [surgery on the nose] to help achieve a more refined bridge and tip, along with enhanced nasal symmetry, just like Barbie’s upturned nose.
‘I don’t care about the risks. I love my look’
“There have also been more inquiries about Traptox, which seems to be trending since the movie launched.
“This procedure involves injecting Botox into the top of the trapezius muscle, which starts at the base of your neck and moves across your shoulders towards the middle of the back.
“This muscle can become over-contracted, giving the appearance of a shortened neck like Barbie’s.”
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Demand for ‘Barbie Botox’, ‘Barbie noses’, and even ‘Barbie bits’ are all on the increase — but the women wanting these procedures aren’t young and impressionable superfans.
Even at 42 — an age where some might say she ought to know better — the film has fuelled Nikita Bannerman-McCormack’s desire to look plastic fantastic.
The mum of two has spent £5k on surgery after years of wanting the perfectly smooth complexion, pinched nose and defined jaw of her favourite childhood doll.
“Even in my twenties I was a bit of a geek,” says Nikita, a photo studio manager.
“I hid behind glasses and didn’t like my nose, skin or jawline.
“I loved Barbie’s smooth visage, cute nose and sharp face shape and always wanted to look like her.
“When I discovered I could use fillers to give me a doll-like nose, I was determined to have the procedure in 2018.
“Fillers were injected into my nose while I was awake and moulded to give me a perfect Barbie nose with a little pinch at the end.
"It instantly changed the way I looked. I also had chin-balancing fillers to give me a more structured jawline, and my teeth straightened to give me that perfect smile.”
Even before the Greta Gerwig- directed film hit cinema screens last month, Nikita had splashed out on her nose job and multiple “tweakments”.
But she admits the movie’s massive success only made her hungry for more Barbie-inspired procedures.
“Since watching the Barbie movie, I’ve had skin-tightening Profhilo injections — a hyaluronic acid treatment that stimulates the production of collagen — to stop sagging skin and look more like Barbie,” says Nikita, who lives with her builder husband Jamie, 44, plus two kids Tyler, 13, and Hayden, 11, in Harlow, Essex.
“More recently I had a HydraFacial and semi-permanent makeup.”
Nikita is adamant she will do anything to get Barbie’s impossibly perfect look — regardless of the dangers.
“I don’t care about the risks,” she insists. “I love my look.
“I’m always researching new cutting-edge treatments to keep me ageless like Barbie.”
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons reports that 600 cosmetic procedures a week were performed last year — double the year before — and demand for the Brazilian Butt Lift continues to soar, with a 36 per cent rise in ops in 2022.
It’s no surprise when clinics offering Botox, fillers and BBLs are becoming more and more common on the high street.
And with prices as low as £200 for bigger lips, £3,500 for a nose job, and BBLs starting from £2,000 in the UK, surgeries are becoming more accessible and not just for the wealthy.
At 51, grandmother-of-two Melodie Williams has spent £23,000 in a bid to be one of Britain’s hottest “Barbie nannas”.
The divorced mum-of-five, from Stafford, has had two boob jobs, two tummy tucks and even a monsplasty — also known as a pubic lift – to give her a perfect Barbie body.
“I’ve been inspired by Barbie all my life and have always wanted to be plastic fantastic,” says Melodie, a carer.
“When the film came out, I was so happy I was already ahead of the game. After having five children, I weighed 17st, my boobs were floppy and my body was shapeless — nothing like my idol, Barbie.”
“I wanted to wear skimpy bikinis and mini skirts, so in 2018 I booked a £5,000 tummy tuck.
“It got rid of my love handles and gave me a tight waist, so I immediately wanted even more surgery.”
In January 2020, Melodie spent a further £15,000 on another tummy tuck, as well as a breast reduction and uplift at a private hospital in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to make her boobs “even perkier”.
And she didn’t stop there.
“When Barbie wears a bikini she has a smooth look down below and I wanted that too,” she says. “I wanted to wear a bikini without unsightly bulges or camel toes, so I had a ‘mons pubis lift’.
"It removes excess skin around the pubis area and tightens it on both sides.”
The Barbie film has made Melodie even more determined to get her “perfect” look. “In March, I had even more filler and Botox to rid my face of wrinkles,” she says.
“And I had a second boob job last week which cost £3,000, to make my breasts even perkier. I know things can go wrong with cosmetic surgery but it’s worth the risk for me.”
BAAPS president Marc Pacifico warns: “People jump on a bandwagon because it’s being talked about. But trends are, by definition, time-limited.
“Ask yourself why you’re thinking of getting it done in the first place? Know that times — and trends — change and what’s in today is often gone tomorrow.”
Last year Save Face, a register of accredited cosmetic doctors, had more than 2,800 complaints about unregistered practitioners, including complications or unwanted outcomes from cosmetic procedures.
Mum of four Sarah Gartland, 35, knows the risks only too well.
“I saw the first Barbie trailer in December last year, and in January I booked a Botox session, wanting the same wrinkle-free look Margot Robbie has,” says Sarah, a beautician from Dublin, Ireland.
“I had Botox in my forehead, between my eyes and my crows feet area. But it was badly botched and, after five days, I couldn’t open my left eye.
“I dashed back to the clinic and was told I had ptosis — a drooping of the upper eyelid.
“It occurs when Botox migrates to a nearby muscle — in my case the muscle that helped me open and shut my left eye — and only happens in one per cent of patients.
"As a mum to four children under ten, I was terrified I’d never see them out of both eyes again.
“But the only option was to wait and hope the Botox drained away.
“After struggling for two months, I got some strength back into my eyelid muscle and now, after six months, I can finally open it properly. Needless to say I bitterly regret my Barbie Botox.”
Some 60 per cent of people said they regretted “Barbie” surgery in a UK poll by researchers this year.
Michael Saul, of Cosmetic Surgery Solicitors, says: “The huge increase in interest in the ‘Barbie aesthetic’ will inevitably lead to an increase in cosmetic procedures.
“This type of aim for a procedure is likely to lead to disappointment as it can be difficult to attain satisfactory results when such a specific goal is in mind.”
Additional reporting: Claire Dunwell, Alley Einstein
‘I got filler to look like Ken’
FITNESS instructor Prince Dylan Garland, 31, from Canterbury, Kent, has spent £15,000 on becoming a real-life Ken.
He loved his Ken soldier doll as a child, and when he was 21 he had Botox and fillers to give him what he calls a “hunky square face”.
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He said: “When the Barbie movie came out, I loved Ryan Gosling’s look as Ken so I decided to get tanning injections, more botox and lip filler.
"I also had laser skin tightening and chemical peels.”