Amy Childs: My parents called me a freak over cosmetic surgery addiction
Former TOWIE star Amy Childs has revealed that her mother calling her a “freak” was a wake-up call that helped her end her addiction to plastic surgery.
The reality TV star – who found fame on The Only Way Is Essex aged 19 – has said she now regrets all of her cosmetic procedures, which include multiple breast augmentations and lip fillers.
Childs, 29, told This Morning: "I regret it because I got addicted and I thought I looked well. I looked in the mirror and it was only when my mum and dad said to me 'You look like a freak Amy' [that it clicked] and I cried.
“I just couldn't believe the addiction to surgery I was having.”
She added: “When I was having a cosmetic procedure done, I then started to get addicted.
“I was looking in the mirror thinking I looked a lot better. I've been very open about lip fillers, this show is about my regrets having cosmetic surgery so young.”
'What was I thinking? What was going on in my head?'@MissAmyChilds reflects on having cosmetic procedures at 18 as she urges teenagers to stay away from plastic surgery.
Watch more of This Morning here 👉 https://t.co/RrKzNQupK8 #ThisMorning pic.twitter.com/JI5XFmbERj— This Morning (@thismorning) May 26, 2020
Childs recently has opened up about her regrets on BBC documentary I've Been There, in which she met two teenage girls who were considering surgery to alter their appearance.
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The beautician admitted she first spoke to her parents about wanting breast enhancement surgery when she was just 12 or 13.
She said: “I got teased at school, I had people saying to me, 'You've got small boobs'. “I look back now and it's really sad."
Childs had her first breast augmentation aged 18 and then chose to have them enlarged further at 23 as her addiction spiralled out of control.
The former TOWIE star is now mother to three-year-old daughter Polly and two-year-old son Rich and said becoming a mother has completely changed her attitude to cosmetic surgery.
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She said: “I was 19, and I'm 30 now I've got two children you look at life so differently to 18 when you're 30, it is very sad, I've got very addicted to Botox, it's very sad.”
Childs added: “If Polly come to me at 17 and said ‘mummy I want a boob job’ I would probably cry, I'm so glad I've been through this what I've been through and hopefully, she won't go into getting any surgery done.”