Lancet Jades
05-02-2004, 09:19 PM
The real-life Barbie dolls
From Beth Hale in London
May 2, 2004
IN Toytown, Barbie and Ken are made of plastic. Now they have astonishing real-life counterparts - made with plastic surgery.
Cindy Jackson and Miles Kendall have spent about $300,000 transforming themselves into copies of the best-selling dolls, undergoing 89 operations - ranging from jaw implants and chemical peels to liposuction.
Although many would consider them mad, the pair couldn't be happier with their whiter-than-white smiles, wrinkle-free brows and finely chiselled cheekbones.
They may or may not have turned out like their miniature alter egos, but they differ in one important aspect from Barbie and Ken: they are not an item.
Mr Kendall was a 33-year-old divorcee from Stoke, England, when he first contemplated changing his appearance two years ago.
The Internet designer saw 48-year-old Ms Jackson, a British-based American, on television discussing her transformation. He recalls: "I contacted her and said, 'There hasn't been a male version of you in the world. Can I be it?'"
And indeed he could.
Ms Jackson was already known as the Queen of Cosmetic Surgery after having 42 operations in 13 years.
She had spent more than $70,000 nipping and tucking herself into a copy of her childhood heroine, winning a place in the Guinness Book Of Records as the world's most surgically enhanced woman.
But she was always missing one vital accessory - Ken, who is Barbie's boyfriend. So Mr Kendall's offer was fortuitous.
After getting a doctor to certify that he was sane and not a stalker, she gave the green light for his six-month surgical transformation.
Speaking at the time of his operations, Mr Kendall said: "I didn't hate the way I was. I wasn't ugly; I just had a large nose and was ageing fast.
"I'd never had an operation, and I was scared to death."
The father of one has now undergone 47 procedures to craft his new look and spent $50,000 of an inheritance from his grandparents in the process.
He and Ms Jackson picked different aspects of famous faces to mould him into Ken, settling on Tom Cruise's eyes, Brad Pitt's nose, George Clooney's lips, Russell Crowe's chin, Johnny Depp's cheekbones and Jude Law's teeth.
Most of Mr Kendall's operations, which included a nose job, brow lift, eye lift, lip augmentation and cheek and jaw implants, were done in 2001. He has since had other procedures. Blue contact lenses finished the look, and even his name was cosmetically enhanced from Tim Whitefield-Lyne.
The transformation, chronicled on US television channel National Geographic, comes as plastic surgery reality-TV shows continue to court controversy.
On Fox TV's The Swan, "ugly duckling" women moulded by the scalpel compete in a beauty contest. A male Jennifer Lopez fan has been transformed into his idol on MTV's I Want A Famous Face.
The Sunday Telegraph
From Beth Hale in London
May 2, 2004
IN Toytown, Barbie and Ken are made of plastic. Now they have astonishing real-life counterparts - made with plastic surgery.
Cindy Jackson and Miles Kendall have spent about $300,000 transforming themselves into copies of the best-selling dolls, undergoing 89 operations - ranging from jaw implants and chemical peels to liposuction.
Although many would consider them mad, the pair couldn't be happier with their whiter-than-white smiles, wrinkle-free brows and finely chiselled cheekbones.
They may or may not have turned out like their miniature alter egos, but they differ in one important aspect from Barbie and Ken: they are not an item.
Mr Kendall was a 33-year-old divorcee from Stoke, England, when he first contemplated changing his appearance two years ago.
The Internet designer saw 48-year-old Ms Jackson, a British-based American, on television discussing her transformation. He recalls: "I contacted her and said, 'There hasn't been a male version of you in the world. Can I be it?'"
And indeed he could.
Ms Jackson was already known as the Queen of Cosmetic Surgery after having 42 operations in 13 years.
She had spent more than $70,000 nipping and tucking herself into a copy of her childhood heroine, winning a place in the Guinness Book Of Records as the world's most surgically enhanced woman.
But she was always missing one vital accessory - Ken, who is Barbie's boyfriend. So Mr Kendall's offer was fortuitous.
After getting a doctor to certify that he was sane and not a stalker, she gave the green light for his six-month surgical transformation.
Speaking at the time of his operations, Mr Kendall said: "I didn't hate the way I was. I wasn't ugly; I just had a large nose and was ageing fast.
"I'd never had an operation, and I was scared to death."
The father of one has now undergone 47 procedures to craft his new look and spent $50,000 of an inheritance from his grandparents in the process.
He and Ms Jackson picked different aspects of famous faces to mould him into Ken, settling on Tom Cruise's eyes, Brad Pitt's nose, George Clooney's lips, Russell Crowe's chin, Johnny Depp's cheekbones and Jude Law's teeth.
Most of Mr Kendall's operations, which included a nose job, brow lift, eye lift, lip augmentation and cheek and jaw implants, were done in 2001. He has since had other procedures. Blue contact lenses finished the look, and even his name was cosmetically enhanced from Tim Whitefield-Lyne.
The transformation, chronicled on US television channel National Geographic, comes as plastic surgery reality-TV shows continue to court controversy.
On Fox TV's The Swan, "ugly duckling" women moulded by the scalpel compete in a beauty contest. A male Jennifer Lopez fan has been transformed into his idol on MTV's I Want A Famous Face.
The Sunday Telegraph