As much as there are companies and organizations who try to teach body positivity and tell people to love themselves as they are, celebrities have set the beauty standard for decades and some superfans can’t get enough.
These super fans have emptied out their bank accounts, maxed out their credit limits, borrowed from loved ones, and even asked strangers through crowdfunding sources for money in order to become a new person that looks very much like their celebrity idols.
They’ve been criticized for their choices, but no matter what the backlash and at times bizarre looks, they’re satisfied with who they’ve become. And who knows? When a new celeb enters center stage, they may find themselves taking another trip to the doctor’s office for a revamp or an upgrade. Some say tattoos are addictive, but for these 6 plastic surgery addicted super fans, it’s the transformation they can’t get enough of.
1. Mike and Matt Schlepp
All you need to do is to take a look at Brad Pitt’s chiseled good looks to understand why Arizona twins Mike and Matt Schlepp would want to go to extremes to resemble the A-list actor. The pair were featured on the now defunct MTV show I Want a Famous Face where the brothers spent $29,000 on painful plastic surgeries to sculpt themselves into the former Mr. Jolie.
They hoped that looking like Pitt would help them break into the entertainment industry more easily so they got nose jobs, chin implants, and received porcelain veneers. Unfortunately for them, the results didn’t leave either brother looking anything like Pitt but more like lost Hanson brothers. Also sadly for them, there haven’t been any fans mistaking either sibling for the actor while they walk the streets, but the pair told MTV that they’ve never been happier and their lives were changed forever.
2. Toby Sheldon
The tale of singer-songwriter Toby Sheldon started off as a story of a man who wanted his time in the spotlight and ended in tragedy. Sheldon made headlines after he spent $100,000 on surgeries to look like pop icon Justin Bieber, someone 14 years his junior, only to appear on the plastic surgery nightmare series Botched.
While Bieber fans weren’t convinced that Sheldon looked anything like the famous singer, Sheldon insisted that he would get mistaken for Biebs on a regular basis. The plastic surgery addict pretty much laid low until August of 2015 when he was reported missing. Three days later, investigators made a terrible discovery.
Sheldon’s body was located in a room at a 6 along with a number of drugs. Police believe that Sheldon may have fallen off the radar after he broke up with his boyfriend, but it has yet to be released whether his overdose was accidental or on purpose.
3. Ashley Horn
This is a story of a half-sibling who wanted desperately to look more like her famous sister. Ashley Horn’s mother had a brief affair with Michael Lohan, Lindsay’s father, and she was the product of their short romance. Ashley and Lindsay didn’t grow up spending time with each other, but that didn’t stop Ashley from looking up to her older sister — some would say a little too much.
Back in 2013, the then 18-year-old spent $25,000 on plastic surgery and debuted her new look to In Touch Weekly.
“I’ve gotten rhinoplasty, a bit of refinement underneath my cheeks and jawline, some fat injected into my chin and some fat injected into my upper cheeks,” she said. She told the magazine that she believed she looked better than her sister, but was far from like her in personality.
She continued, “I’m not Lindsay. I wasn’t raised in that family,” she explains, adding that she doesn’t have a relationship with the Lohans — and doesn’t want one. “I don’t drink, do drugs or party. I like being a responsible person.”
4. Lisa Connell
When Lisa Connell received the terrible news that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the London-based woman created a bucket list that included multiple surgeries to look like actress Demi Moore.
She told the press, “People think I’m crazy for doing this, but I know it will make my last months or years happier. When I was young I used to watch Demi Moore in films like Ghost and I longed to look like her.”
Social media picked up on Connell’s story and soon Moore was aware of her wanna-be doppelganger’s plans. Moore took to Twitter to deliver a message to Connell, writing, “Wish I could contact this woman Lisa Connell who wants to have surgery to look like me and encourage her to not to!
She is a beautiful girl!” Well, Connell got the message and ignored it because she ended up getting breast implants, an eyebrow lift, liposuction, and teeth and skin alterations. The transformation set her back over $60,000 and even though it was what she wanted to do with her body, she received an onslaught of backlash. She responded by saying, “I want to die beautiful, so this is my way of taking back control of my body.”
5. Claire Louise Leeson
One celebrity whose looks have been duplicated over the years is Kim Kardashian. She may have become a household name because of her friendship with Paris HILTON and her infamous sex tape with singer Ray J, but she’s evolved into a mogul whose family name is a staple all over the world.
One of her millions of fans is 27-year-old Claire Louise Leeson who dished out $30,000 on plastic surgery to become her idol. She began her surgical transformation when she was just 17-years-old and has undergone procedures on her butt, breasts, and even teeth.
“Firstly I started getting my teeth whitened — which I started doing at 17/18,” she said. “Then I wanted my boobs enhanced to the same size as Kim’s. I wear pants with a silicone implant inside. I didn’t wear them today as they didn’t go with my dress. They feel fairly real.”
As a young girl Leeson said she was bullied in school and told she was ugly on a regular basis and now looking like Kim has increased her self-esteem. It’s made her love herself more, even though she had to identify as someone else for that to happen.
6. Mikki Jay
In 1991 a U.K. mother of three won a talent show where she sang a Michael Jackson song. Ever since then she’s gone by Mikki Jay and makes her living impersonating the late pop icon and claims to make a staggering $240,000 per yer. It’s obvious that “he’s” got the look and act down pat, and when he was still alive, Mikki Jay was able to meet her idol.
Mikki Jay is one of the most recognizable Michael Jackson impersonators in the U.K. and has spent a pretty penny perfecting her look. She’s paid surgeons $16,000 on two nose jobs, a chin shave, and two cheek implants to look like the original Michael. Reviews of her live show are positive and viewers can’t help but feel as if they’re watching Michael Jackson in the flesh. One can only wonder how her children feel about having Michael Jackson’s ghost as a mother.