ilena

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001290023-2003332483,,00.html

Thanks Margo for this link.

Driven mad by implants
A TOP model and Bond girl has told how she wanted to rip her implants
out with her bare hands after a boob job nearly drove her to a nervous
breakdown.

Stunning Catherine McQueen paid £4,000 to have her 34B breasts boosted
to a C cup four months ago.

But she said last night: "I regretted it instantly. They felt like two
aliens inside my body and I couldn't even look in the mirror without
bursting into tears."

Her natural 34B-25-35 curves were chosen to promote the Ultimo bra,
which has gel implants designed to boost cleavage.

She said: "I modelled the bra before my boob job and it really worked.
It is ironic that I let myself be talked into surgery."

At the time, Catherine was commanding up to £10,000 per assignment and
fronting campaigns for Playtex and Janet Reger.

She appeared alongside 007 Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day, guest
presented on The Big Breakfast and mixed with A-list celebrities at
parties.

It was a dream come true for Catherine, who took up modelling after
training to be a lawyer.

But then she started to listen to the advice of some people around
her.
Catherine, 27, of Islington, North London, says: "I remember this
agent telling me, ‘You need bigger boobs.

Every girl is doing it and it will hold your career back if you
don't.'
"Other girls started showing off their boobs and saying how fantastic
they felt after enhancements.

"Everywhere I looked – on the catwalks, in glossy magazines and beside
me on assignments – were skinny girls with large, swollen breasts.

"I hated the thought of surgery but I went for a consultation with a
surgeon. He explained everything thoroughly and I booked a £4,100
operation at a private hospital in London.

Modelling career ... Catherine
commanded up to £10,000 per shoot
Click picture to enlarge
"I told my mother, who was horrified, and my model agent Yvonne Paul,
who has steered the careers of Page 3 girls for decades.

Yvonne warned me against surgery, as did the model bookers at my other
agency, MOT, but I'm afraid I didn't listen.

"It didn't dawn on me what I had done at first. I woke from surgery
covered in bandages.

"I was booked on a top shoot in Germany just ten days later and I had
to travel by train because the surgeon warned me against flying while
the silicone implants were newly fitted.

"I pouted and posed for the camera, going through my paces like a
robot. It was only when I was back in London that the reality of what
I had done to my body hit home.

Before op ... Catherine's natural shape


"I woke up one morning and as I moved my breasts moved the other way.
I suddenly felt sick and horrified. I realised that my body wasn't
mine any more. I had allowed it to be mucked around and altered.

"I couldn't get out of bed. I had a massive panic attack — I felt like
I couldn't breathe. If I could have ripped the implants out with my
bare hands I would have done.

"After that, every movement of my breasts was a sickening reminder of
what I'd done. Ironically, everyone else thought I looked great.

"My work didn't suffer at all and I couldn't fault the surgeon. He had
done a fantastic job.

"But no one ever warns girls how they may feel when their body shape
is altered dramatically. I felt sickened and really felt I had let
myself down.

I lost so much confidence that I stopped going out in the evenings.
I'm glad I didn't have a boyfriend — there's no way I could have
allowed any man to touch my breasts.

New shape ... beauty hated her look
Click picture to enlarge
"I was so angry that I had let my own sensible judgement be swayed by
others. Every time I picked up a magazine and saw pictures of
celebrities and models who were stick-thin but with large breasts, I
hated it.

"That look is being rammed down our throats at the moment. It is
physically almost impossible to be stick-thin and keep large breasts.

"Nobody warns you about how implants will feel as they move inside
your body — they are like monsters.

I couldn't work out at the gym because they moved so much. I was so
unhappy I went off my food and I lost a stone.

"I naturally look good at nine stone. But I went down to eight, which
was too thin for my 5ft 9in body.

"Ironically I had finally achieved the perfect figure — skinny body
and huge boobs. But I nearly paid for my vanity with my sanity and I
realised I was heading for a breakdown.

I was prescribed anti-depressants by a GP. I would wake up each
morning crying and other models and photographers noticed I wasn't my
usual happy self. A month after the boob job I did a calendar shoot in
Spain.

After op ... she went from a 34B to a curvy 34C


"I broke down one evening and started sobbing. The model Ebony, who
was my roommate, sat up for hours with her arm around me.

"She kept telling me that lots of people had it done, and that I
looked great and shouldn't be so hard on myself.

"She was fantastic but I felt I was losing my mind. In the end I
realised I had to do something about it or go completely mad.

"As soon as I arrived home from the shoot, I went back to the surgeon
and begged him to take the implants out. He refused to until six weeks
after the operation.

"But at the first possible date I went back into surgery and paid £800
to have the implants taken out.

"Afterwards the surgeon gave them to me. I have kept them as a
reminder of the terrible mistake I made."

Catherine added: "When I awoke after the op and felt those monsters
were out of my body I was overcome with relief.

"Now I am gradually pulling back my self-respect. For a few weeks I
had slight scars underneath my boobs. But luckily these have faded and
my breasts are back to their natural, pert shape."

Catherine has been angered by the current row between Jordan and Jodie
Marsh over which breasts are best — natural or enhanced.

She said: "I feel I have to speak out and warn anyone else who is
considering a boob job.

"I worked with Jordan about five years ago, before she had her
surgery. I remember looking at her fantastic figure and thinking she
looked wonderful.

If ever there was a girl who didn't need plastic surgery, it was her.

"Now I can't believe that she is a role model to other young girls who
may think that *** appeal and happiness can be achieved through
surgery.

"I am lucky, because I have escaped with my sanity and my career
intact. But my breast op nearly destroyed me. My story should be a
lesson to others."

IF you have had plastic surgery and regretted it, call The Sun today
on 020 7782 4030 or e-mail us at features@the-sun.co.uk


http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.org