WHEN Scarlett Gladwin, 26, an admin assistant and lash technician from Essex, started watching Love Island in 2015, it set off a cosmetic surgery obsession that’s cost her £30,000 – and counting!
Scarlett tells Fabulous Magazine why she decided to go under the knife.
"Dad’s jaw dropped and my mum sighed in exasperation as they glimpsed my new boobs.
While they’d been away on holiday, I’d undergone a secret breast enhancement, taking me up from a 32E to 32H.
Laughing off their concerns, I explained I’d been inspired by the girls on the first series of Love Island that summer, and I was delighted with the result.
Growing up, kids at school would make fun of my black hair and pale skin, saying I looked like a goth or emo.
I was painfully shy and self-conscious as a result, with just a few close friends.
When I was 16, I dyed my hair blonde and started using fake tan, and instantly began attracting more attention, which made me so much more confident – a world away from how I’d felt before.
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In 2014, while I was at college studying beauty, I decided to try out lip fillers, as I hated my thin lips.
They cost £100, which I paid for from my part-time job at Sainsbury’s.
It really hurt, but I liked how my lips looked and, before I knew it, I was getting them redone each month – it became as normal as having a mani.
Mum and Dad didn’t like it, but were OK as long as I didn’t go too big.
I didn’t imagine getting anything else done, until in 2015 came the show that changed my life.
As soon as Love Island aired, I was obsessed.
I didn’t miss a single episode, completely invested in the break-ups, make-ups, love triangles and, more than anything else, how the girls looked.
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From their immaculate make-up to their killer curves, they were everything I wanted to be.
The runner-up of that first series, Playboy Bunny Hannah Elizabeth, had my ideal body – huge boobs, a tiny waist and a curvy bum.
Aged 20, I was an E cup, but I was determined to go even bigger to be more like Hannah.
My then-boyfriend Steven*, and my mum tried to talk me out of it, but I was adamant, paying a £1,000 deposit from my savings, then borrowing £2,500 on finance.
When I came round from the surgery that August, I was sore but thrilled, and my parents and boyfriend relented once they saw how happy I was.
Keen to show off my new assets, I started posting selfies on social media and lapped up the attention I got.
I soon realised, however, that it wasn’t all positive.
As well as the inevitable trolls online, in bars I’d have men asking if my boobs were real and if they could touch them.
Although I didn’t like that kind of attention, on some level it still felt better than just fading into the background like when I was younger.
The following year, Steven and I grew apart and split, and I decided to stay single and focus on myself.
A few months later, I started thinking about getting an £8,000 nose job.
Though I didn’t hate my old nose, it had a bit of a bump in it and I wanted it to be more like Hannah Elizabeth’s.
Working as an admin assistant while living with my parents, I managed to save £4,000 in 18 months, then took out a loan to cover the rest and went under the knife in March 2017.
I loved my new nose, and the rush was just as strong as when I’d had my boobs done.
Then, in summer 2018, former-stripper Megan Barton-Hanson swept into the Love Island villa, leaving a trail of panting men and jealous girls in her wake.
She was a bombshell, and as soon as I saw her, I knew I needed to look like her.
The first step was a new smile.
There was nothing particularly wrong with my old teeth, but I wanted them to be even whiter and straighter, like Megan’s.
So that August I travelled to Turkey to get a full set of pearly white veneers.
They cost £3,600, plus £900 on flights, which I paid for using savings, but I couldn’t stop grinning after I saw my Love-Island-worthy smile.
The following year, I idolised Kim Kardashian lookalike Anna Vakili, becoming fixated on her rumoured Brazilian bum lift.
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Friends and family insisted it was a step too far, telling me that they’d read that BBLs were the most dangerous procedure you could have, with a mounting number of deaths attributed to them.
Of course that scared me, but I put it to the back of my mind – surely the chances of a botched op were very slim?
For me, the benefits outweighed the risks, so in September 2020, I got a loan for the £7,000 operation and paid £1,000 for flights to Marbella and accommodation
Stepping on to the plane, I felt nervous, but my excitement took over.
Post-op, I loved the volume my bum had, despite the fact I was in too much discomfort to sit down for two months.
Mum had to drive me to work as I lay across the backseat, and at the office I’d stand at my desk.
I had to sleep on my front, and I was forced to buy a new wardrobe as none of my old clothes fitted any more.
My friends were shocked that I’d put myself through such major surgery, and strangers often stared in the street, but as I got further and further away from my formerly shy self, it felt worth it.
So much so that, much to my friends’ horror, when it started to lose some volume, I had a second BBL in April, at a cost of £2,500.
Now, I run an eyelash extension business to pay back the loans and fund any further tweaks I want.
I’ve been single for five years, and am considering applying to go on Love Island in the future, but first I have a list of more procedures I’d like to have done.
I want another nose job, bigger boobs and fox eye surgery, which I’ve seen influencers on Instagram have.
In total, it will cost me around £25,000.
It is like an addiction – there’s a buzz about trying something and it’s hard to know when to stop, but I don’t think there’s any harm in it.
I don’t worry about what I’ll look like when I’m older.
I know my transformation has upset Mum, who says I don’t look like her little girl any more.
And my friends, who think it’s unhealthy, wish I’d just let it go.
But it’s my body, and I’m still the same person on the inside, only happier and more confident.
So far I’ve spent roughly £30,000 to get my Love Island look, but I don’t regret a single penny.
*Name has been changed
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