Numerous celebrities have undergone plastic surgery, ranging from botox to complete body modifications. The surgeon’s knife experiments of Amanda Lepore are well-known.
The transgender woman allegedly claimed to have “the most expensive body on Earth,” after undergoing many procedures to alter both her face and body.
Scroll down to see what she looks like now at the age of fifty four.
Lepore started to transition to become a female at the age of fifteen. Later in her teens she tried plastic surgery for the first time.
We all want to be the best version of ourselves which can entail dressing up or testing new skin lotions and different beauty regimes, to dieting or working out.
Amanda Lepore – ‘inflated’ doll
Botox and other treatments are pretty common today, while plastic surgery can drastically change ones appearance.
Some people who have plastic surgery its more about wanting to feel comfortable with their looks.
Ultimately, we should all be able to do what we want where our appearance is concerned, so long as what we’re doing doesn’t impose any risks upon our life. Put simply, our bodies are ours, and certain people can benefit from adjusting a little here and there.
There are a few people who take it a bit further and completely change the way they look.
One particular person is Amanda Lepore who underwent gender reassignment surgery and became a fashion icon, model, and even an author.
Amanda has gone through many plastic surgeries, and claims to have the most expensive body on Earth. At 52, that statement is bold, but is it true?
How, and why, did she get the body she now has? Here’s all you need to know about her transformation over the years.
When Amanda was a child she had a feeling that she had been born in the wrong body.
Amanda Lepore – early life
On 21 November 1967, Armand Lepore was born in New Jersey. She had a tough childhood, her mother had schizophrenia and was hospitalized, while her father, an Italian-American, abandoned the family when Amanda was only 14 years of age.
“I have a really good memory, and the early part is not all good memories,” she explains. “I didn’t like doing it at first. My mother is always on my mind. I don’t think about the past – especially those years. I live in the moment.”
At the same time as Lepore was trying to navigate her teenage years, her mother’s schizophrenia – for better or worse – helped give her some insight into life.
She explained that her mother usually never did her hair or makeup and looked “terrible” when sick. However, when she was on medication, and thus happy, she wore makeup and went to a beauty parlor. This sparked something within Amanda, creating what she thinks of as almost a life motto.
“I associate glamour with being happy. If you put on high heels and lipstick or get a new outfit, you feel great,” she explained. “It’s a celebration of loving yourself, and the whole ritual of it is so great.”
At 10, Amanda saw a television show about gender reassignment surgery. She told her parents that she wanted surgery because she identified as a girl.
At 15, she became friends with a transsexual stripper, who gave her hormones in exchange for bikini tops Amanda had designed.
Her father wasn’t keen on the idea of her going through with a gender reassignment surgery, but since he had already abandoned his family, Amanda saw her chance to become the person she always knew she was.
Gender reassignment surgery
Her mother supported Amanda when she started to dress as a girl, she bought her lipstick and a padded bra. Her name was easily changed, and so she decided to add an “a” so that she became Amanda in place of Armand.
In 1985, Amanda required her parents’ permission to undergo reassignment surgery as she was still a minor.
At the age of fifteen she has rhinoplasty, to slim down her nose and shaped to appear more upturned at the tip.
“It healed quicker than the doctor expected, and the packing gauze went down my throat,” she mentions. The procedure was done in New York – the doctor, who she met in a nightclub, did it for free.
Though her mother supported her, she couldn’t accept that she wanted to undergo gender reassignment surgery. To save her dream, Amanda came up with an idea, arranging for her father-in-law to adopt her. He paid a doctor in New York to do the procedure and thereafter signed the necessary documents.
“I think he was happy that his son found a nice girl,” Lepore said about her father-in-law paying the surgery bill.
Moved to New York and became a star
Amanda’s operation was successful and she continued on her journey to becoming the woman she always wanted to be. In 1988 when she was twenty one, Amanda received her first set of breast implants.
“If a girl or a gay guy wants to touch them out of curiosity, I’m fine with that,” she explained. “But with a straight guy, I feel invaded and wonder if he is going to buy me dinner afterward.”
Not only did Amanda leave her husband, but she also went through tragedy when she lost her mother to cancer. She saw her father and brother for the last time at the funeral, before deciding she needed a fresh start to her life. She moved to New York – and it didn’t take long before she had turned herself into a true star.
In 1990, Amanda appeared on The Joan Rivers Show with NYC’s “Club Kids – the first time she was introduced to the public eye.
Club Kids were, according to Dazed, an “outrageous set of party-goers whose outfits and personas heavily shaped the New York club scene.” She worked several jobs before meeting famous director and photographer David LaChapelle. Amanda would go on to become a model, working with David and other prominent photographers like Terry Richardson and Ruben van Schalm.
iN 2001, Amanda appeared in the comedy film Zoolander, as well as in several other documentaries and featured in several music videos.
“I had to work hard to look nice”
Amanda has also recorded music collaborating with several rap artists and became a huge inspiration for many as she was a transsexual model. Her passion for glamour allowed her to keep her focus.
“It kept me out of trouble,” she mentions “When I worked for [club promoter] Michael Alig, everybody was overdoing partying. It would take me so long to get ready because I was never one of those girls that were naturally the cover of Vogue. I had to work hard to look nice.”
“I would take hours and hours to get ready. If you have high heels on, if you’re dressed nice, you really can’t be drunk or sloppy because it’s dangerous. It’s part of being a lady, so it really kept me out of trouble.”
Amanda is celebrated for her excellent performances and talents as her looks became of interest to the public, especially since she claims to have “the most expensive body on Earth.”
In her twenties she underwent numerous surgeries with procedures including a lower hairline and lifted eyebrows to givie the impression of a smaller forehead. Other surgeries included cheekbone augmentation, double eyelid surgery (removing skin), lip augmentation, and eye surgery to make her eyes bigger and more “doll-like.”
Broke her bottom ribs to get a smaller waist
In 2000, she underwent rib reshaping surgery in Mexico. She explained that she had her bottom ribs broken and pushed in to achieve a smaller waist and a more hourglass-like figure. She also does “corset training” for a few hours each day.
All told, Amanda’s surgeries have been reported to have cost her over $1million. She herself says she doesn’t know the total amount.
“Fortunately, everything was at its best when I had it done,” she mentions.
“I didn’t have to do silicone injections in the boobs and things like that. They had implants by then. In those ways, I was lucky. And the sex change was really good. I didn’t have to fix everything.”
In 2017, Amanda published her first book, Doll Parts. Through it, she gave the world a fresh perspective on her life, sharing inspirational stories and lessons learnt.
Amanda has undergone multiple surgeries, however what’s most important is that she is content with herself. In her book, Amanda tells us she feels like a doll.
“I’m inflated in the right places. I think I look better than a blow-up doll,” Amanda explained.
“I do have that blow-up doll thing with the boobs, and the big round lips and the long hair. My boobs and lips and ass and hips are inflated. My head a little bit, too”.
She also added that there weren’t any surgeries she wanted that the doctors refused to do.
“No, but I recently got my eyes done, and I was really happy with them. They’re now much more doll-like. I’m glad I waited because I went to a Korean doctor, and they know how to make Japanese eyes into white eyes. I wanted my eyes bigger,” Amanda explained.
“I think I look a lot more proportionate. It makes everything else look natural because everything else is fake, so I have matching eyes now. I know I said I wasn’t going to do any surgery, and I was happy, but who can resist bigger doll eyes?
