Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Why I think the Botox Mom is a hoax

OK lets play critical thinking here.  Every thing we know about Botox mom has come from two sources.  ABC's interview and The Sun article.  Every other article on the web references these two sources.  So lets analyze the two sources and see what makes sense in this whole mess.

Here is a link to the original article.  Linkhttp://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/3485305/I-give-my-girl-8-Botox-for-pageant.html  Remember - this is a UK tabloid along the lines of the weekly world news.

1.  According to The Sun, "Beautician Kerry, 34, from Birmingham, buys the substances online and injects them into her daughter's forehead, lips and around her eyes".  The thing that strikes me strange is that neither of them have any trace of an accent.  Perhaps the accents have faded with time but I have two friends who have been in the US for over 20 years who still have British accents.

2.  "Kerry buys Botox and Restalyne over the internet, spending £150 per 3ml vial. She has a home-assembled kit of needles from the local chemist and from a diabetic friend.
Kerry says: "I also buy vials of fillers and Botox from our local "beauty dealer" - one of the mums at school"'
OK.  I have NO idea I could buy Botox from other moms at my kids school.  Ritilin maybe but Botox?  I live in a pretty posh suburb and I can't imagine any of the other football moms selling Botox on the side.  But wait.  Wait.  According to GMA she buys the Botox from a trusted source - male.  2:27 on the video.  No mention of the suburban underground Botox market...

3.  The child is clearly coached.  When the interviewer asks her why she does the Botox the child says that she doesn't know.  Then the mom tells her it's for the wrinkles. 1:03  The child says "Oh yeah for wrinkles".

4.  The original article states ""She also has her virgin wax monthly, which gets rid of her fluffy leg hair and makes sure she wont develop pubic hair in the future."  The Sun then states
"Little Britney says: "I feel like a supermodel and if I do ballet or go swimming I don't have to worry about hairy legs. Although the pain makes me cry, I feel like a cool grown-up when it's all over.""
But in the video the child states that she just had her legs done and she states that she wont be doing it again.  4:26


5.  The dress.  Oh the dress.  1:28.  Holy crap on the dress.  I mean that dress is all kinds of ugly.  It looks like a tacky walmart costume or something.  OH WAIT.  IT IS.


 http://www.candyapplecostumes.com/fw5934.html




Apparently this beauty was sold at Wal Mart for $17.


6.  Never fear folks.  According to The Sun "Kerry is currently preparing Britney for the competitions, as well as saving up for a £2,000 dress".  I did the math.  We are talking $3000 US dollars for a dress.  Now.  I don't know if anyone else has priced pageant dresses lately but you can find a glitz dress as low as $100 on ebay.  If I had to guess I'd say top end dresses may go for $1500.  But at 8 they are starting to wear long dresses which seem to cost less.  Not $17 but about $600-$800.  $3000 seems way out of the range of normal.

7.  According to The Sun "Kerry says: "When Britney takes part in pageants, parents talk about how they have given their daughter an extra jab to plump her lips or lose a wrinkle."Everyone is doing it and talking about it." "  Now, people put their children in pageants for a variety of reasons.  Some are trying to build self confidence.  Some do it for fun.  And some do it because they want their child in the spotlight.  We all love to watch shows like Little Miss Perfect and Toddlers & Tiaras.  So from this pool of pageant moms why haven't any other mothers come forward to say that they've heard or seen anything like this?  No one else has come forward to say they've heard or seen any talk about Botox. 

8.  Speaking of pageant moms - I just have to throw this in here.  If any pageant mom was to offer any kind of suggestion, I would think they'd suggest a flipper before Botox.  I'm just sayin....

9.  Still speaking of pageant moms - what's the first thing they do when they go to anyone's house on T&T?  They get pictures of the the crowns and sashes.  EVERY kid leaves with a crown and or sash.  So why doesn't this kid have a single picture of her in a crown or a sash, or at a pageant? 

10.  Finally.  The mom supposedly lives in San Francisco. There's 3-4 glitz circuits in California.  And EVERYONE who does glitz has done Gold Coast at least once.  This pageant has been around since the dawn of time.  Well 35 years.  Even Tom Hanks did Gold Coast.  Little Miss Sunshine - Gold Coast.  Heck this has been on T&T 4?  5? 6? times.  A typical pageant prelim has 20-30 kids.  Gold Coast has 60-80.  This is THE glitz pageant.  And the director states that this child has never done her pageant.
""I've never, ever heard of a child getting that. It's ridiculous," said Barbara Thomas, a director with California Gold Coast Pageants. She added that Britney has never participated in one of her organization's pageants."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/13/BAMG1JG1OD.DTL

So there you have it.  10 reasons why I think this story isn't for real.  Feel free to judge for yourself.  I can't seem to get the video to pull up on the GMA site but you can see it at Huffington Post.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/8-year-old-botox-britney-campbell_n_860947.html