California mother Kerry Campbell admitted to giving her daughter, Britney, routine Botox injections to smooth over the "wrinkles" that appear on the eight-year-old's face when she smiles. Campbell says she got the idea from other pageant moms. Ms. Campbell is a part-time beautician and has been giving herself Botox treatments for a number of years — according to her, Britney asked for the injections on her own accord when the subject came up. Here is what Ms. Campbell had to say:
"We were getting into the pageants. I knew she was complaining about her face, having wrinkles, and things like that. When I brought it up to Britney she was all for it. She had watched me do it before. So when we first did it she was fine with it." She reiterated that the pageant world is harsh, apparently justifying the Botox injections.
Britney voiced her opinion as well:
"It hurts sometimes. It makes me nervous. But I get used to it. My friends think it's cool I have all the treatments and they want to be like me." She also added that after getting Botox, she feels "beautiful, pretty, like all those kind of nice words."
"It hurts sometimes. It makes me nervous. But I get used to it. My friends think it's cool I have all the treatments and they want to be like me." She also added that after getting Botox, she feels "beautiful, pretty, like all those kind of nice words."
Britney checks for wrinkles every night.
Britney and Ms. Campbell appeared on Good Morning America, prompting officials from the Human Services Agency in San Francisco to schedule interviews with the pair. ABC News' chief health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser, commented: "As a doctor, if I'd seen this mother, I would be required to report her to protective services because it's maltreatment. Any doctor who would give a parent Botox to administer to their children should lose their license...there's not a state where you don't need to be a licensed doctor or under direct supervision of a doctor to inject this...if you inject it in the face and it drifts to your throat, it can prevent you from swallowing...In a young child, if you're chronically using it on the face, it may actually change the shape of your face because your muscles interact with your bones to form what your face eventually looks like."
Britney has also gotten her upper legs waxed in order to get rid of the "fluffy hairs" that pageant contestants can be penalized for. When asked about the experience on Good Morning America, she winced and said she never wants to get her legs waxed again.
Britney is going to grow up with a horrifyingly warped perception of beauty if she is already pointing out "flaws" in her appearance and apparently wanting to get Botox injections. But it is not Britney's fault — Ms. Campbell is to blame for accepting the notion that her eight-year-old has wrinkles, and for submitting her to the pain of Botox injections all in the name of winning a contest whose purpose is completely shallow: once again, we come back to society's emphasis on outward beauty.
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