Supermodel Erin O'Connor felt pressure from the modelling industry to have a nose job and get bigger boobs
Supermodel Erin O'Connor has revealed she was told to have nose surgery and a breast enlargement if she wanted to succeed in the industry.
She is now hailed for her non-conformity to the typical model look but told British magazine Radio Times, that in her early modelling days pressure mounted on her to change her appearance with cosmetic surgery.
The 186cm tall model said she originally made people uncomfortable with her looks.
"In the early days of my modelling career, I think the industry was uncomfortable with how strikingly different I was," the 31-year-old said.
"For example, I was told to have a nose job and get my breasts done.
"But I suddenly got very stubborn and thought, 'Well, no. This is me,' and
suddenly I was being hailed as 'a new form of beauty'."
In the interview Erin also expresses her concerns with the increasing accessibility of cosmetic surgery.
"I worry about how accessible cosmetic surgery has become," she said.
"Of course, if it has genuinely helped people and their confidence has grown as a result, who am I to form an opinion?
"But I think there are better routes to confidence than trying to freeze time."
"I am concerned about ageism and the loss of beauty — the perception that as you grow older, you "lose your looks", which I think is diabolical," she said.
Last week supermodel Kate Moss came under fire for promoting the pro-anorexia mantra 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'.
The pressure to conform to unattainable levels of beauty and the prevalence of size zero models on catwalks has been a major cause for concern for New Zealand women.
Do you feel pressure to have plastic surgery to change your looks? Let us know how you feel about growing old gracefully vs going under the knife. Leave your comments below.
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