In the summer of 2018, Megan Barton Hanson was the talk of the town. Largely because of the photos which showed what the Love Island star looked like before she was famous. The 25-year-old, who's currently on our screens trying to find romance on Celebs Go Dating, reportedly had over 25k worth of surgery for her transformation and the British public could not get over it.
Meghan at a red carpet event in 2018
When Megan came out of the Love Island villa, she was open and honest about how her overall look had changed. In an interview with Grazia, she said: "I worked so hard to get all the money I could and I feel like I can spend it any way I want. If it makes me feel better I don’t know why that’s seen as a negative thing?"
But Megan wasn't unhappy with the way she looked before, saying: "I was still beautiful in my own way back then, I’ve just changed a few things. I was comfortable then and I’m comfortable now."
Meghan in August 2019
During her appearance on the Victoria Derbyshire show in April 2019, Megan revealed: "I had procedures done solely for me and my first was at 17, I had my ears pinned back. Then at 19, I had a boob job and rhinoplasty. It was all for me…
"Then when I was on TV, everyone were like 'this is her before, this is her after. She's so fake!'"
Megan, aged 18, out with friends
Despite telling fans that she didn’t feel insecure about the way that she looked, Megan would go on to tell Victoria that she needed to work on herself because going under the knife "didn’t fix all of my problems."
In 2019, Megan joined Isle of Paradise's 'Get Body Posi' campaign and handbook, a global commitment to making body acceptance top of the beauty industry agenda in 2019 and beyond. Founder Jules Von Hep rallied the likes of Tess Holliday, Danielle Peazer, Tess Daly and HELLO!’s very own Alex Light to tackle the body positivity and acceptance struggles.
Megan said: "Everyone struggles with some aspect of themselves. I was that geeky teen and I didn’t like much about myself. I’ve been working to change that and accept myself. Insecurity stems from us trying to achieve the unachievable, looking or dressing a way that’s trendy that month. Learning to focus and rock your own vibe is the most liberating thing any one of us can do. This is what this campaign is about and I am committed to help change the way we view beauty as a society."
Meghan, aged 18
Megan says she is a feminist, although she has faced criticism because of her work as a stripper and for the cosmetic surgery. But she doesn't care about the criticism, telling Fabulous: "As long as you empower women and support what women do with their bodies, that’s a feminist as far as I’m concerned. If someone never wants to get surgery or shave their armpits, that’s fine. If I wanna go out and spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on surgery, that’s also fine.”
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