Leave my face alone! | Rebecca Jane Column

I’ve worked in television for 12 years. In 2020 I took a year out. You know why? Because frankly, I just couldn’t be fussed to read about my appearance any more!
Rebecca JaneRebecca Jane
Rebecca Jane

I’ve done four appearances on ‘Good Morning Britain’ and ‘GB news’ in the last two months, and guess what?! It doesn’t matter what I’m talking about, toilet roll, smoking or suicide.

There’s still goodness knows how many people harping on about my appearance.

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The trend I’ve noticed in the last two years is ‘filler shaming’, and frankly, I wish people would just jog on! I’ll come back to that in a second…

My first television appearance was 12 years ago, and I don’t recognise the person I was. Neither would you! I was so happy in my appearance back then, I didn’t realise how many people would be so vocal about the way I looked.

‘How fat is she?’

‘She looks like miss piggy’

‘Who ate today’s guest?’

‘She’s a younger, uglier Colleen Nolan’ (FYI. Colleen Nolan is actually a pretty epic lady in my book).

I came off air and my point had been lost. People had just focused on how I looked, and that became normal life for me.

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It was wholeheartedly relentless, and it still is. The insults just change over the years.

I took a long hard look at myself, and they were right. I was overweight. I looked much older than my 24 year old self. I set about to change.

I lost weight. 3.5 stone to be accurate. To the point where I became poorly. I would look at my 8.5 stone self in a mirror and still believe I was ‘fat’.

Then people moved on to my teeth….

‘Rat face’

‘What’s the state of her teeth about?!’

‘Ew, I’d cry for a week if I had her teeth’.

So I fixed them too.

Then comments about my face…

‘Flat face.’

‘Flat pig face’

So, three years ago I embarked upon botox, lip filler and facial filler.

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The last time I had any facial filler was 18 months ago. I’m pretty sure my lip filler was topped up slightly over 12 months ago… and that’s it.

Last week, I went on ‘GB news’. Talking about stockpiling, heck, I even talked about how much toilet roll was in my house. A stream of people decided to hone in once again on my face…

‘Ugh, this plastic trollop’

‘She’s stockpiling filler’

‘Storing loo paper in her lips’

You could be the most beautiful oil paining worthy person in the world.

People are always going to comment on appearance. We can’t reinvent the wheel, I guess.

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So here is what I have to say to those who think it’s ok to constantly make comment on appearance.

I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry that something inside them feels so distracted by a persons facial features that they are unable to listen to whatever they may be saying.

Every human in life is beautiful, tall or short, thin or ‘fat’, everyone is beautiful to someone.

This world is full of hate, we may not be able to change that, but we can play our part.

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We can appreciate beauty and flaws, in all shapes and forms. If we can’t appreciate, why do we have to spread hate and negativity? Why say something hurtful when you can say nothing?

I can take it. I’m pretty hard to it now. You may not agree, but guess what… I like my face! I’m also happy at the criticism I’ve had over the years. It forced me into change, and become

A better version of myself. (In my opinion).

My haters threw words at me over the years that hurt me to the core. I’m grateful for those words. They were right, I was overweight, my teeth weren’t great. They made me address a couple of points, and eventually, I have come to a place of peace in my appearance.

Ok, that fluctuates over time depending on my mood (standard female problems), but I no longer cry about what others think.

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I did in the beginning, because the truth hurt. Now, I accept I may be more overweight than I’d like, but I’ve made the active choice to enjoy the pizza and Prosecco. I accept that, and I’m happy with the choice I made.

Use the bricks and stones other people throw at you and build the empire you’re happy to sit in! Mentally, and physically.

The people who have criticised me don’t have to look in my mirror each morning, I do. If I’m alright with the reflection looking back, so should they.

I’ve had some filler in my face, and I darn well LOVE IT! Probably going to have some more in the years to come too! May even go the whole hog and do a face lift! I have no shame, and no one will make me feel ashamed any more either.

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I’m living my best life, and I hope anyone else who has ever been criticised for their appearance does the same!

In the mean time…leave my face alone! You may not like it, but after many years of unhappiness, I finally do…’

(Massive shout out to my aesthetics practitioners, I couldn’t have done this one without you!)