‘I had beautiful breasts, just gorgeous... And I just wish obviously I never got them done to begin with’
Kylie Jenner has said that she regrets having plastic surgery on her body, after opening up about her boob job for the first time. In the season finalé of The Kardashians which was released today (July 27), Kylie spoke candidly about undergoing surgery on her breasts just months before getting pregnant with Stormi, and how having a daughter has caused her to rethink many of the decisions she made about her body at a young age. “I would be heartbroken if she wanted to get her body done at 19,” Kylie says about her daughter.
It all starts when Kylie is joined by her longtime friend Anastasia Karanikolaou and the two start catching up. After joking about the rumours that they are dating – “we just like to kiss each other and stuff” – the discussion turns to the boob job she had as a teenager. “You know I got my breasts done before Stormi… not thinking I would have a child when I was 20,” Kylie begins, saying that within six months she got pregnant while she was still healing from the surgery.
“I had beautiful breasts, like natural tits. Just gorgeous,” she continues. “And I just wish obviously I never got them done to begin with.” The change of heart has come, Kylie says, after having a daughter of her own and thinking about what she would want for Stormi. “I would be heartbroken if she wanted to get her body done at 19. She’s the most beautiful thing ever, I wanna be the best mom and best example for her and I just wish I could be her and do it all differently, because I wouldn’t touch anything.”
If you haven’t been following along with the ins and outs of the Kardashians’ ongoing beauty standards conversation, here is a quick recap. Back in April, a trailer was released for the latest season of the family’s reality TV show, which appeared to show Kylie addressing the harmful and impossible beauty standards her family sets and saying that she wished she had never “touched” her appearance. “All of us just need to have a bigger conversation about the beauty standards that we are setting,” Kylie is shown saying to her sisters, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian.
While just a short clip, the moment seemed to suggest that the family might finally have some meaningful conversations around beauty standards, body image and the harmful impact that they have had on our self-esteem. However, when the discussion was aired last week, the three not only didn’t admit any accountability – Kylie’s line from the trailer was cut from the scene entirely – but they also played the victim of the standards which they have done so much to uphold and perpetuate.
Although Kylie starts the conversation by addressing the huge influence they have and asking “what are we doing with our power”, the discussion never attempts to reckon with that power and the focus quickly turns to placing the blame on everyone except themselves, from mother Kris Jenner to “society”. “Other people can instil insecurities in you,” says Kylie. Khloé follows this up with: “That’s how I accumulated all of mine, is from other people. I had the most confidence. I was chubby and in a skintight body-con dress. Society gave me insecurities.”
As many have pointed out, this is a family who has profited hugely from upholding the beauty standards they are claiming to be so hurt by. From waist trainers, detox teas and diet supplements to shapewear, make-up and skincare products, they have made millions from selling the idea that there is a right way to look and that your life will be infinitely improved if you adhere to these ideals. So to keep placing the blame on others and refusing to examine their own impact on people is, at this point, both willfully ignorant and insulting.
In the same conversation, Kylie addresses what she calls the “misconceptions” that she has had surgery to change her whole face, which she claimed is false and that she has had “only fillers”. Creating this strange moral distinction between surgery and injectables, however, does not absolve Kylie from the part she is playing in upholding beauty standards, particularly when it is the rise of “non-invasive” procedures like injectables which have been so instrumental in creating a beauty tax that is higher than ever and our current self-esteem crisis.
Rather than casting themselves in the role of damsels in distress, how much more powerful would it be if the Kardashians took accountability and then used their platforms to make a change? The family wields huge influence and power – unlike so many women who are genuinely at the mercy of society’s beauty standards and suffer socially and financially because of them. “Poorly groomed” women stand to earn 40 per cent less than their beautified counterparts, for example, while attractive people are over 20 per cent more likely to be called back for a job interview, and are perceived to be more socially skilled, trustworthy, confident and competent.
The Kardashians could channel the pain they have suffered into changing the system, rather than upholding and profiting from it. The first step is to interrogate their impact in a truly meaningful way – and to do that, they need to finally admit they are the problem.
Of all the sisters, Kylie seems to be the one who is most open and willing to broach the subject. Who knows what else she said in the conversation with Kourtney and Khloé that has been left on the cutting room floor? And while she may not yet be at the stage of taking accountability for her influence, when she does she has the chance to make a true impact – and one that will make a lasting change on society.
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