The “to change your appearance” or “to not change your appearance” debate has been circulating the zeitgeist for a while now. For the most part, there are two opposing arguments.
WATCH: Jack Vidgen discusses his cosmetic procedures with Pettifleur Berenger
The first: If you have the money and means and are wanting to fix a physical insecurity, then what’s the harm in undergoing a cosmetic procedure that will boost your confidence?
The second: You should love the body you came in and learn to embrace any insecurities.
It’s a tricky debate and it’s no surprise that it is so divisive.
One public figure who has been very vocal about this topic is Australia’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! alum Jack Vidgen, who has spoken about his cosmetic procedures on numerous occasions in the hopes to de-stigmatise them.
Jack, 24, first rose to stardom when he was 13 on the fifth season of Australia’s Got Talent. After disappearing from the limelight for a while to undergo a period of self-discovery, the musician eventually returned to the spotlight.
In 2017, when Jack was questioned about his appearance, the star tweeted: “Omg have people heard of a thing called puberty?”.
Meanwhile, his mother, Rachel Hayton, also reportedly shut down speculation via Facebook, penning: “Jack has never had even one cosmetic surgery procedure. He has gone from a little boy to a man.. his looks changed because he grew up!”
While Jack vehemently denies ever having cosmetic surgery, he has spoken candidly about his use of lip fillers and other procedures.
In 2019, the AGT alum spoke with Who magazine about receiving fillers after some fans were questioning if he’d had injectables.
“Oh yes, a hundred per cent,” he confirmed, before explaining that he thinks when it comes to your identity, he believes it’s “best to do whatever makes you feel good”.
“That’s the thing with me over the years I’ve been looking for my identity. I’ve been trying to find myself again and I’ve definitely experimented with filler and whatever, and there’s no denying that. I think it’s pretty obvious.”
He went on to liken lip filler to make-up, explaining it’s “not permanent”.
“I’ve never had any kind of plastic surgery or anything like that. I think it’s each to their own, whatever makes you happy. It’s such a small thing for me.”
A year later, Jack spoke with news.com.au’s James Weir on his Not Here To Make Friends podcast about his experience with Botox, revealing he first got it when he was 19.
“I had these two creases in my forehead … I just tried it and they went away,” Jack said, saying he still gets Botox to this day.
The 24-year-old also told James that he got a full set of veneers during his stint on AGT in 2011.
“It was just something I wanted to do and I could afford it all of a sudden and I was like, why not?”
That same month, Jack spoke even more openly about changing his appearance with Yahoo Lifestyle, explaining that getting his lips done removed his insecurity and he saw the procedure a “positive thing”.
However, the singer stressed that everyone should have autonomy over their own bodies and whether or not they decide to change their appearance.
“I’m not an advocate for changing how you look. It’s your own body and it’s very specific to everyone. I don’t think anyone needs anything,” Jack said in the same interview.
Most recently, the 24-year-old debated the necessity of fillers on I’m A Celebrity with Real Housewives of Melbourne alum, Pettifleur Berenger.
After Pettifleur told Jack he didn’t need the procedures and questioned who talked him into getting cheek fillers, the singer replied: “Nobody. Myself.”
The RHoM star went on to say in a confession that “everyone has a right to do what they want but it’s human nature, we kind of go ‘Isn’t that too much? Why did they go so far?’”
She also told Jack that if it was her job to administer the filler and someone young like Jack who had “no reason for filler” came to see her, she couldn’t perform the procedure.
The Pray singer replied to Pettifleur’s qualms by explaining why there should be no stigma around these types of procedures.
“If someone’s happy… and they look like a circus clown… if they’re happy, they’re happy,” he said.
At the end of the day, it should be no one’s decision what you can and cannot do with your body except your own.
There should be absolutely no stigma around cosmetic procedures. Everybody has their own stories and journeys and the right to make their own decisions about their physical appearance without external judgement.
That being said, while a certain insecurity may entice someone to undergo a cosmetic procedure, that should not persuade you to do the same should you have a similar insecurity that you do not want to change.
Like we said, it’s your body and your story; self-love and acceptance are beautiful in their own right.
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