Former Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns is suing a plastic surgeon for £1 million after a botched lip transplant that he says left him unable to leave the house for months, forced him to eat through a straw, and destroyed his life and career, according to the Daily Mail:
“Burns said he looked like he had been ‘mutilated with a Stanley knife' after surgery to correct the original problems left his top lip hanging off.”
Burns, whose obsession with cosmetic surgery is well-known, had his career refreshed in 2006 after appearing on Britain's Celebrity Big Brother. He came in fifth on the show but his verbal attacks on the other housemates gave him renewed notoriety.
Said Burns of the recent surgery: It has taken away my life and my career. I saw doctors in London who said the only option was to amputate my lips. I was suicidal. Eventually I found a doctor in Italy who knew the product and said he could remove it. I had 17 months of procedures and now I am back again having more…What happened to me after a series of injections was far worse than any nightmare I could have envisaged. Not only was it agonisingly painful but it was physically repulsive in the extreme. It was impossible to lead any life whatsoever. I was unable to leave my house as I was so distorted with swelling. At times it leaves me seriously suicidal and depressed and I could have problems for the rest of my life.”
Burns claims that the lip surgery forced him to cut off recording sessions with the Pet Shop Boys (his most recent effort with them — “Jack and Jill Party” — was well received), and curtail solo projects as well as a Greatest Hits album.
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