Pageant Mother/Beautician Kerry Campbell - Administers Botox, Waxes Daughter 8, Dr. Calls Monstrosoties Child Abuse,

Sometimes a very simple three word statement can say more about a situation than you can imagine.

This morning, on the Facebook wall of one of my oldest and dearest friends, was just such a statement; "Someone call CPS" my friend had posted, above a link to a story from Los Angeles local television station's online site.

Intrigued by the fact that this girl, whom I have known for most of my life, and who I know is not the kind of person to raise this sort of an alarm without cause, I of course, immediatley clicked on the link in question to find out what it was that had prodded her into such a state. A moment later, I not only had the answer to my question, but was ready to ring that bell myself.

The headline read; "Mom Injects 8 year-old with Botox and Gives Her Virgin Waxes"

"Are you kidding me?! " I nearly shouted in disbelief, as clicked the play button so that I could watch the on-line report by Maggie, of KTLA.com's Maggie's Online Dish . No, this wasn't a joke, I found out, as I listened, in stunned silence to what Maggie had to say about this pageant mom who, living vicariously through the life of her little girl, has managed to take the meaning of the words "stage mother," to a whole new level of lunacy.

"I make her frown before injecting," said Kerri Campbell, the thirty-four year old mother, who resides in San Francisco, California; "which helps identify a potential wrinkle. This means we can get it before it develops," when speaking of the 1-2 milliliters of Botox and saline solution that she injects into her young daughter's face every three months to keep her daughter from forming wrinkles around her mouth, a practice that apparently began last May, as a birthday present for her eight year old daughter.

"I'd rather she be perfect and have a little frozen face...."

In an interview given in March of this year to notorious British tabloid The Sun, this pageant mom (who originally hails from Birmingham, England), says that despite doctor and plastic surgeon recommendations that Botox Cosmetic, be used only by adults, she injects the substance into her daughter's forehead, lips, and eye area, because she wants to help to ensure her daughter's stardom as a model, actress, or singer, and that having these treatments now will ensure that she stays younger looking and baby-faced for a much longer period of time.

"All I want is for Britney to have the best start in life, so it is easier for her to become a superstar"

The interview continues on, and I nearly fall out of my chair, as Kerry Campbell, in an attempt to justify her actions, presents an argument that I would expect to hear from my own teenagers, and stirs up the voice of my own parents, when as an adolescent and teenager, I tried similar arguments on them;

"When Britney takes part in pageants, parents talk about how they are giving their daughter an extra jab to plump her lips or lose a wrinkle. Everyone is doing it and talking about it. "

"Seriously lady," I say to my computer, "If all your friends were going to jump off a cliff, would you jump too?

"We are not doing anything illegal, and I don't want my daughter being the only one who doesn't have a bit of extra help."

To those who might criticize her as being a reckless or irresponsible parent, Ms. Campbell, who performs this procedure at home, reportedly using an improvised, home-made kit that consists of syringes and needles acquired from a local pharmacist, and a diabetic friend, says that she purchases, not only Botox , but the cosmetic filler Restalyne, on-line and from a woman, reportedly another pageant mom, whom she calls, "our local beauty dealer," defends her actions as being completely safe, stating, ...."I test the Botox and filers that I buy online on myself first" (before administering them to daughter Britney), and further states that because she is a trained beautician, and therefore knows the correct amount to giver her daughter, and because young Britney is both young and healthy, there is no cause for concern.

"What does she mean nothing to worry about?" The incredulous sounding voice, that I recognize as my own conscience, is asking, as I skim through the remainder of the article from The Sun; "She is injecting potentially life-threatening bacteria into the face of her eight year old daughter, and she not only thinks that this is normal, she is advocating the practice!"

" As the mother of two daughters, ages four and fifteen, I am horrified by what I am reading. I cannot fathom why or how any mother with the sense that God gave a cricket, could or would take such a risk with the health or the mental well-being of their child.

"But apparently, Kerry Campbell's "right versus wrong barometer" is on the fritz." I am thinking as I scroll down to the next section of the article, in which her next statement causes me to amend my thoughts;

As if the injecting of the potentially dangerous toxin into the face of her pre-pubescent daughter were not enough, Kerry Campbell also admits to subjecting the girl to what she calls, "her monthly virgin waxing " which she claims, "gets rid of her fluffy leg hair and ensures that she won't grow pubic hair in the future. It will save her a fortune in waxing when she is older"

"I'm proud Britney is getting to have these beauty treatments at such a young age. An unabashed Campbell told The Sun; "I wish that I'd had the same advantages when I was younger. She is a lucky little girl and is going to famous because of the benefits I am giving her so early, I think that more mothers should do this for their daughters."

Future beauty treatment plans for Britney include, Having her eyebrows waxed and then lightly tattooed to an arched shape, and the light pink tattooing of permanent lip-line

"Scratch that," My inner voice says, "her barometer isn't on the fritz, it just plain doesn't exist."

May 14. 2011

Roughly two months after giving her interview to popular British tabloid, The Sun , Kerry Campbell, dragging her now nearly nine year old daughter Britney behind her, was once again in the press. This time it was the American press, in the form of the ABC. morning talk show, Good Morning America, where the controversial mother, squared off with reporter Lara Spencer, in an effort to defend herself against the gathering storm of public disapproval, and whispers of a Child Protective Services child abuse investigation.

While the usually perky reporter, Lara Spencer, visibly struggled to maintain her veneer of objectivity, the U.K. native, remained almost defiantly self-righteous, as she defended her position in the use of Botox in order to compete in the pageant world.

A couple of things that did stand out to me as differences in the GMA interview from the original tabloid interview last March, besides the fact that Kerry Campbell, who openly stated that she purchased the Botox from on-line sources, now is refusing to name her actual source; the first being that while she was blatantly caviler in the March interview about how she (the mother) was doing all of this for her daughter's future stardom, was almost reticent in the way that she made three attempts to shift the blame away from herself and on to others. "in the pageant world the kids can be harsh" she told Lara Spencer, "their noticing the lines and pointing them out to her (Britney) may have made her want to do it more." At another point in the interview, she subtly insinuates that she has perhaps been led astray by other pageant parents, when she makes a statement regarding where she first got the idea to inject her daughter to begin with. The third most noticeable blame shifting tactic, and in my opinion, the most reprehensible, comes in the way that she maneuvers the line of questioning, almost demurely, into her daughter's court, where the eight year old, lobs the answers back at the reporter with a smile, giving answers and opinions that have obviously grown out of the mother's coaching and influence.

The second of these differences is in the way that she tries to lessen the severity of the impact on public opinion, making statements such as, "the few times that we did it," and Britney's statement about the waxing, in which the little girl confirms that they had tried the waxing once, because she didn't think that hair on her legs was very lady-like, but that it was so painful, that she (Britney) would not do it again. These statements make it sound as though it is the child herself who is control of these treatments, and are a far cry from the March interview, where Ms. Campbell stated that she injected her daughter every three months, and that the waxing, took place monthly.

May 16, 2011

It was announced this morning by Good Morning America's Lara Spencer, that subsequent to the public out cry against the so-called Botox Mom , Kerry Campbell, the San Francisco area Department of Children's Protective Services (CPS) had launched an investigation in the matter, and that at some point over the weekend, that same agency had removed the little girl from her mother's home, pending the results of that investigation.

As I have mentioned once or twice before, I am the mother of two daughters, the older of the two, Jordan, will turn sixteen this coming July, while the younger one, Jamisen, has just today turned four years old.

What I haven't mentioned before, is that I myself, struggled throughout my adolescent, teenage, and young adult years with the very serious, and potentially deadly body-image disorders, Anorexia and Bulimia, which through their repetitive starvation and binge-purge cycles, not only put undue stress upon my heart and other major internal organs, in some cases causing irreversible damages that I live with still today, but resulted in me beginning my senior year in high school, as a five foot - six and three-quarter inches tall seventeen year old, who weighed a whopping total of eighty-nine pounds. Luckily for me, I had adults around me, who recognized the problem, and cared enough to make sure that I got the treatment that I needed, and thanks to both them and their persistence, I can report that I have been in recovery for nearly twenty-four years.

My brush with my own mortality, and the all-consuming fear that my own daughters would one day follow in my footsteps and the awareness that when it came to their own self-image they would take their cues from me, that led me to become almost hyper-vigilant about the message that I put out to them.

The first thing that I taught them is to love themselves for who they are, and I accomplished this by loving them for who they are, and reinforcing it daily.

Where does this leave eight year old Britney Campbell, who already at her tender age, is being told by the actions of her Botox injecting Mother, that she isn't good enough, and who expressed in The Sun interview last March, "I check every night for wrinkles, when I see some I want more injections." and who also stated, "I also want a boob and nose job soon, so that I can be a star." and other little girls like Britney's own friends, who think that getting Botox injections to prevent wrinkles that haven't even begun to form yet is cool?

The potential for long term and sometimes life long psychological damages is very real, and we need to stop and consider what exactly is the message that we want to send them, and how does is contrast to the message being sent?

What message are we sending these little girls, as we wax, and tease, and make-up their already beautiful little faces, until they look like twisted versions of their yet-to-be adult selves. Dressing them in little miniature versions of clothes that are in the style of things that we would deem sometimes inappropriate for ourselves? What message are we sending when we glitz them and glam them, and sexy them up?

What message are we sending those who would prey upon these beautiful little girls?

Kristen Burns-Darling ©May 2011 (all rights reserved)