Double Jeopardy
Dr. Phil talks to twins who underwent cosmetic surgery about staying true to their authentic selves.
Twins Michael and Matthew, 21, were so unhappy with their looks that they went on MTV's I Want A Famous Face for cosmetic surgery to look like Brad Pitt. Now they say their lives have greatly improved.
"Before the surgery, I felt like an ugly person, ugly job, ugly life," says Michael.
Matthew agrees. "We weren't confident with who we were at all ... People would call me 'moon pie' because of my acne," he recalls.
Now that the twins have enhanced their looks, they're trying to convince their mother, Diana, to do the same. Diana feels hurt that her sons are critical of her features, and is also concerned that they still want even more cosmetic surgery for themselves. "As a mom, them wanting more surgery makes me angry because that's telling me they're not happy inside," she says. "Dr. Phil, my boys have had enough plastic surgery. Could you please help me help them to understand that?"
Dr. Phil shows a split shot of Michael and Matthew along with Brad Pitt. Studying their features, he indicates that the twins do not look much like the actor, despite their intentions. "I'm not saying it's bad," observes Dr. Phil. "In fact, I'm
glad you don't look like somebody else." He then shows a photo of Steven Cojocaru from Entertainment Tonight, joking that the twins look more like him.
When Dr. Phil asks if the cosmetic surgery has been worth it, Michael says, "It has fixed our lives in a certain aspect. I gained more confidence, but internally, though, I still suffer from just years of torment and people putting me down."
"What is it that still haunts you now?" Dr. Phil asks Michael.
"People talked down to me. I don't think I deserved that ... People put me down for my big Roman nose," remembers Michael. "People started picking things out and saying, 'Your face is disgusting. You have bad acne.' Over the years, it finally wore me out."
When Dr. Phil asks if Michael is still angry about that experience, he replies, "I'm very angry about that."
Matthew has dealt with the pain he faced about his looks differently. "I think I've actually come to terms with the hurt and the pain," he says. "The biggest thing that I could do is to learn to forgive people ... At the end of the day, I have to be happy with myself, and at the end of the day, I am happy with myself."
Turning to their mother, Diana, in the audience, Dr. Phil asks, "How did you feel about this, about them going and getting all this surgery to look like a famous person?"
"It was very hard for me to accept that they were going to change their noses," she replies.
"Why did you let them do it?" Dr. Phil presses.
"Because that's what they wanted to do and I felt they were of age," she answers. "No matter what I had said to them, that was what they wanted to do."
Dr. Phil questions if Diana tried to stop the twins from getting surgery. "Of course," she says. "I told them they were handsome, they were beautiful. They didn't need to do any of that."
Dr. Phil wonders if the twins did everything they could physically do before resorting to cosmetic surgery. Pointing out that Michael suffered from acne, Dr. Phil asks, "Did you work on that? Did you get the treatments for it?"
"Oh, I did," Michael replies.
Matthew admits that he did not work as hard as he could have. "Physically, possibly," he says. "But mentally, no. Not at all."
"The outcome to whether this was a successful procedure or not, whether it's really worked in your lives, has yet to be determined," Dr. Phil points out. "You don't know yet whether this is going to have the effect that you want, but you have a lot of influence over it."
Dr. Phil tells the twins that in order to have true confidence, they need to resolve past issues. "The problem is that we generate the results in our lives that we believe we deserve," he says.
Dr. Phil observes that even if the twins get a new look or hairstyle, there may still be a little voice in their heads saying, "You're still that little ugly kid everybody's making fun of." He tells them that if their internal dialogue is negative, the results in their lives will be consistent with that. "You guys have changed the wrapper, but you haven't changed what's in it," he points out. "You've got to stop playing those tapes in your head about people that were mean to you in the past, or it will haunt you 'til the end of the world," he says.
Dr. Phil advises Michael and Matthew to put as much focus on their inner selves as they have on improving their outward appearance. "While you're focused so much on the wrapper, you're not focused on the development of character," he explains. He also tells the twins to support each other and to stop telling their mother that she needs to get plastic surgery.
Twins Michael and Matthew, 21, were so unhappy with their looks that they went on MTV's I Want A Famous Face for cosmetic surgery to look like Brad Pitt. Now they say their lives have greatly improved.
"Before the surgery, I felt like an ugly person, ugly job, ugly life," says Michael.
Matthew agrees. "We weren't confident with who we were at all ... People would call me 'moon pie' because of my acne," he recalls.
Now that the twins have enhanced their looks, they're trying to convince their mother, Diana, to do the same. Diana feels hurt that her sons are critical of her features, and is also concerned that they still want even more cosmetic surgery for themselves. "As a mom, them wanting more surgery makes me angry because that's telling me they're not happy inside," she says. "Dr. Phil, my boys have had enough plastic surgery. Could you please help me help them to understand that?"
When Dr. Phil asks if the cosmetic surgery has been worth it, Michael says, "It has fixed our lives in a certain aspect. I gained more confidence, but internally, though, I still suffer from just years of torment and people putting me down."
"What is it that still haunts you now?" Dr. Phil asks Michael.
"People talked down to me. I don't think I deserved that ... People put me down for my big Roman nose," remembers Michael. "People started picking things out and saying, 'Your face is disgusting. You have bad acne.' Over the years, it finally wore me out."
Matthew has dealt with the pain he faced about his looks differently. "I think I've actually come to terms with the hurt and the pain," he says. "The biggest thing that I could do is to learn to forgive people ... At the end of the day, I have to be happy with myself, and at the end of the day, I am happy with myself."
"It was very hard for me to accept that they were going to change their noses," she replies.
"Why did you let them do it?" Dr. Phil presses.
"Because that's what they wanted to do and I felt they were of age," she answers. "No matter what I had said to them, that was what they wanted to do."
Dr. Phil questions if Diana tried to stop the twins from getting surgery. "Of course," she says. "I told them they were handsome, they were beautiful. They didn't need to do any of that."
"Oh, I did," Michael replies.
Matthew admits that he did not work as hard as he could have. "Physically, possibly," he says. "But mentally, no. Not at all."
"The outcome to whether this was a successful procedure or not, whether it's really worked in your lives, has yet to be determined," Dr. Phil points out. "You don't know yet whether this is going to have the effect that you want, but you have a lot of influence over it."
Dr. Phil observes that even if the twins get a new look or hairstyle, there may still be a little voice in their heads saying, "You're still that little ugly kid everybody's making fun of." He tells them that if their internal dialogue is negative, the results in their lives will be consistent with that. "You guys have changed the wrapper, but you haven't changed what's in it," he points out. "You've got to stop playing those tapes in your head about people that were mean to you in the past, or it will haunt you 'til the end of the world," he says.
Dr. Phil advises Michael and Matthew to put as much focus on their inner selves as they have on improving their outward appearance. "While you're focused so much on the wrapper, you're not focused on the development of character," he explains. He also tells the twins to support each other and to stop telling their mother that she needs to get plastic surgery.