You’ll Be Happier: The Story of a Butt Lift

[soft music]

I wanna feel more confident.

I wanna feel better.

I wanna look better.

I want a cute little bath suits

in the summertime.

I wanna like myself more, more than I really like myself,

’cause I absolutely love myself, I just want more.

Growing up I felt like I was the ugly duckling.

I grew up in a home where everyone was fit and petite

and perfect almost, and I was thicker.

My mom and dad would call me a fat cow

and it made me feel horrible.

It made me feel horrible

’cause my sisters were very thin and pretty.

And then I’m just there.

It led me to be bulimic, hot box my room,

like shut the windows, you know,

put the heat on, work out until I pass out.

I wanted to be different.

I wanted to be somebody else.

I personally never thought about plastic surgery up

until I met this older guy I was dating.

He told me that I could look better

but I started to realize, like looking at other girls

like their butts look nice.

And I kind of wanted that too.

Once I got older and I worked and I had money,

I was like, Well, I’m gonna get plastic surgery.

All right, so let’s talk about

silicone breast implants.

This is the silicone.

So I can pull it and I can squeeze it.

I go bite it and it’s not gonna break.

You wanna see what’s on the inside?

All right, perfect.

[Producer] Grab a light.

People tend to discount the power of vanity.

When I first started doing cosmetic surgery in 2006,

everyone wanted their butt smaller.

Nobody wanted it bigger.

What wound up happening was it started moving

to more curves.

And I remember saying, you know, saying to my wife, like,

I think this is gonna be a thing.’

[Reporter] There’s a popular procedure to help you go

from flat to fabulous.

[Reporter 2] It’s a Brazilian butt lift.

[Reporter 3] Brazilian butt lift.

[Reporter 4] Brazilian butt lifts or BBLs for short.

[Jennifer] Honestly, like all social media has

is girls with big butts.

[Dr. Schulman] You have people on social media

who are showing

their bodies and are very open that they had things done.

You know, 10 years ago it was so hush hush.

Now it’s right in front of you on your Instagram feed.

Big booty, joining the big booty club.

All right, we’re about to start live surgery on Snapchat.

So if you’re not following, do it now.

There was a study that showed that literally one

in 3000 women who undergo this surgery die from it.

As you get fat that is injected

into a blood vessel and it goes right

to your heart and your lungs and you die like that.

The Brazilian butt lift procedure is the fastest

growing plastic surgery procedure in the world.

There’s plenty of patience to go around.

So I kind of stopped counting, but I think

at this point I’m probably over 5,000 Brazilian butt lifts.

So Jennifer, interestingly enough, I did some liposuction

on her about 10 or 11 years ago

and at some point about a year ago,

she had a Brazilian butt lift with another surgeon.

So now she returns to me because she’s unhappy

with the results and I’m gonna fix it for her.

[Jennifer] I spent so much money on this procedure,

right now,

what was it, 15,000 I spent, my family tell me not to do it.

Save the money for, you know, a down payment for a condo

or like get a car or like, I wanna be perfect.

[Dr. Schulman] Hey, how are you?

Good.

[Dr. Schulman] Nice to see you too.

Nice to see you too.

You excited? Super excited.

All right, nervous. I am beyond nervous.

I’m sweating from everywhere.

Okay, come stand up.

Let me take a look.

All right, cool, all right,

this fat that’s here, not supposed to be there

so I’m gonna clean that out.

We should be able to get your waistline looking more

like that.

So when I take this away,

that’s gonna slim you like that.

When this goes in, then I will bring that out.

So it’s really gonna narrow you.

So we’ll get you looking like that.

And then, you know,

I’ll take whatever fat I have, I’ll put in there.

And like I said, I’m either gonna run outta fat

or run outta room.

All right, cool, any questions?

[Jennifer] Honestly, not really.

I’m super excited.

Good, good, good.

You’ll be happier. Okay, yeah.

Okay, all the way to the side.

What time are you getting up tomorrow?

‘Cause we gotta get up early.

[Ian] Whenever you want me up.

I gotta be there at 7:30.

I kind of wanna leave,

it’s 40 minutes plus little traffic.

I wanna leave around- What traffic?

The morning, it’s a workday, it’s Tuesday.

I guess that’s true.

I think you’re gonna really like the car too.

It’s very nice and sporty.

Are you excited for me?

Yes, I’m excited for you.

Hope to you get over this weird insecurity

about yourself and you’re happy with yourself

when you look yourself in the mirror

[Jennifer] You’re funny.

I mean is there gonna be a major physical change

that you’re, everyone’s gonna look and notice it

unless you’re wearing a backless top

and they don’t see your rolls, which I don’t even

think anybody knew you had them in the first place.

I knew I had them.

Tomorrow, I’m getting my BBL, tomorrow my dreams come true.

I’m excited for a makeover.

I’m excited for him to sculpt my body the way I want.

Love you.

Be good, okay?

Love you.

Pray for me, okay?

Don’t anybody, okay, I love you, don’t cry.

[Dr. Schulman] Any surgery I do,

there’s the physical and there’s the psychological.

Because we’re dealing with someone’s insecurities

you can’t really correlate the severity

of their physical issue

with the severity of their emotional insecurity.

If I change the way Jennifer looks

and she feels better about herself

and then her feeling better about herself changes her life.

Great.

This feels so weird.

[Surgeon] You’re gonna lay up on the bed.

You’re gonna be on your back.

Your head’s gonna go up towards Dr. Roman.

[Surgeon 2] Pillow’s gonna be right here.

My armpits are sweaty.

[Surgeon] You’re nervous. We’re nervous.

Have a wonderful nap.

Ready to proceed.

[Surgeon] Agree. Agree.

[Surgeon 3] Agree. Agreed.

I took 4.2 liters of fat out, two big soda bottles.

So now this is where the fun happens.

So now we put the fat in.

So fat will come out, I mean that kind of tells you

that you’re getting to the point of filling or full.

All right, you ready?

[Surgeon] Ready.

Wow. [clapping]

Good, gonna be very happy with the results.

You’re in the recovery room.

Okay, everything went smoothly.

Hey, sleepy head.

You okay?

You’re in a lot of pain? [whimpering]

I’m sorry baby, at least it’s over.

They’re tiny.

They’re tiny, I know,

that’s why I bought you tripple Kanes.

[gagging]

[Ian] Yes.

You going to work?

No, don’t go.

All right, come here.

My feet are swollen.

My everything hurts.

I can’t even see my butt.

Hi, welcome, come in Ms. Prego.

I actually didn’t get into a car accident yesterday.

[Sister] Are you serious?

Yes.

[Sister] What happened to you?

So I was planning on getting a revision

from the surgery that I got in Florida.

Do you do remember, I did it yesterday.

I just didn’t wanna tell anyone

’cause I didn’t want anyone to like get worried

or get scared or talk shit

like why are you spending so much money on this?

Yeah, but to like lie about getting into a car accident

kinda serious.

[Jennifer] I just wanted you to come over.

You could have just said like, Come over.

[Jennifer] You would’ve not came over

if I would’ve told you.

So what did you do?

You got your butt bigger.

[Jennifer] Not that I got it bigger.

I got it slightly bigger, I got it more filled in.

[Ian] She got it reshaped.

[Jennifer] Yeah, there you go, I got it reshaped.

I took the risk surgery.

I took the risk, but I’m alive, It wasn’t my time yet.

It wasn’t my time. I’m still here.

My last surgery.

That’s the fat.

[Producer] That’s the fat.

Looks like strawberry shake.

Wow.

Wow, he’s really going in.

Ooh, that happened to me yesterday?

Can you put it back? Can you put it back?

Like, do I love myself or do I hate myself?

I can’t tell what it is.

[Ian] Definitely both.

Fuck you. Never again.

Never doing that ever again.

This was it.

Are you sure? I’m very sure.

So why didn’t you tell mom and dad?

[Jennifer] Because they don’t care.

Yeah but it’s, they do care.

[Jennifer] This is my third plastic surgery.

I know this is the last one.

This is the last time I’m gonna put myself through this.

I feel it in my heart.

I know it in my soul.

This is it.

[Dr. Schulman] Hey, how are you?

[Jennifer] Good. How are you?

[Dr. Schulman] Nice to see you.

You doing all right?

[Jennifer] Yep.

[Dr. Schulman] So this, this was you before,

remember that?

[Dr. Schulman] Yeah. Yeah.

Looks way better.

I feel like I got, not a new life

but just seeing myself differently.

Just seeing how far I’ve grown

and seeing my body looking different.

It feels really good.

[Ian] Would you like your butt pillow?

[Jennifer] Yes please.

Yeah, I have to sit up straight like this.

I’m sick and tired

of carrying my butt pillow everywhere I go.

[Ian] You don’t carry your butt pillow everywhere.

I carry it for you.

[Jennifer] I know, but I hate using it at work.

Everybody’s like, you got your butt pillow?

I’m like, Yes, I have my butt pillow.

Okay, what’s the difference?

You’re only one there with a popping booty.

Everyone else is flat

Like surfboard.

What other procedure you think I would get done

Your boob lift, a face lift.

I don’t want a face lift, my face is perfect.

You get your boobs bigger.

I dunno, probably more lipo.

Where, I need more lipo.

Like I said that you needed more lipo,

after I just said-

You’re suggesting I need more lipo so.

No, that’s what I’m saying

what I think you would think

that you think that you need certain things

in your body modified ’cause they’re not perfect enough.

I’d like you to look to yourself in the mirror

and see beauty and not see things that need to be changed.

That’s all I want for you.

I feel that way.

I’m like 95% there.

Yeah, I know. No, I’m like 90% there.

Not, just want like a little,

maybe a little lift and a little bit plump.

For who? Fuller.

For myself. But why?

You’re perfect, you don’t need to

make a body modification to look better for yourself.

But I gotta get the pair of boobs to match my butt.

You don’t.

I think you have a perfect pair of boobs.

I want you to be the perfect you

you are, as natural as possible.

This is natural, this is my own fat.

You know what I mean?

Are you done?

When my fiance compliments me,

I shut it down and he gets angry

at me and I’m like, Oh, you’re such a liar,

stop saying that.

Well, why can’t you see yourself the way that I see you?

Because I can’t.

True beauty is designed to be out of reach.

[soft music]