Among the Disney Channel stars of her day, Raven Symone had a slightly curvier figure. Compared to other Disney teens like Hilary Duff or Ashley Tisdale, she had a fuller bust and was maybe one or two dress sizes larger. She looked like a healthy, normal teenager. But back in the early 2000s, that meant Raven was getting called “fat” because that’s just the kind of time it was culturally. On the podcast she co-hosts with her wife Miranda Maday, Raven recently shed light on how those comments affected her, and how her dad contributed to the desire to lose weight. She said that when she was a teenager, her dad pressured her to get a breast reduction, and offered to let her do “something else” while she was going under anesthesia, like surgery is a two-for-one deal. Teenage Raven asked if she could get liposuction on her belly in addition to a breast reduction because she wanted people to stop calling her fat. She actually had two breast reduction surgeries before she turned 18, because her body was still changing! Not only that, but she also had a seizure shortly after waking up from surgery.
Raven Symone s opening up about a private struggle she experienced as a teenager after growing up in the spotlight. In the most recent episode of her and wife Miranda Maday’s podcast, The Best Podcast Ever With Raven & Miranda, the former child star revealed she underwent multiple cosmetic procedures before the age of 18.
“I had two breast reductions and lipo before I turned 18. I’ve never said it. I’ve never shared it,” Raven disclosed.
The Cosby Show star said that her procedures were encouraged by her father, Christopher B. Pearman.
“My dad suggested, strongly, that I should get my breasts reduced,” she said. “I was like, ‘If I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’”
Raven, 37, said that she “disassociated” after the surgery and suffered a seizure as a result of the procedure.
“That first one I had, I actually had a seizure when I woke up from the surgery and I remember waking up and seeing everything… and then I had this dry mouth and couldn’t breathe, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, you had a seizure,’” Raven shared.
She said that she has “scar tissue to this day” and noted that she gained weight after the procedure prompting a second breast reduction.
Raven said she went from a triple-D chest size to her current double-D.
“Even though I got the breast reduction, nobody knew at that age and I still got reamed through social media because I wasn’t as skinny as everybody else and they still called me fat,” Raven said. “So it’s like, you get that done and it’s still not what everybody wanted to see.”
[From ET]
Lord have mercy, the fact that her dad encouraged her to have major plastic surgery when she was still a kid is just…a lot. This follows the same pattern we see with so many child stars, whose parents see them as a celebrity brand first, and a child second. I’m sure there are always exceptions but a responsible plastic surgeon would likely delay fat removal until someone was in their twenties. Her body was still growing and changing. Heck, I needed surgery for a deviated septum and I had to wait until I was in my twenties, even though it wasn’t a cosmetic surgery, because the rest of my face was still growing into itself. Imagine what it did to teenage Raven’s confidence for her dad to tacitly affirm the negative comments she was getting about her weight, by pressuring her to get surgery. That must have been so hard to hear and harder to heal from. Also, liposuction is a risky surgery with serious possible complications. The seizure Raven experienced is just one example. A teenage kid–in my view–shouldn’t undertake that risk unless it’s truly necessary.
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