This week on Iyanla’s Fix My Life of the OWN Network, former plus model and PMM cover model Anivia Cruz-Dilworth sat down with the life coach for her help in addressing the mental blocks she has been experiencing, which has made her physical healing come to a halt.
Anivia’s dream was to be a plus size model but she felt she needed enhancements to her body in order to be successful. So she turned to the black market to get butt-enhancement injections, which ended up destroying her body and her life.
“I wanted a modeling contract. I started getting butt injections… And then, I couldn’t keep the weight on anymore. I started slimming down. The butt was so big and the body was getting so small. I wasn’t booking any more jobs because I couldn’t fit anything.”
In addition to the health issues she has experienced as a result of these injections, she also ran into legal troubles in 2010 for allegedly administering butt-enhancing injections without a license to several other women. (you can read more about the case here)
She was lucky, in the sense that her case was dropped due to a technicality. However, Anivia still experiences extreme pain on a daily basis that has affected her life to the point where she reaches out to Iyanla for help.
“I developed something called granuloma. When they were injecting me, the silicone migrated to different parts of my body. It went down; you know, it’s gravity.”
“My nerves are damaged because of it. I have scar tissue inside of me. I have severe swelling. I was maybe at about 42 inches around my hips, but now because of the swelling and inflammation, my hips are like a 47. This foreign substance is a part of me now.”
Anivia’s story is an important one to know because we live in a society where people get many enhancements to their bodies simply because they are not happy with them and are seeking a beauty ideal that simply does not exist. If you plan to get plastic surgery, do your research and don’t seek the easy, cheap way out.
Bottom line: Love yourself and love your body at all times, including your flaws.
No one body is perfect. And when you love your body, you will take care of your body. This rings true for all sizes and shapes.
Anivia will carry the repercussions of her mistake for the rest of her life but she is learning to accept that she will never be perfect:
“It is excruciating pain. I never sleep a whole night through. I’m on pain meds every five hours.”
“I do know that I will never be 100 percent normal again. I’m accepting it. I have no other choice.”
If you missed the episode, you can watch it online here.