- Hope Donahue's life reads
like the profile of a junkie.
And her drug of choice
was plastic surgery.
OPRAH: Once upon a
time in Los Angeles,
below the sun-kissed palm
trees of one of the city's
wealthiest neighborhoods, there
lived a pretty little girl
named Hope.
HOPE: I seemed to
have everything.
I was beautiful.
I had money.
I went to debutante balls.
OPRAH: Hope was obsessed
with being pretty.
She spent hours a day primping,
but strangely, she feared
the very attention she craved.
HOPE: I felt people
were staring at me.
I had anxiety attacks,
couldn't breathe.
It was a huge irony
because, on the one hand,
I was completely
focused on my looks
and my life depended
on being beautiful.
And on the other hand, I
felt under such scrutiny.
OPRAH: Though she had no
job, Hope had great credit.
More than enough to correct
the facial flaw she felt
came between her and perfection.
HOPE: I thought, I'm
going to fix my nose
and I'll live
happily ever after.
I was 22 years old when
I had my first surgery.
I had a nose job.
OPRAH: But the quick fix she
had longed for was an illusion.
HOPE: When the
bandages came off,
I regretted that it
wasn't a bigger change.
I basically wanted
a new personality,
but, you know, I
didn't get that.
I just got a new nose.
OPRAH: The next surgeries
were more drastic.
Vortex inserts to widen
her lips and implants
to plump her cheeks.
Again, all paid on credit.
The procedures took hours
and left Hope bruised
and emotionally distraught.
HOPE: My whole
face was distorted.
I didn't recognize myself.
That was definitely a low point.
I thought, what have
you done to yourself?
OPRAH: Hope's parents
were so horrified by what
she was doing to herself,
they cut off her allowance.
Hope began stealing to pay
for her plastic surgery.
HOPE: I was afraid
that I couldn't stop.
I didn't know what
was going to stop me.
I was maxing out all
the credit cards,
and I actually started to
steal from my roommates.
And by now, she'd
had five surgeries,
all before her 24th birthday.
But like a drug addict, Hope
was looking for her next fix
and spiraling
towards rock bottom.
I really felt like my life was
like a slow motion train wreck
and I was watching it
and I couldn't stop it.
OPRAH: Convinced that
happiness was one suture away,
Hope found a new plastic
surgeon in the classified ads.
And he'd start out by
complimenting me and telling me
how beautiful I was.
And then he'd say
something like, well,
if you just did something
more to your nose,
you would look 70%
more beautiful.
And I would be devastated.
I'd think, 70%.
OPRAH: A year after her
first surgery, at just 23,
Hope had a facelift.
And I would stop by his
office a couple of times
a week, even if I didn't
have an appointment.
OPRAH: In the weeks
that followed,
she had more lip surgery,
then collagen injections.
When her own credit
finally ran out,
Hope used her
parents' credit cards
and charged her
surgeries to them.
There got to be
a point where I
had done everything on my face.
There wasn't a feature
that I hadn't messed with.
So it occurred to me, breasts.
How about bigger breasts?
OPRAH: This was the longest,
most painful surgery yet.
The agony of recovery
persisted for weeks.
It was like somebody was
burning me with a lighter
inside my breast.
It was the most agonizing pain
that I'd ever experienced.
I didn't talk to anybody.
I didn't see anybody.
It was a very lonely existence.
OPRAH: Desperate, this
former debutante began posing
nude to support her addiction.
I came in and I
took off my clothes.
I saw something out of
the corner of my eye
and it looked like it was
a harness or something.
It was hanging from the ceiling.
I said what are those?
And he said, oh, that's
for my bondage work.
And then he proceeded to
show me some photographs
that he had taken.
And it was just
absolutely horrifying.
But that was really
a moment where
I realized what I was doing.
I did hit bottom that day.
Hope Donahue is the author
of a new memoir called,
"Beautiful Stranger," which
chronicles her addiction
to plastic surgery.
And so, the bottom for you was--
In the pornographer's office.
OPRAH: In the
pornographer's office.
Yes.
I was so broke, and so desperate
for money and attention,
that I ended up in a bondage
photographer's studio.
OPRAH: So, you realized
that you needed help.
That it was-- you were sick.
Absolutely.
I knew I was sick at that point.
Yes.
In the beginning, I
didn't see it like that.
It was, I'm just
going to do my nose.
And that's it.
And then I'll--
I'll be fine.
