Kathy Burke's All Woman

I'm Kathy Burke...and I've been all over the country meeting women... Hello. Hello. Hello.

Hello, hey.

..all sorts of women...

What's going on here? Skinhead.

I'm the first woman in my family to ever buy property.

..asking all sorts of personal questions.

Have you had a "vagacial"?

Do you mind me asking why you decided to get your eggs frozen?

I want to understand rites of passage I've never experienced...

Why would you suddenly think, "I'm going to be a good mum?

"Because I've got nice, cuddly big tits?"

It's a contraction.

..like motherhood...

I've never seen a little baby, like warm out of the oven.

..and the fairy-tale wedding...

That's what most little girls want to do.

When you're on your own, you're more powerful.

..and see the length we go to to please others.

That's what I'd look like if I got rid of my double chin.

Most blokes would BLEEP a ham sandwich.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about what a woman should be.

Well, this is my opinion.

God, if only I knew all this so long ago. It's like, "Oh, my God."

See, I've always been blessed with quite a high, fat arse.

So, you know, at least I've got one thing over

Kim Kardashian that I've never had to pay for.

Image is incredibly important to the majority of women.

So, just because I'm happy with me big fat self,

it doesn't mean to say other women are.

There are a lot of pressures to look beautiful,

to look groomed, to look young.

It's like... What the fuck?

You know, babies don't come out looking like Beyonce.

But today, surrounded by plastic surgery, liposuction,

Botox and bollocks, we are told that we don't have to put up with

how we look - we can change it.

But should we? Should we be trying to conform

to a fixed idea of what beauty is?

Or should we accept how we look?

I personally don't think looks should be important,

but, unfortunately, they are.

You know, it's people fancying each other that make the world go round.

# Yo, boys, uh-uh

# Ease back, show love.. Feeling so hot... #

And today's idea of physical perfection is Love Island.

It raised the bar for prime-time beauty.

Hi, guys. Oi, oi! Oh, my God.

This was one of the biggest shows on telly,

watched by millions of young people.

It launched the career of Megan Barton-Hanson,

who spent an estimated £40,000 transforming her looks.

She got quite a lot of stick for being on it,

um, quite a lot of stick for having plastic surgery,

quite a lot of stick for getting off with a couple of the boys on there,

even though I don't think the boys got any stick at all.

I suppose, doing things like Love Island is another way

to earn some money.

It'll be interesting to just find out,

is it worth it?

Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm all right. Are you Megan? Yes?

Yeah, I'm Megan. I'm Kath. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, darling.

My hair's a bit wild. Excuse me, I'm halfway through make-up.

Oh, right, well...

It's a great flat.

Hello. Hi. Literally moved in two days ago.

I just need to get some furniture now.

It's so mad to meet you,

I used to watch you on Gimme Gimme with my mum.

You'd have been very little then, though.

I know.

Look at your brand-new toaster.

It's good. It's all double-glazed.

I just had my windows done.

They cost a fortune.

So, you're getting yourself all done up for the Pride Of Britain.

Yeah, I'm so excited. Yeah.

Megan, I saw this photograph of you before you had surgery,

and I thought you looked great.

I thought, "Well, she just looks silly cos she's got

"these silly glasses on." Yeah.

But I thought if you took the glasses off,

and you got your mate to do your hair,

you'd still look beautiful.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

So, do you mind telling us what you've had done?

So, the first thing I had done was my ears.

Like, kids at school were, like, nasty

and would call me, like, a rat

or be like, "Oh, your ears stick out."

And then my nose and my boobs.

So, my mum was having hers done, and I was like,

"Would you pay for me to have my boobs done?"

"I promise I'll pay you back."

Then when I started stripping, I got a second boob job

because I thought I'd treat myself,

"I've worked hard, and I'll get

"the perfect, like, natural boobs...like -looking boobs

"that I've always wanted."

And then my lips done. Yeah.

And I got veneers and that's it.

But I got so much stick for it in the Island. Right.

I didn't think that would be a thing. I thought,

"Yeah, they would mention the fact that I slept with two boys.

"Yeah, they would mention that I was a stripper,

"I'd done glam modelling,"

but I didn't think there'd be that much stick

for getting surgery.

What sort of comments would they be?

Like, they were just saying that I was really fake and plastic,

and, yeah, I was even getting death threats at one point.

I think people just love to hate. Yeah.

On social media, it's such a big thing now, how you look,

and there's all these filters to change your face,

there's editing apps.

So whether you edit yourself

digitally,

like on these apps and change things, or you do it in real life,

you're just getting so much stick,

and it's like, these platforms are out here,

so you'll see certain brands,

and their adverts are targeted

at girls my age.

In one way, you're encouraging girls to get surgery. Yeah.

And then when you do it, like me, you're absolutely vilified

and penalised for like, "Oh, my God, look at her before that."

"Oh, she's fake." But it did help you get on to Love Island.

Do you think you would have got on Love Island if...

I'd never done... ..if you'd had nothing done? Probably not.

My biggest thing is,

I just don't want young girls to have unrealistic expectations

like I did. I thought, "Oh, I'll have my boobs done,

"I'll have my nose done. I'll be...

"I'll be so confident." Except it didn't fix anything.

It changed the outside shell, but you're still dealing with, like,

the insecurities and the self-esteem issues

that you did before. Chucking money at it isn't going to fix that.

You've got quite a young following.

How can you say to young girls,

"Oh, it's what you look like on the inside that counts,"

but you still look the way you look.

But look at the work that's going into this. Yeah.

I don't just roll out of bed and look like this. Right.

That's why...I said I've had all these procedures done.

This takes hours to make me look the way I look on a red carpet,

to feel nice for a couple of pictures.

I just worry about the pressure on young women to be...

..incredibly beautiful.

Do you know I mean? It's not just about being attractive any more.

It's like they have to look stunning.

Right, I'm going to put my dress on.

It's a weird one, because I do look back, and I think to myself,

"Well, when I was in my 20s, I basically saved my money

"so that I could get my teeth fixed."

But I think back then, if somebody had said,

"Well, you can get this fixed and that fixed,"

I think I might have done it.

Um, because when you're young, in your 20s,

like, looks are so important.

Oh, here she comes. Hey!

THEY LAUGH

It's all come together, two hours later.

Yeah, two hours. Can we have a look at the shoes?

Oh, now, they're fab.

Can we get a photo?

Feel like your nana.

THEY LAUGH

I used to look like that!

You always hear nans say that, didn't you?

"Yeah, I used to look like that."

They fucking didn't.

Thank you.

Although Megan may still have insecurities about her looks,

it appears her surgery has paid off.

By making herself more conventionally beautiful,

she has found success.

Yeah, I can see Wes.

Oh, you have a beautiful night, all right?

Wes. Wes.

Lovely to meet you. Take care.

Well, I hope she has a lovely night...

..mixing with Amanda Holden and David Beckham.

I'm going to have a much better night,

mixing with no-one but myself.

Just the way I like it.

Kathy, I'm going to give you a list of modern-day beauty treatments.

I want you to tell me what you think they are. OK.

So, derma fillers.

When you have lines here and here,

so, you squid shit in them to puff them out.

Bang on point.

Uguisi no fun facial.

So, what's that? A facial that hurts?

Are they, basically, going to sandpaper your cheeks?

It's a Japanese facial. Nightingale faeces.

Yeah. Somebody's making a fortune.

Come round here, lie on the table.

I'll get some pigeon shit and rub it on your face

for 60 quid an hour.

A vagacial. No. I'm assuming it's got something to do with the vagina.

They, like, steam it...