Married at First Sight Australia’s Jessika Power is no stranger to cosmetic enhancements. She’s been open in the past about having her smile transformed with expensive porcelain veneers, and is almost as famous for her trout pout (the result of lip fillers) as she is for her husband-swapping antics on the show.
But since her break-up with Daniel Webb she has had more work done – and says she’s not done yet.
It’s been a rocky road for Jess since filming of the show finished. She tried to make a go of it with Dan outside of the experiment – even vowing to wait for him as he faced jail time for fraud. But after the dramatic season finale aired, Jess’ lies about pursuing fellow MAFS participant Nic came back to haunt her.
The fledgling couple had an awkward fight on live television and then decided to go their separate ways.
Watch: Jess and Dan’s dramatic fight on live television. Article continues below.
A messy break-up and intense public attention and criticism has taken its toll on the usually confident 27-year-old.
“I’ve spent the past 2 weeks trying to really pull myself out of the dark place I was left when Dan and I split,” Jess recently revealed on Instagram. “It was unexpected and very public and honestly it shattered my mental health.”
“I’ve felt sad and alone a lot also but I’m picking myself up and I’ve learnt to take each day slowly and not rush (this has been hard for me) I’m not 100% yet but I’ll get there.”
One of the things that has helped “lift” her has been tweaking her appearance.
Speaking to NW magazine, Jess admits to having spent $25,000 AUD ($26,500 NZD) on cosmetic surgery procedures since her break-up with Dan.
They include having new porcelain veneers fitted by celebrity dentist De Dee. “Lots of pain but all worth it,” she says. She also had a brow lift, botox and fillers in her cheeks.
“The brow lift I had done because I suffer from bags under my eyes – a brow lift lifts the skin under the eye and takes away that look. I think I always looked tired on MAFS,” she says.
“I also got Botox in the forehead and in lines across my head from sun exposure, then I got the smallest amount of filler in my cheeks. It’s done wonders. I was losing volume in my face on the left-hand side, so it looks more even now.”
A fresh faced Jessika before she went on MAFS, and Jessika during her time on the show.
She also got the fillers in her lips dissolved so she can start from scratch and have them done again.
But she’s not done yet. Jess reveals she plans to have a non surgical nose job as well as lipo-sculpture on her thighs and buttocks.
“I’m not fat,” she says, “but I’m not in the proportion I want to be in… I hit the internet looking for the fastest way to rectify the problem and came across Brazilian butt lifts. The results looked amazing.”
“I know I don’t have the willpower to exercise my problem off,” she admits.
Jess and Dan decided to commit to one another at the final vows, but it all started to fall apart after the reunion episode.
Finding herself under the microscope after her appearance on MAFS had an impact on her self-esteem.
“Watching myself back on TV, I feel insecure about my chin and lips. I’m a confident girl, but having tens of thousands of people criticise me each day has shaken me to the core. I felt like I had heaps wrong with me afterwards.
“People laughed at me and made memes and I was ridiculed. It never drove me to tears because the hate didn’t affect me, but when they’d point out specific body parts that needed work, I’d stop and think.”
Social media has exasperated the problem. “I block and delete trolls,” she says. “My block list is disgusting – maybe 400 people long. I block at least 15 per day!”
Jess also reveals that she felt insecure because Dan’s exes were so attractive.
“Dan’s exes were all beautiful, including a Playboy Bunny. I looked at pictures of her, then looked at myself and thought, “I look boring.” I felt so plain.
“He never made me feel insecure, but he’d talk about how all of his female friends own beauty bars. He would get Botox done on his forehead too and I felt like I had to keep up with him.”
Despite the hard time she’s had since appearing on the show, she’s not done with reality television.
“Sign me up!” she says when asked if she’d consider going on another dating show. “Reality TV has really helped me grow into an adult. I lacked empathy on MAFS – I take a step back now, instead of reacting immediately to negative feedback. With The Bachelorette, dating 12 guys at once doesn’t sound too bad!
