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I’ve spent £75k changing my body because of trolls – I even dropped SIX sizes in 10 hours after one op
LOOKING AT the ceiling as he lay in a hospital bed, 26-year-old Chad Teixeira had just woken up from intense surgery in Turkey.
In just ten hours, Chad had dropped six clothing sizes, going from a size 30 to a size 18 and lost over 35kg in weight, risking his life for the perfect body.
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As a single CEO and entrepreneur with over 13,000 followers, a man who is friends with celebrities and someone who regularly attends lavish parties and events, you would probably think that he oozes confidence.
But this is certainly not the case. has gone through a horrendous 15 years of bullying and trolling as a result of his appearance and sexuality - leading him to spend more than £75,000 on surgery to change his appearance.
Not only this, Chad risked his life with the surgeries. He flew to Turkey in the midst of the pandemic to undergo mega-liposuction. Surgeons removed 18 litres of fat in one go from Chad’s body - over three times what UK surgeons would consider safe to do in one surgery.
Bullying and the harsh pressures of social media caused a severe lack of confidence for Chad, as he told Fabulous: “100% there's a pressure to look a certain way on social media. The pressure to have that Instagram look. People are all chasing a never ending perfect. It's impossible to achieve.
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“I’ve got loads of celebrity friends [including Love Island star AJ Bunker] and I find myself comparing myself to them a lot. I’m getting papped with celebrities and I will look at myself standing next to them and compare myself.”
Chad’s first round of surgery involved mega-liposuction, a tummy tuck and a Brazilian Bum Lift (BBL).
He explained: “I was asleep for 10 hours, woke up and I was a new person. I lost a lot of blood. They literally changed the whole blood in my body, two times.”
Bullied from the age of 11 because of his sexuality and looks, Chad explained that this caused him to suffer massively with his appearance.
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Chad said: “I think being gay, looking a bit different and being larger made me a target for bullies. I stood out like a sore thumb. I was three times the size of the average kid.
“Kids would call me f****t, chubby, a fat c**t. Going to school was a nightmare. It was a continuous cycle and a constant battle. I would come home and cry to myself. It was awful. You start questioning yourself. You become your own worst enemy.”
But the bullying didn’t stop there. As social media took off, the bullying soon turned to online trolling. Chad found himself a victim of online trolling, with constant messages and comments on his Facebook and Instagram posts, from strangers, about his appearance and sexuality.
He continued: “I would get Instagram messages saying ‘you fat c**t’, things like that. That led me to delete everything off my Instagram.
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“The trolling had a massive impact on my mental health. Obviously you have your own insecurities, but I think trolling exaggerates this - it makes you realise it more.”
A study by found that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the main "hunting grounds" for trolls, with nearly four in ten people revealing that they are mocked every time they go online, with a third targeted for their physical appearance.
, a clinical Psychologist, knows all too well about the dangers of trolling. She said: “The impacts of trolling can be massive. Trolls can be pretty successful at finding things which cut right to the bone. As a result distress levels rise as mood quickly spirals downwards.”
After years of being picked apart for his appearance, Chad got to a place where enough was enough. The March 2020 lockdown hit and Chad, stuck in his Mayfair home, found it particularly difficult.
I developed a fatphobia towards myself. I was disgusted with myself.
Chad Teixeira
Chad added: “During lockdown you find yourself with a heightened sense of insecurity. I was in such a negative space, my mental health took a turn for the worst. I was stress eating, stress drinking, just looking for any coping mechanism I could find.
“I was being trolled every day. I wasn't happy with the way I felt and looked. It sent me crazy. I developed a fatphobia towards myself. I was disgusted with myself.
“I have tried every single diet you can imagine. I've had about 30 different personal trainers. I've tried everything that money can buy. It got to the point where something needed to happen.”
A Meta Company Spokesperson said: “We don’t want bullying and harassment on our platforms and have strict rules against it. We encourage people to report anything that might break our Community Guidelines”.
, an award-winning Aesthetics Practitioner said: "We have seen an increase of younger people contacting us since the first lockdown. I think that extensive time spent on social media and the opportunity for greater introspection are all factors. I feel that young people are bombarded with perfection, and it's just not an achievable reality.”
At this time, Chad was a size 30 and was fed up with the relentless trolling, but because of Chad’s size, UK surgeons were reluctant to operate on him.
He explained: “Trolling and being different is what led to the surgery. I tried to get surgery numerous times in the UK and no-one would operate on me, 30 places rejected me. They would say it was too unsafe because I was too big. Every clinic on Harley Street knows my name.
“I even tried Poland and they said no. Even in Turkey a few people turned me down. But at that point I'd cemented in my mind that I needed it. Even if it takes five pounds off, anything would have been better than the way I looked. No-one was going to stop me.”
At this point in the chat with Chad, he started to get emotional. Reliving the feelings is tough for him, as he remembers the extremely low point in his life.
But desperate to change his appearance, at just 25-years-old, Chad flew to Turkey for his first-ever surgery. Although at the time, the country was in lockdown and Turkey was on the red list, that didn’t stop him.
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Chad revealed: “I literally booked the surgery two days before I went. I had 18 litres removed which is generally considered unsafe. It’s not normal how big my surgery was, there’s a reason that 30 other doctors rejected me. That’s why I paid so much. They saw a green light. They charged me more because they knew they could, I was desperate.
“Surgery was the only option to make myself feel better about myself. But I was scared. I cried the whole way on the plane. When I got there, they couldn’t put me under (anaesthetic). I was screaming at them and crying. I was so scared, I was having a panic attack. They had to sedate me to put me under. My mum told me they were going to cut out my kidney and sell it on the Black Market - she was trying anything to stop me. She was terrified.
“I didn’t know about the aftermath, I didn’t know that I was going to swell. I didn’t think at all. I’ve got scars everywhere. All I was chasing was the body that I wanted.”
But cosmetic surgery is a booming industry. Plastic and cosmetic surgery have substantially grown in popularity since the launch of Instagram in 2010, with the number of procedures increasing from 14 million to 23 million globally.
And Chad’s cosmetic procedures didn’t stop there. Just ten days later, Chad had a full set of crowns put on his teeth. Then, in February 2022, he flew back to Turkey for another round of mega-liposuction.
He explained: “After having surgery I started to want to change smaller things so I started doing small non-surgical procedures, so Botox, hyaluronic acid injected into my face, lipo-injections all over my body, constantly. First it was surgery, then it was teeth, then it was Botox, then it was fillers. I’ve had loads of Botox in my face, I can’t move my forehead.
“I have lipo injections every week. I get my face done one week, my legs done another week. Botox every month.
“I’ve fallen in love with surgery. It’s such a quick fix. I’ve been for two surgeries now and when I woke up from the second one, the first thing I thought about was ‘What am I going to get done next?’. I’m fixated, I think surgery is like a drug.
“In my mind I am scared to take it too far. Each surgery becomes more difficult, you develop more scar tissue and it’s more painful. The second surgery was ten times more painful than the first one.”
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Dr Aamer Khan, founder of has noticed an increase in patients since lockdown. He explained: “Having more time with themselves, people are becoming more aware of how they look and what aspects of their faces and bodies they are unhappy about. Because of this, we have seen an increase in bookings for surgical and non surgical treatments.”
But having these huge surgeries and procedures hasn’t come cheap. Chad has spent “over £75k” on procedures, including £35k on surgical procedures, £6k on a full set of veneers and thousands of pounds on regular cosmetic procedures. But he doesn’t believe you can put a price on confidence.
Chad continued: “Since the surgery, the trolling and the nasty comments have definitely died down. Even the way I’m being welcomed is completely different now. People treat me completely differently.
“Growing up, I was never happy with the way I looked and never felt comfortable in my own skin. And I think now I'm starting to. I’m in a better space now, definitely still insecure and not happy with the way I look but we’re getting there.”
Chad explained that he doesn’t have a goal weight or look in mind, but that he will carry on getting surgery until he feels better about himself: “I’m ready to go back for more to Turkey, I’ve already booked an arm lift. I don’t want to go under though, so I’ll be under local anaesthesia. They’ve said it’s not safe, I’m quite scared to be honest.
“I want more lipo, you can never have enough lipo. I’d also love to get fake abs. I want to get my eyes tattooed blue, I’m looking into that now.
“I don’t know when I will feel like I’ve reached my ideal body. I just want to finally turn around in the mirror and feel happy.
“My mental health is a lot better now. I’m definitely more confident. They say money can’t buy happiness…they lied.
“However, surgery is not the solution and I wouldn’t recommend that people do it to the extreme that I did.
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“People think it's ok to express their unkind thoughts that are untrue and hurtful. I think people need to be aware of the damage of their words. People don't really think of the detrimental damage that it does to people's mental health.
“But people should learn to be more open. Had I spoken out when I was younger, this might not have happened. I regret letting myself get to such a horrible place.”
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