MILLIONS of women were once fearfully asking “does my bum look big in this?”
That was until a big behind became all the rage in the mid-2010s and having a larger-than-life backside was deemed sexy and attractive.
And with that came an increase in the number of women choosing to cheat their way to the seemingly perfect posterior.
A record 40,320 women had buttock augmentation procedures in 2020, according to figures released in 2022 by The Aesthetic Society.
The appeal of a big bum is thought to have been fuelled by Instagram and the 'Kardashian effect', which saw young women trying desperately to replicate the reality TV sisters' looks.
What Ola and James Jordan really ate and did to shed 7st
The most common bottom-enhancing procedure is the controversial Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) which involves injecting fat from other parts of the body into the bottom to give a more rounded or lifted look.
Controversial because the surgery carries the highest risk of all cosmetic procedures - with more than one in 4,000 resulting in death.
Despite the dangers, BBLs are the fastest-growing type of cosmetic surgery, says the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) - and its popularity is increasing by a staggering 20% year-on-year.
And while some women are still scrambling around to find the thousands to be able to afford one - the average cost for a BBL in the UK is £6,000 to £12,000 - the tide is in fact turning.
The procedure has fallen out of favour amongst A to Z-listers, with many who have had the surgery trying to reverse the look.
And some celebrities are refreshingly open and honest about regretting having it done in the first place.
Ozempic accusations
Arguably the pioneer of the BBL craze, the Kim Kardashian rumours that she is trying to reduce her famously big bum have been swirling since 2022.
And the main theory is that she could be using Ozempic.
Ozempic is a weight-loss injection drug, usually injected weekly. It was originally created to treat type-2 diabetes, which helps lower blood sugar by helping the pancreas make more insulin.
For weight loss, it works by sending molecules to the brain to give that 'full' feeling, as well as slowing down digestion.
I’m a fitness pro & everyone makes the same mistake when trying to lose weight
A slew of stars, including Sharon Osbourne and Kelly Clarkson, have admitted to using it to slim down.
While others have lost vast amounts of weight over the last two years - which coincides with the time the drug exploded onto the market as a tool to lose weight.
Kim, 43, has always denied having surgery on her bum - and in 2011, on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, she had her famously big backside scanned to ‘prove’ she didn’t have implants.
Kim never had implants - it was a fat transfer into her butt.
Kardashian Source
Fans first noticed Kim’s shrinking bottom in August 2021 after the star posed in tight leggings for an Instagram snap - and it’s been getting smaller ever since.
Docs believe its rapid reduction is thanks to Ozempic injections, which LA-based top cosmetic surgeon Dr Gary Motykie 'confirmed' Kim has been getting following the Met Gala in May.
“Waist by Ozempic! Her waistline looks thinner than we've seen before,” he told MailOnline.
“Ozempic can be an easy way to lose weight for a specific event, like the Met Gala.”
Friends of Kim revealed in July 2022 that she had plans to get rid of her famous bum in favour of a smaller posterior.
“Kim never had implants - it was a fat transfer into her butt,” a source told The Sun.
“She had it topped up every so often throughout her marriage to Kanye [West] but now she’s over that look.
“She’s stopped getting the transfers and letting it decrease naturally as she loses weight.”
Boozer to Fitness Guru
Holly Hagan shot to fame in 2011 as a cast member of boozy MTV show Geordie Shore where she famously drank alcohol and gorged on kebabs for weeks on end during filming.
Now, the 31-year-old has re-branded herself as a nutrition and fitness guru and is using her newfound expertise to “naturally” reverse not one, but THREE BBLs.
In 2016, she had her first but she wasn't satisfied with the result and ended up flying to Turkey for a second one.
She paid £5,000 for the second procedure - a third of what it usually costs in the UK - but said it wasn’t worth it as she was left scared and covered in blood after the operation.
She underwent a third BBL in January 2017, her third op in less than a year, which she recalls as being a “really low time”.
Since welcoming her first child in summer last year with footballer Jacob Blyth, Holly has dedicated herself to “naturally” reversing her BBL through exercise.
She has bravely documented the process on TikTok.
“The point is I’m having to live with the saggy deflated bag of jelly I have left for a bum and there’s no way I’m going through more surgery to attempt to fix it so I will live with my mistakes,” she said.
At just ten months post baby, Holly managed to “shrink” her bum to 41 inches from a whopping 50 inches through exercise.
According to her fitness app Team Fitty, her fitness regime includes a range of walking, ab exercises, resistance training and intense ten minute tabatas.
I’m having to live with the saggy deflated bag of jelly I have left for a bum
Holly Hagan
Tabata is a type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that involves 20 seconds of exercise at maximum effort, followed by ten seconds of rest.
“I know what I’m doing,” Holly said. “This is just science.”
Back under the knife
Reality TV star Lateysha Grace, who shot to fame on The Valleys, MTV's Welsh version of Geordie Shore, had her BBL reversed in May.
The mum-of-two went to Turkey, the UK’s most popular health tourism destination, to undergo reversal surgery after feeling like she looked “ridiculous”.
“I’ve been wanting to get it for a long time,” she revealed on TikTok. “But I thought let me just try and do it the natural way.
“I lost two-and-a-half stone, I went to the gym everyday - and no matter what I done, no matter how much weight I lost, it just would not shift from my hips.”
Surgeons typically use liposuction to reverse BBL surgery, removing the fat which was added to create the desired rounder effect.
But according to experts at Harley Street plastic surgery clinic CREO, the ability to reverse a BBL is dependent on the surgical techniques used in the initial procedure.
“If the fat is placed above the gluteal muscle, as is safest to do, it can simply be removed with liposuction to reduce the volume,” Clinical Director Dr Omar Tillo wrote in a blog.
“However, if fat was injected into or below the gluteal muscle, it is considered too dangerous to remove as there is a risk of damaging the muscles.”
The gluteal muscles are the large group of muscles that make up the bum area.
Lateysha, 31, is yet to provide an update or share the results of her reversal surgery.
