SHREDDED
MAKEOVER

Topics: Appearance; Beauty; Body; Discouragement; Emptiness; Self-image; Shame; Tongue; Truth

References: Genesis 1:26–27; 1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 31:30; Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 3:3–5

Deleese Williams, a woman who was promised cosmetic surgeries on Extreme Makeover that would “transform her life and destiny,” has sued the producers of the hit TV show. That dream was shattered when one of the dental surgeons reported that Williams’ recovery time would be longer than expected. She was pulled from the show the night before her surgeries were scheduled to begin and sent home to Texas.

According to the lawsuit, Williams sobbed uncontrollably when she was given the news. “How can I go back as ugly as I left?” she said, “I was supposed to come home pretty.” Wesley Cordova, an attorney for Williams, claims, “Deleese is so hurt and humiliated that she won’t leave the house now. She grocery shops at midnight.”

The lawsuit also claims that Williams’ relationship with her family has been damaged. The producers coached family members not to accept Deleese’s physical flaws and pushed them to verbally express their opinions on taped interviews—which Deleese later saw. The lawsuit claims, “Now that she returned in the same condition in which she left, there were no secrets, no hidden feelings, no rewards.”

Finally, Cordova alleges that the emotional stress of the entire situation had a tragic impact on Deleese’s sister, Kellie. “Kellie could not live with the fact that she had said horrible things that hurt her sister,” said Cordova. “She fell to pieces. Four months later, she ended her life with an overdose of pills, alcohol, and cocaine.” The lawsuit concludes, “The family is shredded. There is a human cost to this.”

—Michelle Caruso, “Extreme Tragedy,” nydailynews.com (September 18, 2005)