A CHELMSFORD woman has spent nearly £20,000 trying to look like her idol Kim Kardashian after years of being told she was ugly by school bullies.
Claire Leeson, 24, has racked up bills of £18,000 having breast enhancement surgery, her teeth whitened, and hair extensions, all in an attempt to look like the American reality star after being bullied to the extent that she "didn't want to be alive anymore".
Now the lookalike is facing credit card debts of around £6,500 as she continues to spend thousands on clothes, make-up and even bum padding to "get her Kimmy on".
"At the moment I feel that what I'm doing might not be right but it's what I feel is best for me at the time, because when I get my Kimmy on I feel that I'm unstoppable and I'm untouchable and no one can stop me in my tracks," said Claire, who appeared on ITV show This Morning and in several magazines.
Claire, who first began her transformation when she was just 17, said she didn't even watch the show 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' until friends told her how much she looked like its star Kim.
"I watched the show and realised I have the same amount of siblings as Kim, I realised that also we had the same kind of arguments and I really thought she was just so beautiful," added Claire, who went to Hylands School.
"I feel that sometimes I look at Kim so much and I just want to be exactly like her because sometimes I feel like I'm not fully confident all the time inside myself.
"I sort of feel like in one way I'm living in a fantasy, I'm living in a dream world and even though the dream world isn't really real, it's real enough for me."
Badly bullied while at school Claire said it took her ten years to shrug off the taunts that she was the "ugliest thing alive" and now believes the experiences give her even greater solidarity with her idol.
"I was so badly bullied to the point where I didn't want to be alive anymore and my life was hell," she said.
"I was told every day that I was the ugliest thing alive and that I should possibly actually kill myself.
"I don't think people realise that it actually has such a damaging effect on your mental state of mind for the rest of your life," added Claire, who is now considering fat implants in her bottom to replicate Kim's famous rear.
"Kim experiences quite a lot of Twitter trolls and they attack her verbally and call her horrible names that I remember being called myself and because I can see that I can relate to it, I try to give her as much support as possible because she is my idol."
Now with debts mounting and letters from bailiffs building up, Claire, who is currently living in London, has admitted being unable to resist spending more and more cash on her transformation.
She said: "I do work but the job I do doesn't pay as much... so it's credit cards and debts up to my eyeballs.
"I've had bailiff letters, but I just ignore them and I say to myself that I will pay them, but as soon as money comes in I just think about getting my Kimmy on."
