Secret Botox: A betrayal of trust or just a little white lie?
For eight years, Sophia* has been living a double life. She is not cheating on her husband and isn’t doing anything illegal, but her clandestine activities are something she plans with military precision to avoid getting caught.
Sophia, who is in her early 30s and lives in north London, is hiding her secret in plain sight. She is one of the hundreds of thousands of Brits who get non-surgical cosmetic treatments every year and lip filler is her beautifier of choice. But her husband doesn’t know.
Welcome to the world of cosmetic infidelity.
It started with a small amount of filler in her top lip. Then she had to go back to discreetly top it up. Before she knew it, she was hooked. She has a separate bank account, which helps cover her tracks, and she plans appointments around her husband’s football practice. She makes sure they’re first thing in the morning, in the hope the swelling will reduce by the evening. But it’s not always easy to keep it secret.
“It doesn’t matter what time of day you get lip filler, by the evening you look like a baboon’s backside,” she says.
Sophia just needs 24 hours or so for the swelling in her lips to subside, leaving her with a plump but natural-looking pout. But in that tricky transition period? “I get into bed and pretend I have period pains while covering my mouth under the duvet in the dark, with just the TV on.”
Honesty is not an option, she says, as her husband has made it clear he is against cosmetic treatments. “Or so he thinks,” she adds, recalling him telling her how pretty she looked after one procedure. “I think men assume you’ll look over-filled and I can’t be bothered to argue. I’d rather hide it, it’s a lot easier.”
Whether it’s Botox, fillers or other injectables, there are lots of Brits giving their natural beauty a helping hand with “tweakments” – but the majority, according to practitioners, are keeping it secret from their partner or other significant people in their lives. While most people in relationships tell the odd white lie here and there, is hiding the truth about cosmetic work a betrayal of trust – or is it a case of your body, your business?
Justifying the money was one of the reasons given by the secret tweakers we spoke to. Injectables don’t come cheap in a cost of living crisis, with the NHS saying prices vary from about £100 to £350, depending on the clinic and the area being treated.
There’s also societal pressure, especially on women, to look effortlessly wrinkle-free – but do this naturally, please. And so the occasional post-treatment bump or bruise might be blamed on children, pets or cupboard doors – one woman even convinced her husband he had injured her in his sleep.
Once a preserve of the rich and famous, an estimated 900,000 Botox injections are now carried out in the UK each year, according to the government. Skin boosters, which hydrate and add moisture, are also growing in popularity, and a recent report in a British plastic surgery journal predicted the UK injectables market will reach a value of £11.7bn by 2026.
The world is becoming more open about it, with influencers often filming their treatments to show how it all works. Love Island star Zara McDermott and former Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh are among the British influencers who have been open about their injectables.
And yet, for many of those investing in these treatments there is still a stigma attached to it.
Pamela*, a 34-year-old mum from southwest London, has Botox in her forehead and between her eyebrows. For years, she kept it secret from her husband, including when they lived abroad in a country where treatments weren’t always up to scratch.
“Sometimes my husband would look at me like he knew something was different but he couldn’t identify what,” she says. “And these were not good Botox jobs either.” On one occasion, she says she was left looking like Dr Spock. “My eyebrows shot up… it was so bad, an absolute shocker.”
Still, even with vampiric brows, she managed to hide it. Her husband had previously told her she would be wasting money and that she “didn’t need it”. So she always paid cash. “I couldn’t leave a trail,” she explains.
Once after a less successful trip to her injector she was left with bruising so bad that no amount of make-up could cover it up. “I convinced my husband he’d elbowed me in the middle of the night and given me a black eye,” she says. “He felt so bad about it.”
Dr Rina Bajaj, a London-based relationship and counselling psychologist, says honest communication is crucial in any relationship – but individuals also have the right to make choices about their bodies.
“In relationships that value individual freedom and independence, these choices may be seen as personal and not necessarily shared information,” she says. But, in a different kind of relationship, one partner discovering the other has been keeping cosmetic procedures a secret can break trust.”
Understanding the motivations behind the secrecy is important, she adds, as if fear of judgement or negative reactions from a partner is a driving factor, it could be indicative of underlying issues.
But fellow behavioural psychologist and relationship coach Jo Hemmings says keeping small cosmetic procedures secret from a partner is an omission rather than a lie. “It’s not a betrayal of trust because you’re doing it for yourself,” she says. “You’re not deceiving somebody else in the way you would be if you were cheating.”
Even the A-listers are doing it. Oscar-winner Olivia Colman has previously said she tried Botox and “LOVED IT” in an interview with The Times in 2015, but admitted to initially keeping it from her husband. “For about six months he kept saying, ‘Hello, Pretty!’,” she told the newspaper. When she eventually told him, “he found it hilarious”.
Botox and other skin boosters remain a complicated issue for many. For every influencer, beauty journalist or celebrity speaking openly about their cosmetic work, there are more insisting their never-ageing faces are down to the magic formula of drinking lots of water and mindfulness.
Paula*, a 43-year-old mum from Hertfordshire, started getting Botox for her “Gordon Ramsay” frown lines after discovering some friends had been doing it “for years”. After her first treatment, she was nervous her husband would notice, but he didn’t. “I panic every time but he’s not the most observant.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Anna, 40, is open about her Botox and fillers with her husband but doesn’t volunteer the information to friends. “I try not to do the school run for the next couple of days,” she says. “Maybe because I’m a mum, there’s a kind of pressure to dress a certain way and not enhance yourself.”
While practitioners say it is more common for women to keep their treatments hidden, there are a fair few male patients telling white lies about their beauty habits.
Simon*, a 60-year-old man who lives in the home counties, has been with his partner for 24 years. In that time, he has had a cocktail of treatments, including Botox, fillers and BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift), as well as tightening and fat-reducing procedures.
It’s a lot to keep quiet about, but he wants his partner to think his youthful looks are all down to his healthy lifestyle. Is he ever worried about him finding out? “Not at all, blind as a bat.”
But it’s not just his partner he keeps it secret from. “Everyone,” he says. “It all looks so natural and I don’t have giveaway scars round my ears or missing bits of my face. They just think it’s the Peloton and smoothies.”
Euan Mackinnon, a maxillofacial surgeon and aesthetic doctor who treats cosmetic patients at The Lovely Clinic, has been carrying out tweakments for more than 10 years and says about 70% of clients are keeping it secret from someone.
“There’s a lot of people who are worried about being found out by a partner,” he says. It is usually women not wanting their husband or boyfriend discovering their secret, because men will give examples of celebrity horror stories, not realising there are hundreds for whom it has gone well. Men fear their partners looking caricature-like, “with overly inflated lips or frozen foreheads”, he adds. “In reality, that’s not what we do at all.”
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Patients will often tell him excuses they have given for any temporary bruising that might occur immediately after injections. “You do what you’ve got to do to get through those first few days. But most treatments don’t lead to significant bruising.”
On a more serious note, patients are worried about being judged, he says. “Partners might make them feel like they’re being silly or being vain… But you shouldn’t feel shameful if you look in the mirror and you just don’t like something… if there’s a very safe solution to that problem then why not make yourself feel good?”
There are also contradictory societal pressures, he says: age gracefully, but don’t age. “It seems to be a success to look incredibly good and have had nothing done because you’re winning at life, and if you have some help along the way it’s seen by some as cheating or a weakness – which it’s obviously not.”
And there is a difference across generations. Younger millennials have grown up watching influencers filming from their beauty beds as the needles go in, and are more likely to view cosmetic treatments as self-care. Older millennials, Gen X-ers and Boomers are more likely to keep it private.
“But it’s not just a vanity project,” Mr Mackinnon adds. “I’m constantly seeing patients who tell me their confidence has improved – ‘I got this promotion’, ‘I took the plunge with something’ – it can change everything for them.”
Lee Garrett, advanced aesthetic nurse practitioner and prescriber and clinical lead at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, carries out about 3,000 treatments a year and has more than 20 years’ experience in the field.
He agrees it is common for patients to keep treatments secret from partners, and work colleagues as well – some have even told him that working in a very young environment makes them worry about their looks and being “pushed out by a younger version”.
Secret or no secret, both Mr Mackinnon and Mr Garrett agree the most important thing is to do your research and go to a healthcare professional. “Avoid at all costs people who say they can do it cheap,” says Mr Garrett. “They can, but they are not qualified, not insured and so when it goes badly wrong, you’re on your own.”
And if that happens, the secret definitely will be out.
Meanwhile, Sophia is hoping to get beauty vouchers for Christmas to cover her next lot of secret lip filler. Last time, her husband thought he was gifting her a facial. “He asked me how it went and I responded, ‘really relaxing, thank you!'”
Cosmetic infidelity, it seems, is a hard habit to shake.
*Names have been changed
UK
Russia trying to ‘bully’ UK and allies with attacks under threshold of all-out war, MI6 chief says
Russia is trying to “bully, fearmonger and manipulate” the UK and its allies with attacks under the threshold of all-out war, the new head of MI6 has said.
Blaise Metreweli, the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), said Britain was “operating in a space between peace and war” and that everyone has a responsibility to understand the dangers because “the frontline is everywhere”.
In her first big speech on Monday, she also focused on Vladimir Putin’s devastating war in Ukraine, accusing him of “dragging out negotiations” on a peace deal and warning that Kyiv’s fate is “fundamental not just to European sovereignty and security but to global security”.
Offering her view on the evolution of global security threats, Ms Metreweli underlined the transformative role of technology, from artificial intelligence to quantum computing.
She said control over such advanced technologies is shifting from states to corporations and even individuals, making the balance of global power more “diffuse, more unpredictable”.
The spymaster did not name anyone.
Blaise Metreweli. Pic: PA
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Is time running out for peace plan?
However, innovators such as Elon Musk are becoming increasingly influential, with their technologies such as his Starlink satellites and his social media site X.
The boss of MI6 was speaking at her agency’s headquarters in London, though she said that the main work of her spies was carried “many miles away from this place – out of sight, hidden from the world, undercover, recruiting and running agents who choose to place their trust in us, sharing secrets to make the UK and the world safer”.
She warned the world was “more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades”.
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The spy chief said: “Conflict is evolving and trust eroding, just as new technologies spur both competition and dependence.
“We are being contested from sea to space – from the battlefield to the boardroom. And even our brains as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves… We are now operating in a space between peace and war.
“This is not a temporary state or a gradual evolution. Our world is being actively remade with profound implications for national and international security.”
Breaking with a tradition by previous chiefs of offering a view on a range of threats when speaking publicly, Ms Metreweli said she was choosing to focus on Russia.
“We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO,” she said.
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Ukrainian MP: Who will stop Putin?
On the conflict, she said Putin was “dragging out negotiations and shifting the cost of war on to his own population”.
Her comments come as Donald Trump is attempting to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, told Sky News in an interview earlier this month that he believed Putin was using the US push for negotiations as “cover” while Russian troops attempted to seize more land by force.
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The Wargame returns with new episodes
The MI6 boss said the UK’s support for Ukraine would endure regardless of Moscow’s stalling actions.
She also flagged a growing wave of “grey zone” hostilities – deliberately carried out under the threshold of conventional armed conflict – that she attributed to Moscow.
“It’s important to understand their [Russia’s] attempts to bully, fearmonger and manipulate because it affects us all,” she said.
“I am talking about cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. Drones buzzing airports and bases. Aggressive activity in our seas, above and below the waves. State-sponsored arson and sabotage. Propaganda and influence operations that crack open and exploit fractures within societies.”
Germany’s President Steinmeier with President Zelenskyy in Berlin on Monday. Pic: Reuters
While she did not specify any particular incidents, there have been a spate of mysterious drone sightings in Denmark, Germany and Sweden; while a Russian spy ship was spotted off the coast of Scotland and acts of arson and sabotage have been carried out in the UK, such as a blaze at a warehouse in east London that was providing aid to Ukraine.
Drawing attention to another method to attack a country and its people, Ms Metreweli underlined how information is being weaponised, with falsehoods spread online that are designed to erode trust in a society and amplify divisions.
“The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in this Russian approach to international engagement and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus,” she said.
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NATO boss: ‘Conflict is at our door’
MI6, she said, is adapting to respond to the evolving threats.
But unusually Ms Metroweli also said the wider British public had a role to play, such as with schools helping to educate children to spot disinformation on social media and to check sources of news “and be alive to those algorithms that trigger intense reactions like fear”.
She added: “It also means everyone in society really understanding the world we are in – a world where… the frontline is everywhere. Online, on our streets, in our supply chains, in the minds and on the screens of our citizens.”
Building on the success of the highly acclaimed podcast The Wargame, Sky News presents The Wargame: Decoded – a one-off live event that takes you deep inside the minds of the wargame’s participants. Discover how they tackled the toughest challenges, the decisions they made under intense pressure, and even experience key moments of the game for yourself.
Click here to get tickets.
Sky News’ Deborah Haynes will guide the conversation with Sir Ben Wallace, Robert Johnson, Jack Straw, Amber Rudd, Keir Giles and General Sir Richard Barrons – real-life military chiefs, former government officials and leading experts. Together, they will unpack their experiences inside The Wargame, revealing the uncertainty, moral dilemmas and real-world pressures faced by those who must make decisions when the nation is under threat.
Join us for this unique event exploring how the UK might respond in a moment of national crisis and get a rare, unfiltered glimpse into how prepared the country truly is for war.
A “hero” pedestrian climbed into the car of Liverpool parade attacker Paul Doyle and stopped him, a court has heard.
Doyle, who used a car as a “weapon” to plough through more than 100 people celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League title win, told officers “I’ve just ruined my family’s life”, the court heard.
The sentencing hearing was told the 54-year-old was “in a rage” and his “anger had completely taken hold of him”.
Doyle is due to be sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 31 offences relating to seriously injuring people during the victory parade on 26 May.
Doyle, described as a “family man” by prosecutors, wept as footage of the horrific rampage was shown to the city’s crown court several times on Monday.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, described the actions of Daniel Barr, who he called the “hero” of the day.
Emergency services at the scene. Pic: AP
Mr Barr, an ex-soldier, had “bravely” jumped into the back of Doyle’s Ford Galaxy and placed the vehicle into park.
He was walking up Water Street when he noted the defendant’s Ford Galaxy in the distance, said Mr Greaney, noting the crowd’s attitude changed from “joyous to desperate”.
Doyle’s vehicle then stopped next to Mr Barr “all of a sudden”.
“Daniel Barr instinctively pulled open the rear passenger-side door and climbed in. He did so with the intention of stopping the driver,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Barr leaned forward and moved the gear into “park” and “held it as hard as he could”.
Mr Greaney added: “The Galaxy did not stop immediately, but in the end it did.”
The prosecutor said police officers forced Doyle into a police van after the attack.
This, he said, was done “in the midst of a hostile crowd”, adding that officers’ behaviour was both “brave and effective”.
When Doyle was securely in the van, Mr Greaney said police body-worn camera footage picked up him saying: “I’ve just ruined my family’s life.”
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Doyle admitted dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent, and three counts of wounding with intent last month.
He had previously denied the offences, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months old and 77 years old.
Forensic officers at the scene in Water Street.
Pic: PA
The court was shown dashcam footage taken from the defendant’s car showing the attack.
Mr Greaney warned the court: “What we are about to display on the screens is truly shocking.”
There were audible gasps in the courtroom as the footage played.
Doyle could be heard repeatedly shouting at pedestrians to “move out the f****** way” as he drove through crowds.
Consistently using his vehicle’s horn, people could be seen trying to jump out of the way, with some forced on to the bonnet of the car.
“F****** pr****,” Doyle shouts as the footage continues.
By the end of the footage, people begin to attempt to run up to the vehicle.
When the car stops, one man shouts, “get the f*** out of the car”.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Greaney also detailed some of the injuries sustained by victims on the day of the attack.
One woman, aged 66, spent four nights in hospital after breaking six ribs and suffering fractures to her fingers on her left hand and her left wrist.
Another woman, aged 77 at the time, spent 27 days in hospital.
The prosecutor said she suffered a fractured left forearm, fractured left collar bone, three fractured ribs, a fractured pelvis, a broken nose, as well as multiple abrasions and bruising to her head, knees and back.
Another victim, who was 17, suffered bruising to their legs, shoulder and had a small fracture to their tibia.
After suffering wound infections, it took two months before the victim regained mobility, the prosecutor added.
Mr Greaney said some people at the scene on 26 May “thought that what was taking place was a terrorist attack”.
However, the prosecution ruled out that the defendant’s actions were “driven by ideology”.
Police investigations showed there was no problem with the vehicle, and Doyle was completely sober and “free of all drugs”, Mr Greaney said.
“The truth is a simple one – Paul Doyle just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to.
“In a rage, he drove into the crowd,” he added.
Doyle was arrested at the scene in Water Street just after 6pm and charged later that week.
The youngest victim was six-month-old Teddy Eveson, whose parents later told media he was thrown about 15ft down the road in his pram when the crash happened.
Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the baby.
Five other children, whom Doyle either injured or attempted to injure, cannot be named for legal reasons.
A five-day strike involving tens of thousands of doctors in England will go ahead as planned, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.
The union said its resident doctor members had rejected the government’s offer to call off the strikes, and will stop work between 17 and 22 December.
Announcing the move, the BMA said 83.2% of those who took part in a poll rejected the offer, with a turnout of 65.34%.
The news comes after NHS England said it was facing the “worst case scenario” following a rise in flu cases of more than 55% in a week. Hospitals in England are said to be facing record levels of the disease for the time of year.
Live updates: Doctors to strike
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Streeting: ‘BMA made totally unrealistic demand’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused the union of “shocking disregard for patient safety” for choosing to stage a walkout “to inflict damage on the NHS at the moment of maximum danger”.
He said the strikes were “self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous” – and said doctors would be “abandoning” patients.
Mr Streeting said the BMA had refused to postpone strikes to January and “help patients and other NHS staff cope over Christmas”. “There is no need for these strikes to go ahead this week, and it reveals the BMA’s shocking disregard for patient safety,” he added.
But the BMA said the strike was “still entirely avoidable” and that it was “willing to work to find a solution”.
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BMA: ‘Strikes are still avoidable’
BMA resident doctors committee chair Dr Jack Fletcher said: “The health secretary should now work with us in the short time we have left to come up with a credible offer to end this jobs crisis and avert the real terms pay cuts he is pushing in 2026.”
The union said it remained “committed to ensuring patient safety” and it would be in “close contact” with NHS England during the strike action to “address safety concerns if they arise”.
The government’s offer had included a fast expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees.
It did not include extra pay, but had offered to extend the union’s strike mandate to enable any walkout to be rescheduled to January.
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Mutated virus is behind flu surge
‘Abandoning patients in hour of greatest need’
Mr Streeting said the strike “goes against everything” a medical career is about.
He said: “The government’s offer would have halved competition for jobs and put more money in resident doctors’ pockets, but the BMA has again rejected it because it doesn’t meet their ask of a further 26% pay rise.
“Resident doctors have already had a 28.9% pay rise – there is no justification for striking just because this fantasy demand has not been met.
“I am appealing to ordinary resident doctors to go to work this week. There is a different magnitude of risk in striking at this moment.
“Abandoning your patients in their hour of greatest need goes against everything a career in medicine is meant to be about.”
Hospital leaders said the strike would come as the NHS “needs all hands on deck” – and called the action “bitterly disappointing”.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This vote is a bitter pill which will inevitably result in harm to patients and damage to the NHS.
“We had hoped that the government’s recent updated offer would be enough to head off another walkout at a time when so many people are suffering with flu, and the NHS needs all hands on deck.”
Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: “It is bitterly disappointing that the BMA has rejected this offer and chosen to continue with hugely disruptive strikes.”
Public support for the strikes is low, according to a YouGov poll released last week.
The results showed 58% of those asked either somewhat or strongly opposed the industrial action, while 33% somewhat or strongly supported it.
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