OFF HER CHEST
I splashed £4k fixing my ‘Frankenstein’ boobs… I couldn’t leave the house after ditching implants, says Jess Impiazzi
The TV star also reveals how she is finally happy after meeting The One and wants to start a family...
FORMER glamour model Jess Impiazzi has experienced more heartbreak in the last three years, than most do in a lifetime.
In July 2022, the 35-year-old Ex On The Beach star lost her dad Colin, 70, to lung cancer.
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The next March, Jess was told she was going through early menopause, and would have to endure IVF - before being diagnosed with Lupus six months later.
She then split from her love rat ex, Jermaine Pennant at the beginning of this year, when he cheated on her.
While this was all going on, Jess was feeling "like Frankenstein," having ditched the breast implants she'd had since she was 18, believing they were making her ill.
"I didn't want to go out. I didn't want to leave the house - I felt horrible," Jess tells us in an exclusive interview.
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“I’ve had implants since I was 18 - I was completely flat chested, and when I had them taken out, I felt like Frankenstein.
“I felt so insecure - I never felt so low in my life, and not just because of that, but also the break-up, the illness, the fertility and my dad dying."
Earlier this year, after consulting her doctor, Jess decided to take the plunge and go under the knife once more.
In May, she splashed out £4,000 on another boob job, taking her back up to a C cup, which she's happy with.
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She says: "I didn’t think there could be any more hits over those two years, and I spoke to my surgeon, and we summed up what had gone on in my body and I was prepared to risk going over the muscle again.
“I had to have something because after everything I’d been through, I couldn’t get any lower if I tried.
Jess Impiazzi reveals new 'normal' job after string of reality shows
“I had everything taken out, I just needed something."
Speaking about her multiple surgeries, she adds with a laugh: “It’s not very cost effective, that’s for sure.”
Thought she was dying
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Jess was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition Lupus in July last year.
But her crippling symptoms, including painful rashes, started in January 2023, a month after she had her breast implants replaced when one of them ruptured.
Her hair also started falling out and, on one terrifying occasion, she coughed up blood.
Speaking to the Sun on Sunday last September, she recalled how she broke down in tears to her then-boyfriend, former footballer Jermaine, telling him: “I think I might be dying.”
I was tired all the time, aching all over and then this angry rash appeared on my chest and face. One day I started coughing up blood...I thought it was stomach cancer.
Jess Impiazzi
She said at the time: “My body was just completely failing me and I couldn’t get any answers.
“I was tired all the time, aching all over and then this angry rash appeared on my chest and face.
“One day I started coughing up blood, which was incredibly scary. I thought it was stomach cancer.”
In November, she was diagnosed with Lupus, and feared her condition could be linked to her latest boob surgery and her breast implants removed in October last year.
She says: “There were a lot of groups online about breast implant illness, and I followed all that.
“I thought they were causing my lupus, but they weren’t as I’d had them since I was 18, so it was a bit strange that they’d caused an illness suddenly.
“Turns out it wasn’t the implants, it was lupus.”
IVF and cheating ex
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At the same time, she was trying to get pregnant through IVF after struggling to conceive with then-boyfriend Jermaine, 41.
Speaking now, at The Orange Ball, in aid of men’s mental health charity, Humen at Nobu Hotel, London, Jess says: “We went straight to IVF because I was told I was going through the menopause, and I wasn’t – I had lupus which had been undiagnosed.
“That was a whole year of doing IVF and not knowing I had lupus which was causing the reason for IVF.
"There were all these problems, and it just got too much.”
What is Lupus?
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. This can result in inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs.
It can occur at any age but is most often diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 45, and is more common in women than men.
Symptoms:
- Fatigue
- Joint pain and swelling
- Skin rashes, particularly a butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose
- Fever
- Hair loss
- Sensitivity to sunlight
- Mouth ulcers
- Swelling in the legs or around the eyes
Diagnosis: Diagnosing lupus can be challenging as its symptoms often mimic those of other conditions. It typically involves a combination of blood tests, urine tests, and clinical evaluation of symptoms.
Treatment: While there is no cure for lupus, treatments are available to control symptoms. These may include anti-inflammatory medications, corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and lifestyle changes such as a balanced diet and regular exercise.
Jess ended her two-year relationship with Jermaine after he spent the night with a dominatrix while on a raucous stag do in Ibiza last year.
And she says of her ex: “He added lots of stress. I wish him all the best though.
"There is always going to be people you’re supposed to be with, and people you’re not supposed to be with.
“Everyone is a lesson or a blessing, and if it hadn’t been how it was, I’d never have met Sam.
'The One'
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Jess met her new partner Formula E driver Sam Bird, 37, just 24 hours after joining the celebrity dating app Raya.
She says: “He was the only person I clicked on, and he had these lovely blue eyes, so I thought, I’ll click on him.
"He matched me back, so I gave him my [phone] number, and then I got the hump because I thought, I don’t want to be on this app, so I deleted it.
When I look back at pictures last year, I looked like I was dying, genuinely. Now, I’ve got a lot of love and support around me, and happiness brings out the best in anyone.”
Jess Impiazzi
“He rang me the next day – he didn't even message me – he just called me, and I was like, ‘Who is this?’ I didn’t expect it, because in this day and age, people don’t talk any more."
They had their first date at the Ivy Asia in Guilford, in February - and have been smitten since.
She adds: “I’ve never met someone who I click with like this.
"I don’t have to worry about him, and I don’t have any insecurities around him, and I’ve never had a relationship like this before.
"I never knew it existed, until now, so I’m really excited.”
But she admits she initially kept their romance under wraps.
Jess explains: “I wanted to make sure he was the right one. It was very apparent early that he was, but I’ve been hoodwinked before.
"He’s just so consistent, so kind and loving. He’s just everything I could ever have dreamed of.
“He’s the opposite of what I’ve ever gone out with, but I’m obsessed with him. I absolutely love him.”
New beginnings
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The loved up pair are now planning to move in together.
Jess says: “We’ve looked at a place in Hampshire, so in between Surrey and Sandbanks. My mum loves him.
"His dad is nearly 80, and he’s one of my best friends. I didn’t know this existed and I feel like the luckiest woman on earth.”
And they're even planning to start a family next year, hopeful they will be able to conceive when they start trying.
She says: “One hundred per cent we will have a family together. He is The One – I have found The One, and I’ve never been confident to say that about anyone before, but he is The One.
"My last tests showed that all my hormones’ levels had gone back to normal which is unbelievable, because I was told I was going through menopause.
“The medicine I’m on has really helped to get my lupus under control. The mediation is very strong, and it can have really horrible side effects, but at the minute, I’m in a really good place.
“I’m on a certain medication which is what you’d take if you’d had a kidney transplant, and I’m also on a malaria drug and I have to take them for the rest of my life.
“Thankfully, it’s got rid of the disease because at one point I couldn’t even move. I was in chronic pain with rashes everywhere and swollen eye sockets.”
And asked if she had any other work done, Jess replies: “No, I just think it’s happiness, because when I look back at pictures last year, I looked like I was dying, genuinely.
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“I’ve got a lot of love and support around me, and happiness brings out the best in anyone.”
Jess spoke exclusively at The Orange Ball, in aid of men’s mental health charity, Humen at Nobu Hotel, London.
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