TMZ reports: Botox mom made it all up for the money
Update as of 2:47 p.m: TMZ has updated its story saying that The Sun “strongly denies any suggestion it solicited or knowingly published a false story regarding Kerry Campbell and her daughter….”
“U.K. newspaper The Sun is ADAMANTLY denying it scripted a fake Botox Mom story for Sheena Upton aka Kerry Campbell — and claims they only published the story after a reporter WATCHED the woman inject her daughter…”
“But The Sun says it didn’t even break the story — claiming they received it from a ‘reputable UK news agency’ — and the reporter from the agency ‘watched Ms. Campbell administering what appeared to be Botox to her daughter and provided compelling photographs.’ ”
The British paper is considering legal action.
Original report from this morning:
TMZ is reporting this morning that the Botox mom now says she made the whole story up for the money and never gave her daughter Botox, nor waxed her and is actually not in pageants either. Although apparently the girl in the story is really her daughter.
“TMZ has obtained a sworn declaration written by Sheena Upton, who claims she was recently approached by the British tabloid, The Sun, and asked “to play the role of Kerry Campbell” for a story called “I Give My 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox.”
“Upton now confesses The Sun paid her $200 adding, “I was provided with the story, instructions and a script to follow for a recorded interview.”
After the story ran in The Sun, Upton says she was approached by “Good Morning America” and “Inside Edition” and claims she was offered “a large fee” to appear on camera. She went on both shows and re-told her story.”
According to TMZ, Upton (aka Campbell) took her daughter to the UCLA Medical Center and had her examined. She says the exam proves she never injected her daughter with Botox. She says the report was then sent to San Francisco officials who gave her back her daughter with the provision that a cousin stay with them for the time being.
TMZ updated the story at 8:20 to say that an ABC News spokesperson said: “We have just seen the sworn declaration on TMZ written by Sheena Upton, a.k.a. Kerry Campbell , and are vigorously investigating her most recent statement and rapidly shifting story.”
There is much more on the website about the financial side. Hmm. We’ll see what shakes out. What do you think?
– Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, ajc.com Momania. I have increased my Twitter activity. I am sending out great stories for moms each day focusing on health, fitness, sex, entertainment, food, travel and obviously parenting! So follow me on Twitter at @AJCMOMania!)
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40 comments Add your comment
JJ
May 19th, 2011
12:10 pm
What a shame. Pimping her kid for $200. Honestly? Now she really needs to have that child taken away from her. Apparently its all about the money.
Julia
May 19th, 2011
12:24 pm
that woman is such an unfit mother.. please dont give that child back to her.. .
HB
May 19th, 2011
12:35 pm
I think it’s sad that TMZ is providing better journalism than ABC.
Techmom
May 19th, 2011
12:48 pm
So this mom just taught her daughter that it’s OK to lie on national television for a few bucks… And we wonder what’s wrong with kids now days?
I’m still guessing that even though this is made-up that there are pageant moms out there who do Botox and other bizarre procedures to their daughters.
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
12:50 pm
HAH!
Tha Sun “punked” everyone in traditional media, including this outlet.
It proves the high level, NOT… of fact checking that takes place before a sensational story is rushed to the readers. Then, there is the “I read it on the internet, so it must be true”, crowd.
Hell, The Sun got me this time too, and I am pretty skeptical of anything resembling a sensational story. I was just on the other thread arguing with a moron that was comparing botox mom and circumcision as being the same thing.
stupidarses
May 19th, 2011
12:52 pm
waste of everyones time
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
12:57 pm
Wait a minute. You moms are sounding like you are “betrayed” because you can’t be mad at botox mom for botoxing, so youi will find another reason feel betrayed.
Why don’t you feel “betrayed” by the media outlet that suckered you in?
say what?
May 19th, 2011
12:58 pm
How can you get punked if you would verify with identification? That is the first thing I would do when someone presents such a ludacris story- show me proof of who you say you are,and the child’s birth certificata also, to prove this is your child.
All of America has been duped.
jarvis
May 19th, 2011
1:05 pm
@HB, TMZ like it or hate it (I hate it) is doing the best investigative reporting in the country at this point. They seem to be first every time and accurate every time.
homeschooler
May 19th, 2011
1:07 pm
She’s probably just saying this now to avoid the consequences of CPS. Who knows what is really the truth. I interview a lot of kids (for DFCS). This child appeared to be telling the truth. I think the mom really did it and is now backtracking.
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
1:12 pm
See what I mean.
Homeschooler, is so bent at getting punked, she is going to believe it anyway. WOW!
Tami
May 19th, 2011
1:41 pm
There are NO winners in this scandal, least of all, the poor 8-yr-old.
JustMe
May 19th, 2011
1:42 pm
Okay, so maybe she didn’t give her child botox (although I’m still debating between whether I really believe that or if I think she was just trying to get out of the original mess), but acting like she did and having her child act like and going on national tv and lying about still qualifies her for the worst mom of the year award. Either way the woman is an idiot and should not have children.
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
1:46 pm
Uhhhh, Tami,
There was no “scandal” only sensationalistic reporting that skipped the fact checking as inconvenient. Apparently, the “poor 8 year old” has a mom that didn’t botox her, and made $200.00. The kid will probably get offered roles in hollywood trash films and you same moms will say how much you adore her “acting”. I give them that part; she is a good little actress.
If the media had done its job, there never would have been a story.
homeschooler
May 19th, 2011
1:51 pm
No, just not a bit surprised that a mom would do this. Guess I’ve seen more bad parents than you have. If she’s not doing it, there are people out there who are. It’s good that this was brought to the attention of the public. Maybe more people will refrain from entering their children in pageants so as not to align themselves with people like her.
I do agree that ABC should be ashamed for not getting their facts straight before reporting.
SexyCool
May 19th, 2011
2:04 pm
What facts were ABC supposed to check?
The fact is…the woman *said* she was botoxing her child and was on camera *appearing* to do so. Are we to now give lie detectors to people before their stories are aired? (Although….in some cases, that may not be a bad idea.
DB
May 19th, 2011
2:05 pm
I think that the line between “news” and “crap” just got a lot more blurry. Journalism has sunk to a new low . . . and for many of its denizens, it was already scraping bottom!
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:17 pm
DB,
We agree this time.
Question: Why is it there are already posts here that either still want to believe it or are finding something else to be mad at, besides the media that rolled it out, without checking facts?
I’ll bet the folks at The Sun had a HUGE laugh about punking the stupid Americans. I know that I would have, and I bought it too.
Tom Haynes
May 19th, 2011
2:18 pm
Don’t I feel foolish? I was actually considering botox for my own daughter after this story. Glad to hear it was all made up. That would have been quite embarassing!
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:27 pm
SexyCool,
“What facts were ABC supposed to check?”
I am sure that you won’t get this, but I’ll try. If someone is found to have used a fake name and address…..well, you might just want to dig a little further, or the newshounds just might want to withold the story, broadcast, etc… UNTIL you check to see what other lies are there.
Heck, the media just ran the trash, didn’t check the name, address, nothing and it had to be trashy TMZ to expose them.
HB
May 19th, 2011
2:35 pm
This whole thing read like an Onion article to begin with, so yeah, I would think they would do a little digging before putting her on national TV just for the sake of having something outrageous to air in the morning.
Just Me
May 19th, 2011
2:38 pm
TMZ is now reporting that the Sun is standing by their story, saying they did not ask her to lie or provide her with scripted answers and photos. They say they are contemplating a lawsuit because she’s lying. There’s more to come on this “story”. They say one of their journalists witnessed the mother injecting the daughter with the botox and she’s now lying since child service got involved.
SexyCool
May 19th, 2011
2:43 pm
shaggy – You make quite an assumption about my ability to read and comprehend Just that same, I appreciate that you took the time to try to make me understand. I can assure that I was able to understand your post with no problems. As such, your effort was not wasted.
Again, I question where this is taking the world of journalism. Has it now come to making individuals present photo identification to appear on camera? Is passing a lie detector necessary for a person’s story/interview to be aired? (If that’s the case, newscasts are going to be a lot shorter, 24hours news channels are going to have a dearth of available individuals capable of appearing on camera and millions of dollars in advertising revenue is going to go up in smoke.)
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:43 pm
Homeschooler,
“This child appeared to be telling the truth. I think the mom really did it and is now backtracking.”
“No, just not a bit surprised that a mom would do this.”
Again, which is it, or is it some pride thing, where you just can’t believe you were punked?
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:46 pm
Yes, The Sun, the tabloid, has an awesome reputation of journalism integrity. They are right up there with “News of the World”, who broke the story of “Elvis is alive and spotted at The Varsity eating hot dogs with Jimmy Hoffa”,
Hmmm
May 19th, 2011
2:47 pm
The daughter really did not look the part of a pageant contestant. Really. She didn’t.
SexyCool
May 19th, 2011
2:47 pm
And yes, I do see my typo. There should have been a punctuation mark, specifically, a period behind the word “comprehend.”
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:48 pm
SexyCool,
I am a journalist, and I just spotted Big Foot. Will you run the story for me…based on my word as a journalist alone?
I also have a big bridge for sale in New York. You interested?
SexyCool
May 19th, 2011
2:50 pm
Can you provide video of Mr. Foot? And unfortunately, unless your New York bridge is lined with solid gold sidewalks, I’ll pass. However, should you have anything in London, I’d be willing to pay top dollar for that.
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
2:52 pm
The Sun is equal in journalistic integrity to News of the World, who broke the Elvis at the Varsity with Jimmy Hoffa story.
motherjanegoose
May 19th, 2011
2:56 pm
Years ago, my picture was in the paper, with an article about what I do. Some of the information in the article was not true. Simply false information on the reporter’s part…not really a problem.
I showed it to my children, who were then under 12, and asked them to read it.
They finished and said, “why did they say _________,it is not true.”
A good lesson for our family to learn…everything you read, hear and see is not ALWAYS true.
Theresa Walsh Giarrusso
May 19th, 2011
2:59 pm
The Sun has denied they paid her to pretend to do it. They say the story is real — again according to TMZ — see the update at the top of the file.
pj
May 19th, 2011
3:12 pm
A person would risk having their daughter put into foster care/state custody for 200.00 (or any amount?) That’s potentially as or more dangerous that botox – abuse is not uncommon in foster care. That parent has no true concern for their child’s welfare.
mom2alex&max
May 19th, 2011
3:13 pm
Well there’s two options here:
Option 1: she really did inject her kid and is now crying foul because instead of the $$$ in endorsements she was expected, they took away her meal ticket. In which case she’s a conniving moron intent on pimping her kid for money.
Option 2: she really didn’t inject her kid. So she pimped out her kid for $200. In which case she’s a conniving LYING moron intent on pimping her kid for money.
motherjanegoose
May 19th, 2011
3:56 pm
@momtoalexandmax…either way, people out there can be real KOOKS!
i'm having a hard time
May 19th, 2011
4:14 pm
getting this hook out of my mouth!
now I know how it feels to be a bass
Sylvania
May 19th, 2011
4:50 pm
Here’s a story for the Sun. “Blogger Shaggy Actually Makes a Relevent Point!!!”
Shaggy is a guy (on a blog for busy moms) who has waaaaay too much time on his hands.
shaggy
May 19th, 2011
5:27 pm
Sylvania,
Glad you are a fan, and yes, today I do have too much time on my hands, so I am happy to entertain you. Tomorrow, probably not, so your recognition comes timely.
((((shaggy bows to Sylvania))))
Botox Mom
May 19th, 2011
8:11 pm
[...] "Botox Mom" Sheena Upton claiming she made up the story about injecting her daughter Britney with BoBotox Mom – US celebrity news and gossip site TMZ says it has obtained a sworn declaration written by [...]
Julia
May 19th, 2011
8:13 pm
Really, pic of her laying down with a needle in the moms hand, kid had blood spots on her face and you call this fake… yea right.. Now who is stupid