TORONTO – Luka Rocco Magnotta was obsessed with cosmetic surgery, admitting to multiple hair transplant operations, a nose job and plans for muscle implants to his body in an attempt to retain his youth and cover up what he saw as flaws, a new video shows.
Global News has obtained exclusive footage of a 25-year-old Magnotta auditioning for a Slice network program called “Plastic Makes Perfect” in February 2008.
The 30-minute makeover series, now in its third season, showcases people willing to employ drastic measures to change their appearance and follows up with them to see if going under the knife made a difference in their lives.
In the 22-minute audition, a wide-eyed, self-absorbed Magnotta speaks incessantly of his need for a third hair transplant to add to his collection of cosmetic surgeries.
“No. 1 is looks, number two would have to be intelligence. And I don’t know what the rest are,” Magnotta tells interviewers at this audition.
“All I care about is No. 1. All I do is care about how I look.”
Analysis: Experts in police investigation and forensic psychology weigh in on what Magnotta says in audition.
Magnotta’s laundry list of cosmetic surgeries
The procedures he says he’s had in the past involved cutting strips of scalp from the back of his head so hair grafts could fill in what he said was a receding hairline at the corners of his forehead.
“I’ve had my eyes done here because I used to have dark circles underneath my eyes and it was completely making me look like I was tired all the time. I’ve had my nose done. I’ve had two hair transplants like I said before. And I’m planning on having muscle implants in my pecs and my arms,” he tells the show’s producers.
“Yeah, my name is Luka and I’m a cosmetic surgery addict,” he said, laughing.
Later, he also concedes that he spent a lot of money on his teeth, which he says were “grinded down and whitened and all straightened.”
Magnotta, dressed in a black zippered sweater, purses his lips between responses. While British and Canadian reporters who have interviewed him in the past say he appeared “clearly troubled, and borderline delusional,” here Magnotta speaks clearly and is matter-of-fact about his want for cosmetic intervention.
He gets up from the stool he’s sitting on to show the interviewer the scars on the back of his head, and outlines his hairline, which used to recede “drastically.” He also traces his nose and eyes in the camera to highlight the changes.
When asked if he sees an end to the long list of surgeries he’s had and wants to have, Magnotta says no.
“I don’t care whether or not I have to work every single hour to get these surgeries done. Maybe there won’t be an end, maybe there will be an end, but I’m just going to keep doing it until I’m personally happy,” he said.
Analysis: Experts in police investigation and forensic psychology weigh in on what Magnotta says in audition.
Isolated from family and friends
Magnotta, discussing his insecurities with his appearance openly, even sheds light on how his narcissism had affected his close relationships.
He said his family members told him they “don’t understand” and have seen him change into “somebody completely different.”
“Actually, they’ve come to the point where they don’t really want to talk to me . . . they think it’s too much and they are really fed up with it,” he said.
He calls his family life a “really stressful situation.”
His said his friends, on the other hand, insist that he shouldn’t worry about his appearance, but Magnotta said he brushes off their remarks.
“They don’t understand my position in life. They don’t understand my goals in life. Like, if I don’t have my body, if I don’t have my looks, then I don’t have any life. My looks and my body are my life,” Magnotta said.
Pressures in the adult film industry
The 25-year-old identifies himself as a model and adult film actor, travelling from Toronto to Montreal and Los Angeles for gigs. He says he’s been working full-time in the adult film industry “on and off” for four years.
Magnotta says he is certain a hair transplant, and potentially more cosmetic work, will help his career by garnering more attention.
“Everyone has to admit, though, if you are better looking, you are going to get more fans, and you are going to get more jobs. So honestly, I’ve found that when I got my procedures done, I got more fans, I got more jobs, and I got everybody’s, you know, acceptance,” he said.
Aside from societal acceptance, he notes that cosmetic surgery will also help with the way he perceives himself.
“It’s going to make a drastically different change in my life and it’s going to give me more self-esteem, and like, make me feel amazing about myself,” he said.
When asked if he’s ever heard of body dysmorphic disorder, Magnotta says he’d only heard of it briefly.
“I know it’s people who look good and they think they look completely hideous,” he said.
“Oh, God. When I look in the mirror now I see all the little flaws just come out.”
Magnotta admits to extreme narcissism even at an early age
Magnotta, now 29, is now sitting in a jail cell in Berlin awaiting his extradition to Canada where he will be charged in connection with the grisly slaying and dismemberment of a Chinese student in Montreal.
In his audition, he discusses his obsession.
He was convinced that surgeries to alter his face, his hair and his body were necessary. He’d perpetually update his wardrobe, work out at the gym and watch what he eats, but it wasn’t enough, he says.
“It would kind of defeat the purpose if I was doing all that exercise and looking kind of ugly.”
He said that as a teenager, his friends called him “vain” and noted that he was always staring at his reflection in a mirror, or even at a spoon in a restaurant.
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