Shameless mum: ‘I lied to get a free nose job on the NHS’

Carla Bellucci thinks nothing of splashing out £2k for a holiday or £700 on a pair of shoes – yet she brazenly faked depression to have cosmetic work done at the taxpayer’s expense

Carla Bellucci freely admits she’s the “queen of blagging”. She’ll flutter her eyelashes to get free drinks from men in bars, chat up her neighbour so he’ll trim her hedge, and she even flirts to get cheap Botox.

But even she didn’t imagine she’d get away with her most outrageous blag – a free nose job from the overstretched NHS.

Shockingly, despite telling her GP that she was depressed over her appearance, the single mum of three admits there wasn’t much wrong with her nose – it was just the next thing on her list to achieve “perfection” after having a boob job, costing £4,800, and tooth veneers for £1,500, which she paid for herself.

Brazen Carla, 37, who lives with her children in a three-bed house in Borehamwood, Herts, admits, “I’d been to a Harley Street doctor and he quoted me over £6,000. My nose really wasn’t that bad and he admitted that the difference probably wouldn’t make it worth my while. It had a tiny bump and was a bit wonky at the end – but it was nothing that anyone else would have noticed, no one had ever commented on it.

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“But I still wanted a nose job, so I went to a GP in June last year and flirted with him – he’s always been very friendly to me. I told him I wanted a nose job and said I was depressed and had trouble breathing.

"In his referral letter, he said that I was severely depressed and my day-to-day life was being affected. Neither was true. I’ve never had depression, never been prescribed medication for it or had any therapy. If I hadn’t had it done, I would have been absolutely fine. I certainly wasn’t going to pay for it.

“Even I was surprised when I got a letter a week later to see a consultant that October. But I certainly wasn’t going to complain.

“And I have no regrets at all. People can criticise me all they like – but it’s a drop in the ocean for the NHS. It has far bigger problems than me.”

While waiting for her appointment for the free op, Carla carried on living it up, spending £2,000 on a holiday to Las Vegas – her second in the space of a year. She’d already spent the same amount on a trip there with her girlfriends in October 2017 to see Britney Spears in concert.

On 25 February this year, Carla had the two-hour operation – which costs between £4,500 and £7,000 on average, and she is delighted with the results.

She says, “I recovered quickly and I really like my new nose. My friends say it’s not that different but I can see the small changes. I got exactly what I wanted.”

And unrepentant Carla adds, “I’ve got a job as an activities co-ordinator for people with dementia and pay my taxes – so why shouldn’t I do it? I’m not a scrounger. And the money I use for luxuries and travelling, I earn through modelling.”

Carla admits that appearances have been important to her since she was young. She says, “When I was growing up, I used to see the Page Three girls in my dad’s newspaper. I thought they looked so glamorous and wanted to be one from a young age.

“I was only 21 when I had my first child, Jermaine, now 16, and went on to have Tanisha, 14, and Jayden, 12. But, after Jayden was born, I had a boob job a few months later going from a 34C to a 34D.

“In 2008, aged 26, I did my first glamour modelling shoot for a newspaper and it went from there. Now I’m older, though, I do more modelling for boutiques.”

Carla admits that she spends a fair amount on luxuries. Her shoe collection is worth around £4,000 – including four pairs of Louboutins that cost £700 each, a pair of Yeezy trainers for £260 and £90 Hunter wellies.

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She also spends £300 a year on Botox – which she gets cut price by flirting with her practitioner. She buys £200 worth of clothes a month, has pedicures and manicures at the cost of £65 a month, and spends a further £25 a month on threading.

Her highlights cost her £120 every six to eight weeks – everything else she does her best to get for free.

She admits, “I’m no longer with the kid’s dad, but I have a new boyfriend and he loves the fact I take pride in my appearance.

“I’m an Instagram influencer, and get free dinners and even hotel stays, which I’ll take my boyfriend or friends to.

“But I see nothing wrong with getting something for nothing. If it’s offered, I’ll take it, and a bit more. And I never waste my own money on something like a gardener.

“If I want my hedge trimmed or lawn mowing, I’ll be the one batting my eyelashes at my neighbour. Men seem to melt around me and I take full advantage.

“But my nose job is the biggest blag I’ve ever managed. Even I was shocked it worked and I do realise I’m lucky. But they fell for it, and I’d have been mad to turn it down.”

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