Megan Barton-Hanson reveals she was bullied for her looks but after plastic surgery she has turned into the ‘Alan Sugar of stripping’

Megan Barton-Hanson has said that going under the knife helped her avoid being bullied about her appearance as a teenager and transform into the ‘Alan Sugar of strip clubs’.

The former Love Island star, 30, first went under the knife at the age of 19 for double surgery, a nose job and a breast enlargement.

Megan, who shot to fame on the 2018 ITV dating show, confessed she was bullied at school because of her nose and sticky ears, prompting her to change her appearance.

After ‘barely being able to afford a train ticket to work’ from Essex in London, Megan opened up to dating expert Paul Carrick Brunson for his We Need To Talk podcast.

Paul, 50, asked: ‘Your ears were put back, first the procedure, then your breasts were done. What drove you to get your breasts done at that age?’

Megan, from Essex, admitted: ‘I’ll be brutally honest – money.

‘I didn’t have any problems, I was quite confident with my natural breasts, but there was this girl and she was on social media and making a lot of money basically doing Page 3, but she was her own boss.

‘I remember saying to my first boyfriend, ‘honey, she makes so much money, don’t you think I’m prettier, I could definitely do that if I had bigger tits’.

‘I wanted to get my nose done, that was something else that school kids would pick up on.

‘I hate being put to sleep, so I get my t**s done, the nose done, all in one and I can make so much money, on social media, or back then, that was a thing.

‘I wanted to be a glamor model, a girl.

‘I was working in London and it was minimum wage so I could barely afford my train ticket to commute from Essex to London.

‘I thought: this can’t be what life is.’

Megan was working as a legal PA at the time, but decided to invest in breast surgery.

After this, the reality star started showing off her new look via scantily clad photos on Instagram and quickly amassed a huge following before her Love Island fame.

Six years later, she now has 1.4 million followers, she shared: ‘I owe a lot to Instagram, just posting more sexy pictures. The likes started to grow.”

When her social media account became popular, the reality TV star then turned to a strip club to further boost her finances.

She explained: ‘I was making really bad money at the law firm, it wasn’t worth the hours I put in. I had no money to spend on the weekend.

‘I invested in my appearance, but what I made on Instagram was not enough to survive. I walked past the strip club and the girls outside looked so happy they were laughing. They were glamorous as f**k.

“I didn’t even tell my parents, I just walked in and said, ‘Hello, can I have a job?’

‘I had never stepped foot in a strip club before, I just knew they looked happy and like they had a lot of money, and that was what I wanted.

‘I was sexualized by the lawyers in training, the lawyers. The way they would look at me, the little things they would say, so in my mind, if you’re going to sexualize me while I’m dressed in a pencil skirt and tights at minimum wage, then I’m going to sexualize me where I can make that much money earn and be my own boss. So that’s what I did.

‘The first year I thought I had made it. I thought I was Alan Sugar.”

Discussing working at the strip club, Megan explained: ‘It was really liberating. They were some of the best memories of my life working at that strip club.

“It gave me a sisterhood that I had never had with girls before. Growing up, when the girls excluded me through no fault of my own, because I was being bullied by a much older boy… these girls could see it, I was very nerdy and shy.

‘They were so sweet. I’ve never felt that sisterhood in my life, it was wonderful.”

Megan rose to fame on season five of Love Island, finishing in fourth place with Wes Nelson.

They eventually split five months after the show ended, with Megan later claiming Wes prioritized money and career over her.

Earlier this year, Megan spoke exclusively on the Mail’s podcast, Straight to the Comments! where she now described their relationship.

Megan revealed: ‘Yes, we’re polite, we’re friends. When I saw him [Wes] If I was away, I’d talk to him.’

Elsewhere in the chat, Megan – who came out as bisexual in 2019 – described the difference between her romantic relationships with women and men.

She explained: ‘I try not to look at gender. I think for me it’s more about the connection I have with someone. When they bring something into my life, they make me a better version of myself, and they are just a nice person.”

Reflecting on her past romances, she added: “I’ve dated so many holes, I’m just open; Whether it’s a girl or a boy, it doesn’t matter to me.’

Although Megan is believed to be single, she sparked dating rumors in September when she was spotted kissing Instagram model Leah Ray.

Her last known relationship was with TOWIE star Demi Sims, who she split from in 2023, four years after meeting on reality show Celebs Go Dating.

Megan uses her platform to promote sex positivity and revealed she likes speaking out about sex because she was ‘completely slut-shamed’ at school.

The OnlyFans model previously confessed that she “carried a feeling of shame” because her friendship group was so judgmental, and that feeling persisted when she was having “such a hard time in the villa” because she was a sex worker.

The reality star admitted: ‘At school I was very slut-shamed and I carried with me a sense of shame about it. I think that’s why I’m so open now…

“I think I was given this platform… I never intended to come out [of Love Island] and thus speak openly about sex and female pleasure.

‘I think I had a just as hard time in the villa, when I was there, because I was a sex worker or because I had sex with two guys on TV.

‘And now that I’m out, I’ve really come into my own. I’m so passionate about talking about this. And I’ve been so ashamed for years, that’s why I’m so open about it now.’