In her recently published book, “Doll Parts” (Regan Arts), Amanda Lepore claims to have “the most expensive body on Earth.” The veracity of that statement is open to interpretation, but she certainly has one of the most famously bodacious bods out there. It has not been easy for her to get there.
Lepore, 49, was born a boy, grew up in Ceder Grove, New Jersey, and began transitioning by taking hormones starting at age 15. Her feminization process resembles a long, silicone-paved road that’s transported her from being a kid obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield to becoming the toast of Manhattan nightlife (she makes her living modeling and by performing burlesque, singing and hosting events at clubs).
Lepore, who first landed in the public eye in 1990 via an appearance on “The Joan Rivers Show” with NYC’s “Club Kids,” shares the procedures that got her there.
“I sometimes think about doing getting more stuff done to my body, but not really,” she tells The Post. “Plastic surgery is for when you don’t like things . . . Everything I’ve got already looks so good.”
Hairline lowering and eyebrow lifting : $2,000
The dual procedures, done in 2000 in Mexico, created the impression of a smaller, rounder forehead.
Double eyelid surgery: $9,000
Lepore had a fold of skin — a common result of aging — removed and her eyes enlarged this past February in New York City. “Maybe my eyes looked small because my cheeks and lips had been enlarged,” she says.
Cheekbone augmentation: $2,400
They were made to look more prominent and heart-shaped with microdot injections of silicone, performed several times from 1986 to 1988. “Silicone gets injected near the bone and it is permanent,” she says, cautioning, “If the silicone gets near your eye, it lumps up and you are f - - ked.”
$200; she had about 12 treatments for a total cost of $2,400.
Rhinoplasty: Free
In 1982 at age 15, Lepore had her nose slimmed down and shaped to appear more upturned at the tip. “It healed quicker than the doctor expected and the packing gauze went down my throat,” she remembers. The procedure was done in New York, and the doctor, who she met in a nightclub, did it for free.
Lip augmentation: $5,500 (including $1,500 for the reduction)
Using the same process that was employed for her cheeks, during the same period, from 1986 until 1988, Lepore got silicone lip injections. “I went overboard on the bottom,” she admits, pointing out that she had about 20 treatments. “It was made too large and I had the bottom lip reduced.”
Augmentation mammoplasty: $5,000, all told.
Though hormones had given Lepore B-cup breasts — “They were a good size for a young girl,” she says — at 21, in 1988, she received her first set of implants, which were made of silicone and brought her up to a C-cup. Over the next 10 years, in New York and Mexico, she had two more boob jobs, increasing to a D and finally to a DD. “If a girl or a gay guy wants to touch them out of curiosity, I’m fine with that,” says Lepore. “But with a straight guy, I feel invaded and wonder if he is going to buy me dinner afterwards.”
Rib reshaping surgery: $1,500
Desiring a procedure that, at the time, in 2000, was not available in the United States, Lepore went to Mexico and had her bottom ribs “broken and pushed in,” she says. “It makes the waist look smaller.” To maintain the desired slimness, Lepore does what she calls “corset training,” wearing a body-cinching garment for a few hours every day.
Gender reassignment surgery: $10,000
Prior to her 18th birthday, in 1985, Lepore needed parental permission to get sexual reassignment surgery. After her folks refused, Lepore’s future father-in-law arranged to adopt her, paid a New York doctor to do the procedure and signed the necessary documents. In advance of the operation, she and the man who would become her husband one year later perused copies of Hustler magazine, discussing the changes ahead. As to why her father-in-law footed the bill for the surgery, Lepore says, “I think he was happy that his son found a nice girl.”
Hormones: $550 per month
Lepore began taking hormones when she was 15 and has maintained her routine ever since: She pops a 1.5 milligram Premarin pill each morning, and every month self-injects, near her waist, 1 cubic centimeter of estradiol valerate.