Heidi Montag makes the List

Reality television star Heidi Montag has acquired quite a few assets over the past few years. Unfortunately, most of them are fake. Or plastic, whichever way you want to look at it. And while Montag doesn't appear to be an awful person, she's the second to join the list of Females We Don't Want our Daughters to be Like.

In our first installment of the list, Snooki from MTV's "Jersey Shore," earned low marks for basically being the kind of girl a father might be disappointed in if she appeared in public. Unfortunately, Snooki has her 15 minutes of fame and most reasonable people, especially fathers, cringe whenever she opens her mouth or makes a public appearance.

Montag, on the other hand, makes the list for a different, but equally important reason. Read the comment from Tom Jones after the Snooki post last week. It always amazes me what other people see in what I write. Tom talked about how important this 'list' is because we need to remind our daughters about seeking appropriate role models and leaders. He also mentions discussing this with his adult daughter.

I'll do a quick recap. Montag rose to fame on the MTV series 'The Hills,' then parlayed that into an appearance (with hubby Spencer Pratt) on the reality show, "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here." Heidi and hubby also did a guest appearance on CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" ...why I can't understand. CBS must've been desperate. Heidi also had a cameo in the Adam Sandler film, "Just go With It."

Now while Heidi most likely isn't too far ahead of Snooki on the MENSA test, she at least has tried to parlay her brief fame into some tangible resources. She's started a clothing line, and has some other business projects in the works.

Unfortunately, from a Father's standpoint, Heidi also has acquired these many assets. In 2007, she had breast augmentation, rhinoplasty (which is a nosey thing, I think), and collagen lip injections. She followed that up in November of 2009 by possibly setting a Guiness record for having 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day. Ten. Seriously?!

During that day, Dr. Frank Ryan gave her brow-lifts, ear-pinnings, a chin reduction, a second rhinoplasty and a second breast augmentation among other enhancements. Montag said in an interview after that day that she nearly died because she required so much Demerol that her breathing had been reduced to five breaths per minute. I don't know about you, but I can think of better things to take my breath away than making sure that my ears don't have people confusing me with one of the elves from Lord of the Rings, my chin makes me look like Mr. Ed (I know, I'm dating myself) and that my breasts are big enough that Hugh Hefner finally takes notice enough to put me in Playboy Magazine.

At the time, Montag was effusive in her praise of Dr. Ryan and overjoyed with her many enhancements. That is, until this year. She had a change of heart. In an interview for Life and Style magazine (December 2010 issue) she revealed the scars and marks from her surgeries, then expressed regret for having all of the surgical procedures, then, as could be expected, blamed the doctors because they didn't prepare her enough for the consequences of her surgeries. Her obsession with these makeovers was legendary, so I'm not sure ANY doctor could have prepared her for the end results, nor would she have listened to them.

So we have a 24-year old young lady who's estranged from her mother because of this plastic obsession, she's reported to be six figures in debt, and she's been reported to be getting a divorce from Pratt like two or three times, only to reconsider.

But what we as Fathers (and any Moms who read) must focus on with our daughters is this. The reason Montag had these plastic enhancements done is because she has some serious self-esteem issues and many of those stem from her insecurities about her body in the land of Hollywood and Maxim magazine. So we need to make sure we are telling our daughters, on a consistent basis, that what's inside their heart, and inside their brains and inside their souls means a whole lot more to us and to almost anyone else who sincerely cares about them, than what those characteristics are packaged in.

P.S. Don't forget to tell your daughter you love her.

P.S.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment, maybe a recommendation on who's next on the list, sign up as a follower, share this with your friends and colleagues who have daughters. Have a great weekend.