Katie Piper Interview (text)

17 March 2011

Katie: My Beautiful Friends

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 Katie Piper had acid thrown in her face in a vicious attack in 2008. A powerful documentary the following year, Katie: My Beautiful Face, told her inspirational story as she battled to come to terms with the physical and emotional scars wrought by her attack. Now, she has a new series on Channel4, Katie: My Beautiful Friends, which follows her efforts to start a charity to help those disfigured by burns, and sees her meeting other young people whose lives have been affected by scarring and disfigurement.

 Here, she talks about how the original documentary changed her life, and what the new series has taught her about human nature.

 Can you briefly explain what happened to you?

I was the victim of a violent attack in March 2008. I had sulphuric acid thrown in my face and was severely injured leaving me with loss of site in my eye and full thickness burns on my neck, chest, face and hands.  I made a documentary that went out in October 2009 and that documented my treatment, my recovery and really what it was like coming to terms with living with a disfigurement.

 You talk about the treatment, how many operations have you had to date?

I don't know, in the 80s or 90s maybe.

 A phenomenal number of people followed your story on Cutting Edge, you had an amazing response. I think a lot of people will be keen to find out, how are you?

Very well thank you. It's been great because I found the process of making the documentary a bit like therapy and it really helped me. The director I worked with was the first person I keep in contact with outside of my and family and medical circle so it was brilliant but I didn't anticipate necessarily any kind of response really and if I did I was worried that people would think I was a freak or laugh at me. I was quite nervous so when I had the great response it helped me and my confidence and self esteem and then since then people coming up to me on the street and writing to me has just been phenomenal. I never underestimate what a large part it has played in me getting my life back.

 Give us an indication of the scale of the response. How many letters were you receiving? How many letters were you receiving?

Oh thousands and thousands of letters to Channel 4, to my home, to the production company. I still get letters now and my charity website was up and running and that crashed. I get sent paintings and presents and people come up to me in the street and all the time, it's really nice. It's also really good because I feel like its challenged people's perception of somebody who looks different. 

 How else has the response to the film changed your life? What else is different for you now?

I suppose my life is enriched. I've had lots of opportunities to do things I'm passionate about and the things I care about and I feel that I can live in a  world that doesn't really accept people that are different happily. I go to parties, I go to bars, I have a job and I'm really happy in the skin I'm in. I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not and I think talking so openly about my story gave me acceptance that it's ok to be me.

 Looking back at, for example, early on in the filming for Cutting Edge you very much lacked self confidence but that's not an issue anymore. Do you have your confidence back again?

Compared to the person I was in My Beautiful Face my confidence is through the roof compared to that person but of course I still have times where I might feel a little bit embarrassed or inadequate, but lots of women and men experience that in their life no matter who they are but I certainly don't feel that I have to pretend to be something I'm not or like I want to cover up my burns or anything.

 Regarding the response you had to My Beautiful Face why do you think your story touched so many people?

It's hard to say, I think that judging from what people say to me in the emails and the letters I suppose a lot of people related to me in ‘that could have been me' or ‘what if that was me, how would I have dealt with it?'

 Tell us a bit about the new series. What's it all about?

I had all these letters and emails from people and I really wanted to get to know these people and meet up with them. My track record of meeting strangers that contact me through the internet is not great so the series gave me a safe way to do it!  A lot of these people were saying ‘hey I've lived with this all my life I want to meet you and help you' and there were others saying ‘I've watched your story. This has happened to me please help me' so there was broad spectrum of people. I've been very lucky with friends and family in that people haven't shunned me they've helped me and accepted me but I do still experience feelings of loneliness and isolation, but meeting these people changed that because some have burns, some have genetic conditions but we all have the same feelings and emotions and have experienced the same reactions and probably had the same worries and insecurities about the future. I suppose when you make a community of people you don't feel alone anymore and that was probably the biggest thing that we all got out of it I think.

 Did you form any particularly close relationships with people that you met along the way, any really good friendships?

Yes I did. I wouldn't want to say that anyone was my particular favourite because I got a lot from them all but of course I was fond of some of them for different reasons. They're just all really different people and they've really enriched my life in so many ways and it's a programme for people to watch but for me it's my real life and we're all going to stay friends so it's really good.

 Did any of them have misgivings about appearing on the programme or were they nervous about being in front of the camera or anything?

I think some of them were nervous because some had never talked about their disfigurement. They had their own social circles and family support but it wasn't the subject they'd really discussed so they were frightened. I think that as the film went on we spent a lot of time talking about "how will people react?" and "what will they say?" because a lot of them had had negative experiences one to one with people when being out and about so it was something that we discussed.

 Do you think that you were able to help any of them particularly?

I don't know. I don't think it's like I'm Mother Teresa and I'm changing their lives because what do I know? I'm just a patient who's only been burned for three years and I'm just muddling my way through life. But I think that it was a mutual friendship and we shared good and bad times together and the nature of our injuries means that in a year a lot happens in our lives that won't happen in many people's lives ever so that did draw us close and I think we drew strength from each other. They'll probably say the opposite though - How embarrassing! [Laughing]

 "She was awful. It was a nightmare! "

Yeah! "Thank God it's over." [Laughing]

 Looking back at your own recovery process was there a particularly point that you reached where you suddenly thought I've turned a corner? Were there any really significant milestones where you thought that everything's going to be ok or was it a more gradual thing than that?

I think with something so permanent that you know will never go away like a disfigurement particularly a facial one it is day by day and it's backwards and forwards as well but I suppose if I was to mark a turning point it would have been when the documentary aired, the first documentary and that response and that feeling of acceptance. And then Channel 4 invited me to The Diversity Awards and that was like the first time I'd ever been to an awards ceremony or out anywhere since I was burned and I was really nervous because I felt like I didn't really belong there or fit in and I got to present an award and started chatting to people and socialising. I remember standing there and thinking "oh I'm out in a normal social situation and nobody thinks I'm weird" I just felt like I was supposed to be there and like a young woman again. It was a nice feeling.

 What have you learned about human nature or about the society we live in through this experience?

I think I've learnt a lot of things about society because when you feel insecure about yourself you can also be paranoid and judgemental yourself so in the beginning I felt that I would be not accepted and I made all these judgements of how people would view me and what would they say and the response to the programme proved me wrong and I thought well I'm almost as bad as the people that night be judging me because I've kind of made up their minds for them and that actually if people understand something and are educated in the right way and they're not afraid of it and then it actually reduces the discrimination so I think it's kind of restored my faith in society actually.

 What do you hope that viewers will take away from watching the series?

I think one of the most important things the series has done and what I hope it will do for other people is show them that there are people that look different and but it doesn't mean that they're any less of a person, it doesn‘t make them unattractive, it doesn't make them stupid in fact these contributors in this documentary are very intelligent, able, charismatic people and the great thing that the series does is that it doesn't show them in a sort "look at these people's lives isn't it awful. Feel sorry for them." It empowers them and just shows them as normal members of society and I think that's what it's about, normalising disfigurement and everyone just getting on with their lives.

 Do you ever think about the guys responsible for the attack now? Both the guy who did it and the guy who planned it do you ever think about them?

Yeah, sometimes I do.

 I think I'm right in saying that during episode one they launched an appeal. Do things like that get to you? Do you worry about that side of things?

It's hard if something life changing has happened to you and nobody's ever really shown remorse. That's hard. And I think it's very difficult to think that life isn't life in this country, and I don't want something hanging over my head, to think what's going to happen to me when that day comes in the future. I just put it to the back of my mind for now and that's all I can really do.

 How do you feel about the way your life has turned out? Four years ago you were trying to get a TV career and look at what's happened. How do you feel about the way things have gone?

Well it's better than being on The Shopping Channel! It's brilliant. It's really good because I was a wannabe and so many girls now aspire to be rich and famous for nothing and I was completely one of those people and is ironic because now the most important thing to me is fulfilling this ambition with the charity and I know that I don't look like - well I'm not going to say like a normal girl because normal is a ridiculous word but ok I don't look aesthetically pleasing to how young women aspire to but it doesn't really matter because I have a great family and friends and I wake up every day loving going to work. Not many people do that. I just am happy and grateful for my health so my life is really good and I really enjoy it and it has a point and a purpose.

 And lastly Katie, what are your hopes for the future?

My biggest hope for the future is that we're successful in delivering the treatment to people through the charity and that burns just become something that happens in people's lives but doesn't make them a misfit in society and exclude them and stop all their dreams and ambitions. It's just something that happens and you carry on and you accept those people and my story and everything that's happened if it could change that then I would die a happy person.

 Katie: My Beautiful Friends is on Channel 4 on Tuesdays at 9pm.