Meet the woman who dresses and makes up like Barbie for a good reason

When Jasmin Britney was 9 years old, she was on her way to spend her weekly allowance on Spice Girl lollipops, when she was hit by a man who was texting while driving. The vehicle hit Britney head on, and sent her flying seventy-five feet across the road.

Jasmin as a child

According to The Sun, after spending twelve unconscious hours in the hospital, Britney awoke to doctors testing her brain functionality. She said:

“I remember hearing relieved doctors tell my parents I didn’t have a brain injury and how amazed they were I still had all my cognitive functions”.

But when doctors realized she was unable to breathe or move, they did an MRI, which revealed that she was paralyzed from the chin down. They told her parents who told her that she would spend the rest of her life confined to a wheelchair, with a breathing tube in her neck to help her breathe.

She added:

“I was only nine but I knew it was bad and I was finally told that I would never walk again and would have to learn to live life differently.”

For a time, Britney was convinced that she would never be considered attractive, but she eventually began to understand that the inability to walk would not define her as a person and that her paralysis would not make her less beautiful.
So she began looking to her idols, Barbie, Britney Spears, Disney Princesses, for inspiration and start experimenting with make-up.

Now at 26 years old, she has had her hair dyed “Barbie blonde” and started dressing and having her make-up done like her idols.

“I never leave the house without the perfect Barbie look and always in heels despite the fact I can’t walk,” she tells the Daily Mail. “I collect them and wearing heels is important to me.”

In fact, according to the Sun, Britney has spent almost $15,000 on shoes, clothes, and beauty supplies over the past two years.

She said:

“I post my pictures online to inspire other people who have spinal injuries or live with debilitating conditions, and I refuse to believe I won’t walk again.

“It is, for me, a symbol that one day a breakthrough could happen and my life could change and I want others to never give up hope.

“I have been unable to move since my accident but it hasn’t stopped me living life to the full and for me that means posing as the world’s only quadriplegic Barbie and Britney lookalike.

“Both the doll and the singer are my idols and helped me through some of my darkest times now I’m dedicating my life to looking like them.”

Jasmin vowed to prove the doctors wrong and became determined to life an exciting life no matter what. She also said she hopes to one day be able to walk again.
She said she never goes for the natural make up look, she always goes for the glam look which takes anywhere between 3 to 4 hours to accomplish.

She said:

“I knew I was one day going to help others injured like me and that’s what I am doing. “I realised... I would have to be strong... so I turned to my favourite dolls and fairy-tale for inspiration. My Barbies, Cinderella and other fairy-tale books.”

Jasmin began seeing a physiotherapist five times a week, something she still does.

“Imagine being able to walk and run and waking up one day having all that independence taken away. I cannot even wipe my own tears.”

Although Jasmin had the tube removed from her throat, a hole had to be cut in her neck as she needed a permanent one placed into her lungs so she could breathe.
Still, it meant she could talk and once she got used to her wheelchair she was allowed home.

She said: “I needed around the clock care.

“There were times I did want to end it all – you feel you are a burden on people, you see your friends walking and enjoying freedom you once took for granted.”

“Imagine being able to walk and run and waking up one day having all that independence taken away. I cannot even wipe my own tears.”

Although Jasmin had the tube removed from her throat, a hole had to be cut in her next as she needed a permanent one placed into her lungs so she could breathe.
Still, it meant she could talk and once she got used to her wheelchair she was allowed home.
She said:

“I needed around the clock care.

“There were times I did want to end it all – you feel you are a burden on people, you see your friends walking and enjoying freedom you once took for granted.”

Jasmin now has an assistant called Henriikka who helps bathe her, changes her tubes and applies her makeup and does her hair every morning, which takes around 45 minutes.

After that Jasmin goes to the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, where she’s studying.