‘Human Ken Doll’ Justin Jedlica Talks New Reality Series
Can’t get enough of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Don’t worry; Get Me Out Productions is introducing your next binge-worthy obsession, Men of West Hollywood.
Set to premiere on the Crackle streaming platform January 20, the upcoming 10-part series follows six of WeHo’s biggest male socialites. These men, along with their boyfriends and girlfriends, will give viewers a glimpse into their lavish Los Angeles lifestyle, making their way through the city’s hottest parties and glamorous red carpets. Of course, there will also be plenty of drama at every turn complete with drinks tossed in faces, pool shoves, and “I am done” arguments.”
The cast of this unscripted documentary series includes luxury property owner Landon Wetterstrom, underwear model and club promoter Murray Swanby, YouTube star Brennen Taylor, celebrity photographer Darren Tieste, model and personal trainer David Barta, aka “Mr. California,” and Justin Jedlica, a plastic surgery consultant known worldwide as “The Human Ken Doll.”
OFM caught up with Jedlica to talk more about Men of West Hollywood and how he expresses creativity through plastic surgery. His body alterations have been a source of controversy, but this self-professed artist and pioneer of the modifiable male aesthetic has no intention of stopping. To date, he has undergone over 1,000 procedures and has spent the value of a million dollars.
We are excited to see you in the upcoming series, Men of West Hollywood! What have you enjoyed the most about being a part of this show?
I think what I’ve enjoyed the most has been getting to know some of the boys who I didn’t know previously, seeing their walks of life and how they are attempting to make it here in Hollywood. Everyone’s gone about it a little bit differently, and everyone has their own spin on things. I rarely have the opportunity to learn from people like that, and I always try to take them up on it. So, it’s been fun to interact with them and learn not just their personal side of life, but also the business side of their life.
How did you get involved with Men of West Hollywood, and what made you want to participate?
I was initially approached by Get Me Out Productions. They were talking about doing something along the lines of, The Husbands of West Hollywood, and I kind of have, some people might say, an unorthodox relationship. I’m in a polyamorous throuple, and unfortunately, my boys happen to be in Australia because the COVID restrictions there are the tightest in the world. I haven’t been able to see them in about 22 months now.
Anyway, I was game for the idea, and then through the process with Akim and Get Me Out Productions, they sort of honed in on a slightly different idea where it would be more inclusive. We have three gay primary characters and three straight identifying characters, so it wouldn’t just be an all-gay cast, and it wasn’t just being limited to husbands in any capacity. It was more about the good, the bad, and the ugly of West Hollywood. Everybody’s differences or similarities of what they’re trying to do while making it here in Hollywood, and of course, our love and personal lives are intertwined as well.
You have been on a couple other reality shows, but we are going to see a whole different side of you. What was it like to really put yourself out there, and what are you taking away from this experience?
Putting myself out there, I feel like I’ve done that for the last 11-plus years, but you are correct in the notion that I have been primarily a guest on other people’s shows and not a primary. So, I look forward to being a primary on a show because I do love filming, the process, and being able to share my viewpoints on things. I also enjoy being the center of attention and being a little bit controversial (laughs). Those are normally in very tight, short tidbits, so this definitely gave me an opportunity, I hope, to show more of my personality.
That also hinges a lot on the edits, which I haven’t been privy to see. I’m a little bit scared to see some of what’s going to be released because I do know, as with any reality show, you do have a lot of challenges with different characters. There’s a lot of heartache and personality that comes out when you have heart-to-hearts with each other, and things can get volatile and crazy. Of course, you don’t always want those things to be outed, but that’s what happens when you participate with a show like this. My hope is that audiences will see that I am not everything that a lot of people perceive me to be.
Those ideas that I’m going to be narcissistic, judgmental, or overly superficial because I chose to have body modification as a hobby and a passion in my life—people just assume that I’m going to hold others to some weird perfectionistic standards that I don’t even hold myself to. That’s not what my journey was about. It was about customization, creativity, and being an innovator in the field of plastic surgery. I hope this show will help make me a little bit more personable and make people realize that what they see of me in those short tidbits on television isn’t all that I am.
View this post on Instagram
Is there anything that happened while filming that you are super nervous for audiences to see?
I’m just nervous in general. I never watch myself on television. I like the filming process, but I don’t usually do viewing parties because it makes me very anxious. I completely hyper-analyze everything. My voice, my mannerisms, my facial expressions, all that. That makes me a little antsy, but there are also a couple tiffs that I had with individuals, one of which ended in quite a nasty way. I’m not looking forward to having that out, but it happened, and we repaired our friendship since, so I’m assuming it’s all good. It’ll be interesting to see how the public reacts when they see it.
The show does promise drama at every turn! Do you have a good relationship with all the guys, or are there any that you absolutely do not get along with?
Currently, I have a decent relationship with them all. I was pretty decent friends with Murray Swanby at the beginning of the show’s conception, and I think he was one of the initial primaries as well. Darren Tieste became closer to me over filming, and we’ve had our little things here and there. David Barta has always been super cool since the time that I met him on the show, and I look forward to hanging out with him more. He’s a sweetheart. Then Brennen Taylor and Landon Wetterstrom, they’re super sweet, and I feel like I didn’t have any grief with them on the show.
When Men of West Hollywood was initially announced in November, it received a lot of negative comments and feedback. How have you and the other guys been handling the public response?
If you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch. Like a car wreck, people want to stop and look even though they shouldn’t (laughs). Listen, I am no stranger to haters, and I’ve kind of built my career off that. When people hear that title “The Human Ken Doll,” they’re a bit curious, maybe a little disgusted, but they want to make a prejudgment about myself. I am no stranger to having those comments said about myself, my interests, and my life.
I don’t think this show will be any different. There’s a lot of controversy, and we explore a lot of different topics. When people personally open up about their private life, there are bound to be some things that everyone’s not going to agree with. I’m not going to say that it’s not tumultuous or controversial. That’s why it’s worth checking out! They love to pick apart our lives. They love to hate us.
You have said that you use plastic surgery as a way to express creativity. Can you talk more about that?
From a young age, I was infatuated with people like Joan Rivers, Dolly Parton, and Michael Jackson, and plastic surgery was something that ticked a couple boxes for me. First and foremost, I grew up in sort of a lower income family, and to me, plastic surgery was something rich people did. That’s how they showed their wealth, and I wanted to be like them. Maybe if I can have that, I can fake it till I make it and use this as a tool to slag my way into the one percent. Then marry a rich husband or find a boyfriend in the upper echelon group of society and schmooze my way in.
Additionally, I was interested in the creative side of plastic surgery as well. I was enamored with sketching, sculpting, and painting, but always the human form and the over stylization of the human form. Sketching, sculpting, and painting was something I did as a teen, but when I started to study up more about body modifications and what was available in the realm of plastic surgery, I became infatuated with using my body as a palette for my art. My body became my canvas to be able to express my creativity and do something rebellious and different.
I never set out to be or look like Ken, and I don’t even know if I do. That’s a media-imposed title that went viral and took off. Sure, I’ll grab on and try to monetize it. Honestly, I always thought of myself as an outsider. I felt like I never fit in, even in the gay community. When I came out, everyone said I was too feminine, and I didn’t feel masculine enough for the gays I was hanging out with. After I had my first nose job, I thought the hardest part was going to be paying for it, but it was invigorating. I was making myself to my own tune of beauty and remodeling myself.
Yes, I maybe look and act different, but I was intentionally making myself that way. I feel like that made me rebellious against the norms of what I thought society was telling me to be. The idea of customizing myself was very important to me, and it made me feel like I was investing into the person I wanted to become. That doesn’t necessarily just take the form of aesthetics. Obviously, we’re talking about aesthetic change, but mentally, it changed my thought process about being different. I was going to do it 10 times harder and flaunt it in your face.
I found a lot of strength in that. It didn’t have to do with the way I was born, what parents I had, or the hierarchy of the income group that my family had or didn’t have. I was able to define myself through my changes. As far as being creative, I just took what was out there. Plastic surgery is very much a female drive world, so there wasn’t much when I started doing my body mods. As a man, I had to go and say, ‘I’d like to do this. How can I innovate on it?’
I’ve received awards for innovation in the field of plastic surgery, and I don’t have a medical degree. Things that I’ve done for my own cosmetic change are now helping people who do have birth defects or have had accidents. The fact that I custom-design implants, that’s something you don’t see anybody else offering as a privatized service. It fills a need, and the need doesn’t necessarily always have to be cosmetic. If you’re using that physical change as a tool to move forward in your life in a better capacity mentally, gaining confidence and self-esteem, I think that that’s great.
View this post on Instagram
Do you have any surgeries lined up?
New ones? Oh, give me a break (laughs). I recently completed my eight-piece leg augmentations. All custom implants, all eight pieces at once. Now, I’m toying around with ideas. I’m always thinking about doing something else. It’s like asking an artist to put down the paintbrush. It never happens. If you’re a creative, you love to do what you love. It’s not about an obsession or being unhappy with the way I look. I’m just like, what could I do differently?
I think I’ll look at a mid-face suspension next. It sounds like I’m building a car. I’d also be interested in, potentially, doing jaw and cheek implants because I just have filler there right now. That’s something I would be interested in the near future.
Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?
I have a show that’s featured on Snapchat’s Discover page called Million Dollar Body Club. It’s my own subsidiary show under Hooked on the Look, and we’re interviewing some of the most modified people in the world. People who have spent close to a million dollars on their body, or their body makes them feel like a million bucks. People who have been very committed to the modification process, and we get to see some of their backstory.
Connect with Jedlica by following him on Facebook and Instagram @JustinJedlica, or visit his official website, JustinJedlica.com. Men of West Hollywood premieres on Crackle January 20, and stay up-to-date by visiting MenOfWeHo.com.
Photos Courtesy of Crackle, Gabriel Goldberg, Alexander Fost, and Social Media
What's Your Reaction?
