Beauty queen Margaret Gardiner has bravely shared her battle with cancer, revealing that an ordinary trip to the salon led to one diagnosis. The 65-year-old, who won Miss Universe in 1978, said her ordeal started when she had a facial that uncovered some concerning red flags.
“A couple of years ago, maybe three or four, I went for a facial, which I usually don’t go for, and they opened something, and it never healed. When I’d shower, it would start to bleed.
“…I was really, really lucky because even afterwards, you know, it just didn’t heal. And so, I went back to [the salon] and I said, ‘Can you zap this?’ And she’s like, ‘Maybe you should go and speak to a skin specialist?’ Usually, when it doesn’t heal, that’s a sign.”
After seeking further medical advice, Margaret discovered that her unusual, open sore was indeed cancer. Generally, this is referred to as an ulcerating wound, taking place when a cancerous tumour reaches the skin’s surface and breaks through.
While these are notoriously difficult and sometimes impossible to remove, Margaret underwent a biopsy to do just this, leaving a hole around half a centimetre wide on her face. As a cover girl with a glamorous career, this flipped Margaret’s world upside down, but she was grateful that medics found the cancer promptly.
“Luckily, the hole was only about half a centimetre big,” Margaret said. “But actually, for a hole when you look in your face, that is quite big.
“They got a plastic surgeon to take my skin and pull it across, and so my nose is skew like that…They had [initially] told me that they were going to take my forehead and flip it over to cover the hole in my face, and that they would have to regrow the skin.
“So I was going to be horribly, horribly scarred. I’m so grateful for my skew, but you know, so I don’t look like I did, but I’m really grateful for looking the way I do.”
Sadly, this isn’t the only time Margaret has suffered from cancer. Around 24 years ago, medics also found a sarcoma in the centre of her chest.
This especially rare form of tumour was removed in what Margaret remembers being a 10-hour operation, with a skin graft then required to cover the hole that formed in her chest.
Margaret said these experiences have not only scarred her body but have taken a significant toll on her mental health. In the past, she has even tried to stay out of the public eye.
But now, she chooses to celebrate herself, continuing to star in photo shoots and appear on magazine covers. She’s even written several books, including Damaged Beauty: Joey Superstar, published in February.
“I think that you know, for women ageing and even young people, we’re always looking at ourselves and saying, ‘Oh, we wish we looked different’,” she continued.
“But I think that what we’ve really got to start doing is look in the mirror and say, ‘You are awesome, just who you are,’ and start celebrating you. When the outside gets destroyed, your inside shines through.
“That’s what will get you through the years.” She later added: “You know, also from the book side, one of the things that it’s examining is image.
“Image projected on you, image we take on ourselves, and what’s going on behind the image. And, I think women in particular are framed by society to compromise who we are and meet an aesthetic and a standard that can tie us in knots.
“You know you have to be a lady, but you also have to be sexy, smart and strong, but if you’re too strong, you’re a b****. People want to put you on a pedestal, but then they look for your faults. In the world of modelling and beauty, and it’s more apparent how this damages you.
“But in every industry, women daily are having to navigate how to present themselves, so they are acceptable….We must have more and more of this conversation amongst women.”
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