{"id":19302,"date":"2024-07-02T15:31:56","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T13:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/lowveld\/?p=19302"},"modified":"2024-07-02T15:45:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T13:45:47","slug":"19302","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/lowveld\/blog\/2024\/07\/02\/19302\/","title":{"rendered":"Flexing for the camera comes naturally to home-grown Lowvelder, JP Labuschagne."},"content":{"rendered":"

well-known model in New York circles, JP is living his best life. But despite appearances, it wasn\u2019t always this easy. A normal, well-adjusted little boy, JP was just like his classmates up until the age of seven, when a freak accident during a rugby game left him with serious injuries in both eyes. \u201cI woke up in the hospital and the doctor informed me that I had suffered retinal detachment and that I was going blind,\u201d he says. The doctors performed an emergency operation, but unfortunately, they were unable to save his left eye, leaving it shrunken and deformed. \u201cI was devastated,\u201d he remembers. \u201cI finally returned to school and was bullied because of what I looked like. They said I was ugly. I was called a cyclops and made to feel like an outcast.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was called a pirate and was constantly made fun of for being different, yet again. I realised there was nothing I could do<\/p>\n

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JP was devastated. He went home in tears and told his parents what had happened. His dad suggested he wear an eyepatch, saying that if the kids couldn\u2019t see his eye, they would stop bullying him. The next day, he wore his eyepatch to school. \u201cThe bullying got worse. I stood out even more, which made me an even bigger target,\u201d he says. \u201cI was called a pirate and was constantly made fun of for being different, yet again. I realised there was nothing I could do. I would face ridicule no matter what I did, which ultimately led to me suffering from depression at an early age.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, after the bullying had been especially bad, JP went home and Googled \u2018one-eyed models\u2019.
\n\u201cI desperately wanted to find someone I could relate to. In hindsight, I realise what I wanted more than anything was hope. I wanted to see if there was someone like me out there who was able to seamlessly fit into society. I needed a role model, someone who could show me that I could be successful despite what I looked like. Sadly, at the time, there was no one like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to my prosthetic eye, I was able to regain some of my confidence<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Life continued in much the same vein. Then, at the age of 14, JP\u2019s mum found out about a prosthetic eye that could fit over the damaged one. \u201cI was overjoyed! This prosthetic gave me the chance to finally be normal; to fit in. I started wearing the prosthetic, and all of a sudden, people treated me differently. Now that I looked normal, I was able to make friends, I was able to get girlfriends. I worked hard and became a male model. Thanks to my prosthetic eye, I was able to regain some of my confidence,\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n