The Traitors winner Meryl Williams spent winnings on ‘brutal’ forehead surgery

27 January 2024 , 12:46

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The Traitors winner Meryl Williams spent winnings on ‘brutal’ forehead surgery

Meryl Williams, who won BBC show The Traitors in 2022, has revealed that she underwent forehead reduction surgery after scooping the top prize but has warned others that the procedure is "not for the fainthearted".

The 27-year-old won the first season of the popular BBC show has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia and this has lead to a larger forehead after the growth of cartilage is affected by it. Meryl won £33,000 on the show as her share of the prize and has used some of this for the surgery.

Meryl inquired about the procedure with a surgeon at London's Harley Street Specialist Hospital in February last year and eventually went under the knife in July, with the procedure taking two hours. The Traitors star said that she had always "hated" her forehead and had grown a fringe with her hair to help hide it.

Meryl celebrated winning The Traitors in 2022 with surgery to her forehead (BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Paul Chappells)

The procedure saw Meryl having her upper part of her forehead removed before having her scalp lifted and moved forward. She said about the recovery process after the operation, when speaking to MailOnline, said: "I genuinely looked like I'd had a fight. I went into hiding for about a month and didn't leave because it was yellowish and the bruising as well. It looked a lot worse than it was and people thought I was in a lot more pain than I was. Then I started noticing the hair loss, obviously with a cutting along the hairline, hair is going to fall out. I was fortunate enough that it did grow back."

Meryl said her surgery was 'brutal' (Meryl Williams / SWNS)

Meryl is pleased with the results of her surgery (MERYL WILLIAMS /instagram)

Despite being pleased with the results, Meryl admitted that she wouldn't want to go through the procedure again and said that "it's not for the fainthearted". She continued: "But it was still the best decision and I'm so glad I've done it. I'm glad I've just got it out of the way. It's something that I wouldn't want to have to go through again."

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The stitches were removed three weeks later and Meryl said she was thankful that she didn't feel anything. She said: "My forehead was still numb, so the stitches weren't as bad to remove because obviously he was removing it from the area that was numb, but you could still kind of feel it."

It has been a long road to recovery as it has taken over six months for her hair to grow back but Meryl has said that she is now reaping the benefits of having the surgery and is pleased with the results.

James Brinsford