She famously sang ‘It’s expensive to be me’ in her short-lived pop career, is rumored to have once spent $40k-a-month on a glam squad and has admitted to undergoing plastic surgery during her marriage to embattled ex-husband Tom Girardi.
But on Sunday, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, 50, gave fans a rare glimpse into how she looked before all of that, as she shared an epic throwback image of when she was just 18-years-old.
In the black and white headshot, circa 1989, a fresh-faced Erika looks almost unrecognizable without all the smoke and mirrors – including a well-documented nose job that she underwent at age 41.
Wow: Erika Jayne looks unrecognizable in a fresh-faced throwback snap that she posted to her Instagram account on Sunday (circa 1989)
Major makeover: Erika Jayne (pictured L in 2009 and R in 2020) has had quite the transformation during her marriage to Tom Girardi
Erika’s expensive vanity purchases have been called into question this year, as ex husband Tom, 82, is accused of embezzling millions that was owed to the relatives of Lion Air Flight 610 plane crash victims in 2018.
The reality star has also been named in the suit, over an alleged payment of $25m that Tom is said to have given her for personal expenses. However, Erika has denied having any knowledge of the situation and the alleged embezzlement.
Still, there is no doubt that living the high life with her rich older husband Tom helped Erika’s dramatic transformation take shape over the years.
Transformational: Erika, 50, pictured left, circa 1989, and right earlier this year
After meeting when she was just 27, Erika married Tom in 1999, and the pair stayed married for 21 years before she ended it last year.
Her transformation can be partly attributed to the nose job and Botox injections she has previously admitted to having.
The RHOBH star confessed to having a nose job at age 41 on Watch What Happens Live.
‘It was the same face, just a different nose,’ she said when presented with a photo of herself looking dramatically different in 2010.
Before and after: Jayne has admitted to having a nose job and spending upwards of $40,000 a month on her beauty routine
But it isn’t just cosmetic procedures that are responsible for her head-turning look.
Erika spends a fortune to look as good as she does, and once admitted to having regularly spent upwards of $40,000 a month on her beauty routine.
‘If you want to look good—it’s hair, it’s makeup, it’s wardrobe, and then those people that help facilitate that…they’re not cheap,’ Exxpen$ive singer said on the Wendy Williams Show in 2018.
Now: Erika is pictured above on a recent reunion show for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
The eye-popping amount is actually relatively reasonable compared to others, Erika insisted in an interview with E! News.
‘There are many people that spend a lot more. So 40 is actually kind of on the low, when you really start getting into what’s done,’ she said.
Photos of Erika’s beauty evolution over the last 10 years speak for themselves, with the singer appearing noticeably more glammed up over the years.
Throwback: Jayne prior to her nose job and working a naturally beautiful look in 2010
The transformation begins: Jayne’s nose was noticeably slimmed down following her 2012 nose job (pictured L in 2010 and R in 2012)
The beauty transformation was evident as early as 2010, when Erika appeared on the red carpet with glossy lips and loose waves.
Erika’s metamorphosis was also noticeable in 2012, the year she underwent her nose job.
The star was pictured with a noticeably slimmer nose while on the red carpet.
Little of Erika’s appearance has changed in recent years, however, with the star embracing her super glam look and head full of bright blonde hair.
Priceless: Jayne admitted to spending upwards of $40,000 a month on her beauty routine (pictured 2019)
Reasonable: In an interview with E!, Jayne admitted $40,00 was less than what others paid for their monthly glam routine
A star on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, Erika has been making headlines lately for her divorce from husband Tom and his embezzlement scandal.
Erika, who was married to Tom for 21 years and did not have a prenup with him, filed for divorce last year.
Jayne and Girardi have since been accused of embezzling millions of dollars meant for families who lost loved ones in the 2018 Lion Air plane crash in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claimed their divorce was a ‘sham’ in order to protect his money from debt collectors.
Signature look: Little of Erika’s appearance has changed in recent years, however, with the star embracing her super glam look and head full of bright blonde hair
Sources close to Erika told TMZ last month that she insisted she had ‘zero clue’ what the 82-year-old Girardi was doing with his or her money and that all money she had earned went straight to him or his law firm, Girardi & Keese.
In September, Jayne was ‘ordered to turn over financial records’ from her accountant, lawyer and landlord in embezzlement lawsuit with Girardi.
The order comes as a bankruptcy trustee continues to investigate Girardi’s assets, amid claims that both Girardi and Jayne allegedly embezzled settlement funds that were meant to help the families of plane crash victims on Lion Air Flight 610.
However, according to legal documents obtained by People magazine, Jayne’s lawyers were already maintaining that the reality star ‘has been and remains willing to cooperate fully with the Trustee’s investigation in this bankruptcy of debtor Girardi & Keese.’
While Erika maintained that she was ‘kept away from the books,’ the trustee in a new lawsuit is mandating that even if that were to be the case ‘it would be a miscarriage of justice if [she] was allowed to simply walk completely free of owing over $25,000,000 to the Estate.’
In hot water: Girardi is currently under investigation amid accusations he ‘misappropriated at least $2 million’ meant for the families of those killed in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia (He and Erika Jayne pictured in 2016 above)
