Amber Luke, 24, got her first tattoo when she was just 16 years old.
She says her first tattoo at 16 was inspired by her battle with clinical depression. The tattoo read: ‘You can keep knocking, but won’t knock me down; no love lost, no love found.’
The model, from the New South Wales Central Coast, has spent $55,000 on modifications such as tattoos and surgeries. She told Daily Mail Australia: ”It was very relatable to my life at that point in time as I struggled with bullying for my mental health.”
”I was labelled an ”attention seeker” at such a young age when I was just merely struggling to live a normal life.”
She was diagnosed with severe clinical depression the year she got her first tattoo. When she turned 23, she was re-diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder with schizophrenic traits, along with severe clinical depression.
”That was really hard for me to hear, that I wasn’t ‘normal’ in the brain. It really messed with me to think, ‘why couldn’t I have been born with the right chemicals in my brain,” she said. ”The first time was when I hung myself three years ago in an abandoned park.”
‘The second time was when I crashed my car into a tree going 100km/h, intentionally. I wish I knew back then that I was worth so much more than my mental illness. I am so much more than my mental illness. It doesn’t define me.”
During her teenage days, she had a ‘relentless purging addiction.’ Amber was told she needed to gain five kilograms for her upcoming Brazilian butt lift surgery.
She said, ”I cried [when they told me I needed to put the weight on]. But I wanted it to bad I moved past my demons. I’ve since gained eight kilograms.”
”Your mind will rule you if you do not rule it. Your body is your temple and you only get one, so treat it with respect. It’s your only true home. I want people to know who are struggling, that there’s always hope.”
‘One day, I realized I’m not only living for myself here, I’m someone’s friend, someone’s daughter, someone’s lover,’ she said.
”I’m something so much more than this illness. You can do anything you set your mind to. You’re faced with some pain, but when you get through it, you’re left with something permanent and beautiful that’s apart of you now.”
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