LONELY MUM

‘Being beautiful & clever is a curse – I have no friends!’

Fran Sawyer has felt lonely for 20 years, but refuses to fit in to please others…

While beauty is often seen as a blessing, it’s the complete opposite for Fran Sawyer. The mum-of-two struggles to maintain female friendships and has never been invited to a wedding – and she believes it’s because of her glamorous looks.

CONFIDENT

Fran, 55, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was even once told by her son’s headteacher to “park down the road” because her presence was upsetting the other school mums.

Fran explains, “I’m attractive and confident with a good personality and I think it just annoys people. I’ve tried to make friends, but it just never works out.”

Fran hasn’t always been so confident and admits that she used to be a real tomboy as a teenager. She explains, “I grew up with brothers and was into fixing cars and boxing. I wasn’t interested in make-up or fashion, but I was very curvy so I was a bit of an oddball. I had these hamster cheekbones and big lips which I used to get bullied for at school. I was called ‘Rubber Lips’ for years.”

But years later, during a holiday to Texas, USA, when she was 29, Fran decided to start embracing her beauty. She says, “I went to a nightclub and all the women in there were absolutely stunning. They were dressed so elegantly and they just oozed confidence. I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘I want to be like that too’.

I think high self-esteem makes anyone beautiful.”

Inspired by those women, Fran started to put more effort into her look and, using her natural creative flair, adopted her own “rock chick” style inspired by stars like Debbie Harry. Fran explains, “I loved wearing leopard print and high-heeled boots with big hair. I wore clothes to make me feel good and flatter my curves, but the more glam and confident I became, the less people wanted to know me.

“I had one friend for about 10 years on-and-off, who I’d helped out a lot, but when she got married, I didn’t get invited to the wedding. When I asked her why, she said, ‘Why do you think? Everyone will be looking at you’. I was really hurt, but that was the end of our friendship. I wasn’t going to change to please other people.”

THICK SKIN

Fran admits that she’s had to grow a thick skin over the last 20 years from being a single mum to Amie, now 29, and Alex, 20. She says, “Alex was born with a teratoma tumour and I had a stroke during childbirth and ended up in intensive care. My husband couldn’t handle my illness and my son’s disability, so we got divorced and I had to turn into Wonder Woman. I’ve had to work really hard and I’ve done well for myself. But when people see me making the most of myself and being confident, they see it as a massive threat. They don’t want to see m