entertainment

The man who spent $100,000 to look like Justin Bieber has been found dead.

 

In life, he was ridiculed and shamed for his decisions. In death, he should be remembered as a human being who deserved respect.

Tobias Strebel, also known as Toby Sheldon, was best known in his life for spending over $100,000 on various plastic surgery procedures to make himself look like pop star Justin Bieber.

His life was the subject of scrutiny and ridicule, from strangers on the Internet who laughed at his obsession and didn’t understand him.

But when 35-year-old Strebel went missing a few days ago, the conversation that was once solely focused around why a person would go to such extreme lengths to emulate a celebrity, turned to sadness and mystery.

tobias strebel
Tobias Strebel. Image via E!

Today, Tobias Strebel’s body was found in a motel in California, the state where he and the object of his obsession, Justin Bieber, lived.

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He was found next to some medication, but no other details have been released about his death at this stage.

Strebel gained notoriety after he appeared on an episode of the U.S. TV show, Botched, about plastic surgery. Strebel approached the surgeons on the show in his quest for more surgery to look like Justin Bieber, but was denied by the surgeons. He later appeared on shows like My Strange Addiction and The Doctors as his quest for more surgery continued.

You can watch a clip of Toby’s appearance on My Strange Addiction below. Post continues after video.

In his quest to change his appearance, Strebel had hair transplants, lost weight by starving himself, and says it originally started because he didn’t want to grow older.

“What brought me to Bieber was the whole package: the full cheeks, the full temples, the bright open eyes, the full luscious lips and spacial framing,” he said on Botched.

“[He’s] just extraordinarily beautiful.”

What is abundantly clear in this story is that the life of Tobias Strebel was a troubled one. In life, he was ridiculed and shamed for his decisions.

In death, he should be remembered as a human being who deserved respect.