A former waitress who swapped serving
tables for a career as a Britney Spears lookalike has pocketed a
staggering £300,000 as a full time doppelganger.
Michaela
Weeks, 25, bears an incredible likeness to the pop princess and has
been able to live the glamorous life of a genuine star since beginning
her new career.
She
has spent £30,000 on a fleet of top of the range sports cars including
an Audi TT, a Mercedes SLK and a Toyota MR2 and has splashed out on two
houses.
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Michaela Weeks, 25 swapped serving tables for a hugely successful career as a Britney Spears lookalike
Michaela has pocketed a staggering £300,000 as a full time doppelganger due to her incredible likeness to the pop princess
Michaela, left in the classic red leather cat
suit Britney wore in the Oops... I did it again video (right), can
charge up £3,500 for a single appearance as the star
Michaela,
who can charge up to £3,500 for a personal appearance, said: 'I feel
very blessed to look like Britney and to be living the life I am now. I
bought my first house at the age of 19 when most people my age were
living with their parents, working in TopShop and still going to
college.
'The
best part is that I'm a huge Britney fan - it would be awful if I had
to impersonate someone I hated. If I ever get to meet her I just want to
thank her for giving me this life and for looking so much like me.'
She bought her first house
aged just 19 with partner mechanic Craig Warrington, 28, for £115,000
and three years later they bought their second home for £150,000.
Michaela
considers herself 'Lucky' that her resemblance to Britney has seen her
travel the world on assignments. She has starred in a Kaiser Chiefs
video and even posed for renowned celebrity spoof photographer Alison
Jackson.
Michaela bears a striking resemblance to the
young pop star in the school girl outfit from Britney's debut single
'Hit me baby one more time'
Over the years she has earned £300,000 impersonating the star.
But
life was very different for Michaela before, who worked in her local
cafe in Ilkeston in Derbyshire for two years until she was 17. Wiping
down tables and serving customers was her daily routine but now she
belts out hits in front of thousands of screaming fans across the world.
Uncanny resemblance: Britney wore a ringmaster
outfit for her Circus tour (left): Michaela's career has enabled her to
live a luxury lifestyle and she owns several luxury cars as well as two
houses
Michaela considers herself 'Lucky' that her resemblance to Britney has seen her travel the world on assignments
Britney Spears caused a sensation when she appeared in her Toxic music video as a sexy air hostess
Michaela bought her first house at the age of 19
with her partner for £115,000 and three years later they bought their
second home for £150,000
VIDEO Michaela Weeks's Britney promo showreel...
She first realised her striking
resemblance to the pop icon when Britney burst onto the music scene
with Baby One More Time in 1998.
Over
time the catcalls of 'hit me one more time' and 'Hey, it's Britney!'
from passersby in the street became more frequent and Michaela
eventually entered a lookalike competition for Granada TV at the age of
16.
Incredibly
she failed to make the cut but the following year she was called back
on the show, called Stars and Their Doubles, and won her category.
Michaela, here in the infamous catsuit from
Britney's Toxic video has featured in a Kaiser Chiefs music video and
been photographed by reknowned lookalike photographer Alison Jackson
Michaela owns a copy of the nude jeweled bodysuit Britney wore in her Toxic video
Michaela said: 'I tried a bit
of modelling after that but every time I tried to do something different
people kept coming back to the Britney thing.
'In
the end the pull was so strong I packed in my waitressing job and
decided to give it a go full-time and I haven't looked back since.'
From
there, work as a Britney lookalike started flooding in and Michaela
began putting together a tribute act with the help of a vocal coach and
choreographer.
But
it has not all been plain sailing for the Spears lookalike. Michaela
nearly lost her home when Britney suffered her much publicised breakdown
in 2007.
Michaela relaxes, enjoying her luxury lifestyle,
in her hot tub in the sexy outfit worn by Britney in her 'I'm a slave
for you' music video
Michaela first noticed her resemblance to
Britney (left) when she was 16 but it was after pursuing modelling for a
while that people really convinced her she looked like the popstar
Michaela's success means her day-to-day life now is a far cry from her old life where she worked as a waitress
The troubled singer spent spells in
rehab, attacked paparazzi, lost control of her finances and custody of
her children and famously shaved her head.
Michaela's
fortunes began to mirror those of her famous counterpart and as Brit's
stardom began to wane, so did her lookalike's.
She
said: 'When Britney first had her meltdown and shaved her hair I was
still getting bookings and even went out to LA for a job. The wilder she
acted, the more work I was getting.
'But
then my partner and I moved house, taking out a bigger mortgage. We
figured no matter what Britney did there was nothing that would stop my
busy work schedule because the press always lapped up her antics.
Michaela has a whole wardrobe full of Britney's most famous outfits, and says she is a big fan of the star herself
Michaela at 14 (left) and aged 16 (right) when she was working cleaning tables in her local cafe in Ilkeston in Derbyshire
'But
then Britney stayed out of the limelight for a long time and my work
started to dry up. We soon fell behind with our mortgage, and I had to
sell my sports car to pay off some of our debts.
'It
was a really difficult time and I began to feel desperately low and
guilty for getting us into such a mess. I struggled to get regular work
with the recession, and ended up working for agencies and doing odd jobs
to try and keep up with the bills.
'The
only proper job I'd ever had was being Britney and although I had a
beauty qualification I had never put it to any use. I had nothing to
fall back on.
When Britney recovered from her 2007 breakdown,
out of the public eye, work dried up for Michaela, causing financial
hardship and worries about the future, but Britney's comeback means work
is up again
'We went through the winter not being
able to have the heating on because we couldn't afford to pay the bills
and we had to layer up with jumpers and socks and snuggle under
blankets just to keep warm.'
The
work soon took off again as Britney released her fifth studio album
Blackout, going on tour and making the top ten in charts all around the
world.
Michaela said: 'Work slowly started coming in again with odd appearances here and there, which helped towards the bills.
'The more she did, the more work I started to get again and we started to get back on track.
'It
was a really difficult time but I'm still so grateful for being able to
do what I do, I feel really lucky to get to do such a cool job and
something I really enjoy.'
