A woman 'obsessed' with giraffes has given up on her dream of stretching her neck after spending years wearing a stack of heavy metal rings.

Sydney Smith, 30, from Los Angeles, California, who calls herself 'the giraffe woman', wanted to be known around the world for her long neck.

Inspired by t he Kayan people in South East Asia, who are known for stretching their necks with brass coils, Sydney had her own set of rings custom made and spent five years slowly adding more in an attempt to push down her collarbone.

At its heaviest, the stack was made up of 15 rings and weighed an incredible 5lbs.

But Sydney has now given up on her quest, admitting her life had become ruled by the rings.

She said: 'I couldn't function properly as a long neck woman with fifteen rings around my neck in the United States of America.

'Unless you are willing to completely isolate yourself and you're a trust fund baby and don't ever need to leave the house, don't ever need to drive, then maybe you can pull it off.

Sydney still considers herself the 'Giraffe Woman,' although these days her neck is in physical therapy a couple of times a week to ease the stiffness caused by the weight of the rings.

When Sydney took the necklace off, she had severe bruising around her collarbone and said her 'neck felt very weak, kind of like arms on a toothpick.'

Her recovery is moving along faster than doctors predicted and Sydney doesn't regret her attempts to lengthen her neck.

'People have this misconception that they think that your neck is going to look super long when you remove the rings,' she said.

'It goes back to normal. I do feel my neck is longer than when I started but I feel like it has shrunk since I took them off.

'I really enjoyed the feeling of the rings around my neck. I miss the sensation of the weight on the collarbones, which was in a weird way very comforting.'

Barang chgout wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:03 pm Looks more like a pig than a giraffe.

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Cinnamoncat wrote:

Barang chgout wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:03 pm Looks more like a pig than a giraffe.

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It's an odd publicity stunt, for sure, but she's a beautiful woman.

I don't see why you would say she looks like a pig.

Barang chgout wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:04 pm

Cinnamoncat wrote:

Barang chgout wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:03 pm Looks more like a pig than a giraffe.

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It's an odd publicity stunt, for sure, but she's a beautiful woman.

I don't see why you would say she looks like a pig.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the customer is always right.


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