What happened to Justin Bieber lookalike Toby Sheldon from Botched?
By Mads Lennon
With the first season of the plastic surgery reality show Botched streaming on Netflix, there is renewed interest in some of the people who were on the show during those early episodes, including the dedicated “Belieber” Tobias “Toby” Strebel, who went by the name Toby Sheldon.
In 2014, Sheldon made headlines for admitting he had spent upwards of $100,000 to look like Justin Bieber during the height of his fame, specifically when Bieber was around 18 years old, which Sheldon felt was the epitome of beauty. On his episode of Botched, which is the fourth episode of season 1, he claims that some people even mistook him for the pop star after his many surgeries.
Sheldon also sang and wrote his own music. During his Botched episode, he’s shown singing one of his songs in the recording studio. He returns for the Botched season 1 reunion special.
Besides Botched, Sheldon also appeared on the TLC show My Strange Addiction, where he revealed some of the specific plastic surgery procedures he’s had done over the years, as you’ll hear in the following clip.
According to Sheldon, he’d gotten hair transplants, brow filler, skin removed under his eyes, and extensive mouth surgery to emulate Bieber’s smile. He also had work done on his a chin to mimic the structure of the singer’s jawline.
Sadly, the German songwriter passed away in August 2015. He went missing on August 18, 2015 and on August 21, his body was found in a Motel 6 in the North Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Sheldon was 35 at his time of death.
According to an autopsy report obtained by The Wrap, he died of multiple drug intoxication and was found with Valium, Xanax, alcohol, and the sleep aid temazepam in his system. Other drugs, such as hydrocodone and acetaminophen, were also reportedly found in his room.
The LAPD believed his disappearance might have been triggered by a recent break-up with his boyfriend at the time, but the coroner’s report indicates that his overdose was accidental.