it’s often thought that celebrities who have had
plastic surgery hide that fact at all costs. but as stars from ronnie ortiz-magro and ariel winter to kelly rowland and courteney cox have shown, that assumption isn’t always right.
some hollywood actors and reality tv stars — hello, real housewives! — who have gone under the knife are proud of it and love to celebrate the fact. others simply don’t want to perpetuate the stigma of shame that can come from
getting aesthetic procedures and see no point in keeping them a secret. then, of course, in cases like heidi montag’s 10 procedures in one day, the before and after pictures would have made a denial impossible!
sometimes, a little nip/tuck or some
facial fillers can help with aging; but other celebs have talked about getting
nose jobs at a young age or breast enhancements or reductions that have helped with everything from confidence to pain relief. in other cases, the reason is purely aesthetic —
liposuction for better abs for the best beach body possible; injections for plumper lips;
chin implants for a balanced look. and in still other instances, stars such as tv journalist julie chen were told changing their features would help their careers.
at times, stars admit they’ve gone too far with face-lifts or have had
plastic surgery nightmares. montag, for example, had developed health problems from her surgery and had changed her mind about beauty ideals. after getting some of her enhancements reversed by a different plastic surgeon, she told us in 2013 that she had even considered not doing that. “i just didn’t want to go back under surgery because it was just so traumatic and something i never — i’m so sick of being the surgery girl. it was the last thing i wanted to do: re-bring that all up; it’s just been such a nightmare in my life,” she said. but she realized she had to do it: “i was like, ‘well it’s not really a choice because now it’s affecting my health.’”
sonja morgan
the real housewives of new york city star unveiled her before and after photos in july 2020, and revealed she had a
face lift and
neck lift after she wrapped season 12 of the bravo series. “people thought i was nuts because it was so subtle. but not to me,” morgan wrote via instagram. “it was a no-brainer – gravity had taken its toll, i was also exhausted and i needed a ‘pick me up.’
gia giudice
the daughter of teresa and joe giudice announced via instagram in july 2020 that she got a
nose job. gia was 19 at the time of the procedure.
“yes, i got a
nose job. yes, i’m swollen,” she wrote. “thank you so much, i’m absolutely in love with it
i am an adult now, this has been an insecurity of mine for a while and i’ve never been happier and so comfortable in my own skin!!”
chrissy teigen
the cravings cookbook author owned up to getting her breasts done when she was a young sports illustrated swimsuit model — and totally regretting it. “i did my boobs when i was about 20 years old,” teigen told glamour u.k. in march 2020. “it was more of a swimsuit thing. i thought, if i’m going to be posing, laid on my back, i want them to be perky! but then you have babies and they fill up with milk and deflate and now i am screwed.” the always candid lip sync battle co host kept her
plastic surgery revelation lighthearted, teasing the big news from her glamour cover story on instagram. “talk about a weight lifted off my chest!!!” she joked.
angelina pivarnick
the reality star revealed on instagram in february 2020 that she got a boob job, praising the same plastic surgeon former jersey shore: family vacation co-star nicole “snooki” polizzi used for her 2016 breast enhancement. “my boobies are my favorite part of my body now,” pivarnick raved in the post.
jessica simpson
the fashion designer revealed in her january 2020 memoir, open book, that she had two
tummy tucks in 2015. “i wanted to get rid of the
stretch marks and loose skin left sagging from my back-to-back pregnancies,” she wrote. “i was so ashamed of my body at this point that i wouldn’t let eric see me without a white t-shirt on.”
she suffered complications after the second procedure, however, and stayed in a hospital for nine days. “i got an infection — colitis — and was vomiting so much i thought i was going to bust my sutures. … doctors talked seriously about me needing a blood transfusion.”
teresa giudice
the real housewives of new jersey star revealed in january 2020 that she had a second
breast augmentation nearly 12 years after her first. “i believe it’s important to always stand strong and feel like your best most confident self,” she wrote, noting that she “was very nervous to re-do my breasts” but “could not be happier with the results.”
dina manzo
the real housewives of new jersey alum revealed she got a
nose job after fans called her out for looking different in december 2019.
“when the thing on the center of your face changes you’re gonna look different lol. two years ago, i got my nose fixed,” she wrote at the time. “i hate
fillers plus they’re so damn expensive… @drghavami likes to say ‘keep em guessing’ so i’ll leave it at that. i had a really hard time adjusting to my new nose, especially the first year. although my dr is amazing at what he does,
it did change my overall look. i had a prominent italian rounded nose and now i had this perfectly proportioned petite nose. it’s a big adjustment especially when you live with the same face for 45 yrs.”
sharon osbourne
on the season 10 premiere of the talk on september 9, 2019, the host shared that she’d gotten a
facelift in august. “it was five weeks today that i had my operation,” she said. “i had my neck done, my jowls … he kind of pulled it from the top of my head and put an elastic band in it. but everything was just lifted up. so it looks more refreshed.” and though she said she was in a bit of discomfort, she found it worth the results: “you can’t complain [about pain] when you wanted to do it!” osbourne, who has talked about previous cosmetic procedures too, had announced in june 2019 that she planned to get the procedure done over her summer break.
cardi b
the singer is open about most things — including her
plastic surgery past. after she welcomed her daughter, kulture, in july 2018, she revealed she’d gotten a
breast lift and
liposuction and defended the choice in a may 2019 instagram live session. “listen, i do whatever the f–k i want to do with my body,” she said. “let me tell you something, bitch. i don’t have the time of day like you do. like, my job as an entertainer is a 24-hour job, bro. so no, i don’t have time to work out and i wanted specific things that i know that no matter how much i work out ― does not get fixed… like my boobs, no matter how much i work out, they were not gonna lift themselves. so yeah, i had to get f–ng surgery.” but after she was forced to cancel several shows due to health complications, the “bodak yellow” rapper — who’d previously revealed she had once gotten illegal butt injections — realized it wasn’t worth it. “i been working out for the past 2 weeks cause b**ch i ain’t getting surgery again:joy::joy::joy:,” cardi tweeted in june 2019. “but let me tell you i haven’t got a headache ever since.”
ronnie ortiz-magro
in may 2019, the jersey shore star revealed that he had undergone
liposuction to enhance his six-pack after welcoming his daughter, ariana, the year before. “i’ve always been a workout fanatic, and i’ve always been in shape, but it also takes a lot of hard work to stay in shape,” he said in a video on the show the doctors. “a year ago to the day, my life completely changed. i had a little baby girl. she’s like my guardian angel, and now i can’t spend two to three hours every day in the gym like i used to.” his surgeon dr. christopher khorsandi described the procedure as “laser high-definition
liposuction of the abdomen.” the result? “we’re going to be able to get that area in between each of his abs completely defined so that he actually has a six-pack for many, many years to come,” the pro noted.
vicki gunvalson
from a
rhinoplasty to a
chin implant to
botox, the real housewives of orange county star has never been shy about the multiple
facial procedures she’s gotten over the years. in july 2018, gunvalson told us weekly that the eyelid
blepharoplasty and face-lift she had just gotten would be her last procedures. “put a fork in it, i’m done!” she said. the reality star also had many of her
fillers removed at the same time. “i had a lot of
fillers in my face and i didn’t feel like it was me anymore,” she told us. “i had too many doctors, too many different times say, ‘let’s do this, let’s do that, let’s fill here, let’s do voluma, let’s do sculptra,’ and by the time i was done i looked in the mirror and was like ‘i don’t even look like myself.’”
courteney cox
she’s had her fill of
fillers! “you have no idea because it’s gradual, until you go, ‘oh, s–t. this doesn’t look right.’ and it’s worse in pictures than in real life,” the friends alum told new beauty magazine in 2017. “i’ve had all my
fillers dissolved. i’m as natural as i can be. i feel better because i look like myself. i think that i now look more like the person that i was. i hope i do.”
kylie jenner
in july 2016, the beauty maven finally admitted she relied on
fillers to make her pout plump. asked by her sister kim kardashian in an allure interview if she had any beauty regrets, jenner answered, “well, i definitely made my lips a little too big at one point.” after her big sis agreed, jenner continued, “i got excited and felt like i needed to do a lot. and then you guys were like, ‘kylie, you need to chill.’ and then i had to go back and have it fixed, and it was a crazy process. thank god i didn’t end up on botched.”
jane fonda
“i’m two years older than my dad was when he died,” fonda told the guardian in 2015 of her actor father, henry, who starred in 1981’s on golden pond. “katharine hepburn was three years younger than i am now when she made that movie. people looked older back then. i wish i were brave enough to not do
plastic surgery but i think i bought myself a decade.”
iggy azalea
in 2015, the rapper, who had already shared that she’d had a
breast augmentation, confirmed to seventeen that she had gotten a
nose job. “i’m not denying it. denying it is lame,” she told the mag. “i don’t think you should be ashamed if you made a change to yourself, which is why i’ve spoken about the changes i’ve made, like with my breasts.” but she also noted that choosing surgery is not an easy road. “
plastic surgery is an emotional journey,” the grammy winner noted. “it’s no easy feat to live with your flaws and accept yourself — and it’s no easy feat to change yourself. either way you look at it, it’s a tough journey. there are things that i didn’t like about myself that i changed through surgery. there are other things i dislike but i’ve learned to accept.”
ariel winter
the modern family star got a
breast reduction at age 17, which she’s said helped ease back pain and increase her confidence. “on [red carpets], i just said to myself, ‘you have to do your best to look confident and stand up tall, and make yourself look as good as you can in these photos,’ because everyone is going to see them,” she told glamour. “i definitely seemed confident; i’m an actress, that’s what we do. but on the inside, i wasn’t feeling so happy.”
jane seymour
the actress relies on diet and exercise rather than surgeons to keep her eternally youthful looks. “i tried
botox once and hated it,” she told et in 2014. “it was just the worst thing ever.” but she made clear that she’s not against all enhancements, admitting she had breast enhancement surgery to replace “what the kids ate.”
julie chen
the journalist revealed on the talk in 2013 that, after getting racist feedback from a boss when she was 25 years old, she had surgery to make her “asian eyes” look bigger. “i was working as a local news reporter in dayton, ohio,” the chinese-american television personality said. “i asked my news director over the holidays, ‘if anchors want to take vacations, could i fill in?’ and he said, ‘you will never be on this anchor desk, because you’re chinese.” she continued: “he said, ‘let’s face it, julie, how relatable are you to our community? how big of an asian community do we have in dayton?’ on top of that, because of your heritage, because of your asian eyes, sometimes i’ve noticed when you’re on camera and you’re interviewing someone, you look disinterested, you look bored.'” she received similar feedback when searching for an agent, and decided to have an eye procedure. though she was conflicted about her decision at the time, the ambitious star doesn’t have regrets. “no one’s more proud of being chinese than i am,” she said after her revelation. “every decision i’ve made … it got [me] to where we are today, and i’m not going to look back.”
kelly roland
rowland took the decision to get a breast enhancement very seriously. “i wanted to get breast implants when i was 18, but my mom and beyoncé’s mom told me to really think about it first,” the destiny’s child alum told shape magazine in 2013. “i took their advice and waited 10 years.” even once she decided, she proceeded carefully. “once i felt ready, i tried on padded bras and walked around in them to see how it would feel,” she added. “you have to know what you’re getting, no matter what type of surgery it is.”
heidi montag
the hills star famously underwent 10 procedures in one day in late 2009, including breast implants to bring her to an f cup, a
brow lift, a
nose job update, lipo on her stomach and thighs and a butt augmentation, and shared the news and photos in march 2010. three years later, she had big regrets — and health problems as a result. “i just didn’t realize what i was really signing up for,” the reality star told us in 2013, after having some of the work reversed. “it just sounds so minor when you have a surgeon describing so much of it to you, like, ‘ok, great, a little of this, a little of that.’ you’re not told the recovery time and the mental strain that it will put on you, and the long term.”
ashlee simpson
the star has never explicitly confirmed the
nose job she is widely believed to have had in the spring of 2006. however, she more or less told us weekly in the years after that her bridge had, indeed, been surgically slimmed. “as long as people have two eyes,” simpson told us, “you probably know the answer.”