Rosie O’Donnell is opening up about her recent cosmetic procedures, including a facelift earlier this year.
The former talk show host used to be against any cosmetic enhancements, promising herself to never alter her features, though a recent health change tipped the scales.
Admitting Her Facelift
O’Donnell revealed her facelift within a May 25th Substack post.
She got a lower deep plane facelift in January that “cost more money than I have ever paid for a car.”
This led her to feel guilty about the decision.
She wrote, “My privileged place in this world, and that feels almost shameful to me. The things I have – earned some say, but [it’s] the gross excess that wounds me.”
Debating on the Procedure
The comedian wasn’t immediately down to do the procedure, either. She prefaced her post by stating she’s always felt “very strongly about facelifts” and was proud to be someone “who would never – ever” have one done.
She added, “I thought it was a betrayal. Of feminism. Of aging. Of our team of women worldwide. And then I lost 50 pounds…”
While she normally accepts her body the way it is, Rosie O’Donnell said it begins to feel inauthentic to be completely against cosmetic procedures.
“There’s a point where acceptance starts to feel like lying.”
She started to research options, but hit a roadblock when her daughter, Clay, found out about her plans and was against it.
Clay told Rosie, “Young women look up to you” and that she “wouldn’t be able to respect you if you did it.”
It struck a chord with O’Donnell, and she admitted that Clay “sounded exactly like me. Like my younger, more certain, more morally rigid self had somehow moved into my house.”
A Learning Opportunity
Rosie then took the exchange with her daughter and turned it into a learning opportunity for the rest of her children.
She wrote, “I want them to grow up in a world where they don’t feel like they have to change but also know they can, if they want to, without losing moral standing in their own life.”
She went forward with the process, choosing a doctor recommended by friends. However, she made it clear that this wasn’t the start of an unending process of procedures.
She continued, “I didn’t want to become that voice—the one that keeps moving the goalpost, never satisfied, the one that turns their own face into a problem. One can never quite solve. I wanted a limit.”
Final Thoughts
After her procedure was done, O’Donnell claimed that no one realized she underwent a facelift.
“Not one person. Not a friend, not a stranger, not even people who owe me compliments. My teen daughter, has not said a word. Nothing. I went through a full existential feminist crisis, had my face and neck surgically altered, and the result is… zippo,” she shared.
While the comedian is happy with the results, she did admit there’s a “sense of deceit I’m struggling with.”
“As I get ready for the last day of school with my youngest – the caboose, here at 64 years old with a new lower face and neck, just happy to be alive. Able to feel and choose and use my voice whenever I feel called to,” she added.
“For the girl I was. The woman I am. And all those joining my ranks as we carry on in act 3. This is me.”