Rosie O’Donnell has shared candid before and after facelift photos after admitting she felt “embarrassed” about her facelift surgery.
The comedian, 64, shared an unfiltered photo on Instagram on Wednesday, explaining in a personal essay that the procedure cost her “more money than I ever paid for a car.”
“And it’s almost embarrassing to me,” she wrote via Substack on Monday. “The excess of what I have, as some people say, hurts me.”
Ms O’Donnell has previously opposed plastic surgery, explaining that she once vowed to “never” have it done and branded it a “betrayal” to feminism.
It wasn’t until the “A League of Their Own” star lost 50 pounds and noticed more wrinkles that she had a change of heart.
“I tried to evolve about it, and I said things like, ‘This is natural. This is earned.’ And then…’Hmm, how much do I need to look like I’m earned?'” she said.
“There is a point at which acceptance starts to feel like a lie,” O’Donnell wrote.
The actress explained that she started researching, and that her 13-year-old child, Clay, tried to talk her out of it by reassuring her that the wrinkles were “coming up.”
“That’s — first of all — disrespectful,” she said. “But… you’re right. Then Clay said, ‘Young women respect you.’ And then, finally, with great effect, ‘If you did that, I wouldn’t be able to respect you.’ And that… it landed.” ”
After putting off surgery for months, O’Donnell decided that Clay needed to be taught that he had authority over his own body.
“So in January I did it,” she continued. “I found a doctor I trusted who was still treating friends who looked just like us…I wanted to be the same person I had always been, but I just…it didn’t bother me as much.”
The “Sleepless in Seattle” star praised the surgery, saying he still looks like himself, just “a slightly more well-rested, emotionally stable version of himself.”
Ms O’Donnell claimed that despite having “surgically altered her face and neck”, “no one” noticed any changes in her appearance.
“I stopped arguing in the mirror,” she continued. “That might be enough.”
Additionally, O’Donnell vowed to use her voice when she feels “called to,” concluding that she is moving forward as a woman in the “third act.”
