Rosie O'Donnell has shared a remarkable set of before-and-after photographs showcasing the results of a facelift she underwent in January. The 64-year-old actress and former talk show host agonised over the decision to have the procedure, which she described as a 'betrayal of feminism'.
O'Donnell eventually paid more than she had ever spent on a car for the surgery, only to emerge and realise that nobody noticed any difference. She rationalised the outcome as 'the best possible outcome' when she went public with the operation on Monday in a freewheeling blank verse post on her Substack.
'I didn't disappear, I didn't become someone else – I just stopped arguing with the mirror,' she wrote. 'And maybe that's enough. Or at the very least…it's what a lower deep plane face lift looks like when it minds its own business.'
As her disclosure went viral, she posted 'THE B4 & AFTER' to Instagram on Wednesday, allowing fans to make their own determination about how much had changed.
A Crisis of Conscience
O'Donnell had explained on Monday that she once held a strong moral objection to facelifts, having 'assigned myself as head of all women who would never' get one, viewing them as a betrayal of both feminism and the natural process of ageing. However, her position softened after she shed 50 pounds and discovered that her skin had begun to sag as a result.
'It wasn't wrinkles – it was gravity,' wrote the former The View anchor. 'I'd look in the mirror and think – this isn't aging, this is melting with intention.'
She confessed: 'I tried to be evolved about it. and say things like: “This is natural. This is earned.” And then… “umm how earned does it have to look?” There's a point where acceptance starts to feel like lying.'
The A League of Their Own actress, who left America and moved to Ireland to avoid living under the second Trump presidency, began researching the procedure.
Opposition from Her Daughter
However, she then had to contend with strenuous opposition from her 13-year-old daughter, Clay, who 'was not subtle' about her feelings. Clay's arguments against the facelift included: 'You earned your wrinkles,' 'Young women look up to you,' and 'I wouldn't be able to respect you if you did it.'
Clay reminded O'Donnell of her own 'younger, more certain, more morally rigid self' and successfully delayed the procedure for months.
Ultimately, O'Donnell persuaded herself that she did not want to teach her children that 'my body belongs to an idea either. Even a good idea. Even feminism.'
Overcoming her misgivings, she paid a price higher than any car she had ever purchased and went in for the operation. She recalled that 'right before I went under, I grabbed my doctors hand and said: “I will never say: 'God, I wish you did more.'” And I meant it.'
Imperceptible Results
The surgeon appeared to have taken her guidance seriously enough that 'no one has noticed' she had the lift. 'Not one person. Not a friend, not a stranger, not even people who owe me compliments. My teenager has not said a word. Nothing.'
O'Donnell has four adult children – Parker, 31, Chelsea, 28, Blake, 26, and Vivienne, 23 – who presumably also failed to detect the changes to their mother's face.
'I went through a full existential feminist crisis, had my face and neck surgically altered, and the result is… zippo,' she marvelled.
The facelift comes half a decade after she insisted she would never get one because it would prevent her from landing certain acting roles. In a 2019 interview with Vulture, she said: 'I always knew as an actress that when I got into my 60s, I would be playing the Geraldine Page roles. I wasn't going to have plastic surgery. I was going to look the way a woman my age should look, and I always thought that would be a blessing in my older age. I would get to play the Colleen Dewhurst roles. That has turned out to be true. I'm getting all this acting work now that I'm closing in on 60.'
