Rosie O'Donnell Says Her Facelift Reveal Had Nothing to Do With Vanity: 'Authenticity Is the Goal'

For actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, honesty and authenticity have always been important. The 64-year-old recently opened up about her decision to publicly share that she underwent a facelift, explaining that “authenticity is the goal in these days and times.”

“I think all that matters is truth and love,” O’Donnell told E! News. “So I wanted to be truthful and talk about all the complicated emotions I had about it. I just wanted to say, ‘This is what I did, and here’s the doctor, if you want to’… but it’s very expensive—more expensive than any car I’ve ever bought. But I can’t drive around in my face.”

O’Donnell opened up in May that she had a facelift. She first shared a poem about facelifts on Instagram, writing, “I used to feel very strongly about facelifts, not casually—morally. I had assigned myself as head of all women who would never – ever.” O’Donnell added that she went from seeing facelifts as a betrayal of aging to viewing one as a personal choice that helped her feel more like herself. The next day, she shared a before-and-after photo on Instagram.

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The former View host has been making changes for the last few years. Last August she revealed she was on a health journey after having a heart attack in 2012. “I think, for me, always having a weight issue and struggling with weight my whole life, to the point I had a heart attack that almost killed me and [until] the doctor said, ‘You have to do this,’ I don’t think I would have done it ever,” she told People in a 2014 interview.

She shared with TikTok followers that, “I feel healthier. I’m sleeping better.”

O’Donnell took a multi-pronged approach to weight loss, which included gastric sleeve surgery in 2013, taking GLP-1 medication Mounjaro in 2022, and cutting sugar, while adding more protein to her meals.