Rosie O’Donnell shared candid before-and-after facelift photos after admitting how she felt “shameful” about the procedure.
The comedian, 64, took to Instagram Wednesday to share the unfiltered snaps, as she explained in a personal essay that the procedure “cost more money than [she has] ever paid for a car.”
“And that feels almost shameful to me,” she wrote via Substack Monday. “The things I have — earned some say, but it’s the gross excess that wounds me.”
O’Donnell explained she used to be against the plastic surgery procedure and once pledged to “never” get one, labeling them as a “betrayal” of feminism.
It wasn’t until the “A League of Their Own” star lost 50 pounds and started to notice more wrinkles that she had a change of heart.
“I tried to be evolved about it. and say things like, ‘This is natural. This is earned,’ she said. “And then … ‘umm how earned does it have to look?’”
“There’s a point where acceptance starts to feel like lying,” O’Donnell penned.
The actress explained she started doing research, and her 13-year-old child, Clay, attempted to talk her out of it by reassuring her she had “earned” her wrinkles.
“Which — first of all — rude,” she said. “But also … correct. Then Clay said, ‘Young women look up to you.’ And finally — with strong effect — ‘I wouldn’t be able to respect you if you did it.’ And that one … landed.”
After months of putting off the surgery, O’Donnell decided that she needed to teach Clay that people have authority over their bodies.
“So in January, I did it,” she continued. “I found a doctor I trusted — who had worked on friends of mine who all still looked like themselves … I wanted to still be me, just… less haunted.”
The “Sleepless in Seattle” star praised the procedure, stating that she still looks like herself, just “a slightly more well-rested, emotionally stable version” of herself.
O’Donnell claimed that “no one” noticed a change in her appearance despite having her “face and neck surgically altered.”
“I just stopped arguing with the mirror,” she continued. “And maybe that’s enough.”
Additionally, O’Donnell vowed to use her voice when she feels “called to,” concluding that she is moving forward as the woman she is for “act 3.”