Celebrities Who Regret Going Under The Knife

The following article includes descriptions of mental health issues and eating disorders.

Every year, millions of people get cosmetic surgery, lip fillers, Botox, and other body modifications. Some say they do it to maintain a youthful look, while others have said they feel it's necessary to remain relevant in public-facing fields. This is a common concern of celebrities, who often find it difficult to stay in the limelight as they age. It's unfortunate, but it's not uncommon, and many celebrities who go under the knife regret doing so.

Regret can come immediately after a procedure, or it can build up over time. Many celebrities who have undergone surgery to change their physique are happy with the results ... initially. Years later, they may think that their appearance doesn't look natural enough, or other issues compel them to have their procedures undone. This happens more often than people realize, and celebrities aren't immune.

After all, celebrities are people just like everyone else, and they have the same insecurities about their self-image as the rest of us. That said, the fact that celebrities are often the focus of media attention that points out their physical changes can potentially impact their positive self-image. These celebrities went under the knife but ultimately regretted doing so for various reasons.

Tori Spelling had her breasts augmented in her 20s and regretted the procedure after becoming a mother. In an interview with ABC, Spelling revealed that had she known then the impact the implants would have on her milk production, she wouldn't have gotten them. "I love being a mom. I'm on my third baby. That's my role. These don't matter." Despite her regret, Spelling kept the implants well into her 40s.

In 2021, Spelling revealed that she was finally doing something about her implants, which had expired and were recalled. Ultimately, she decided to replace them. In an interview with Jeff Lewis on SiriusXM's "Jeff Lewis Live," Spelling revealed that she would replace her recalled implants with new ones that would be "a little bit bigger."

Spelling could have decided to replace her implants instead of removing them entirely so she could maintain a similar figure. It's often necessary to replace implants after 15 years or more, so it's common for people to undergo replacements and enhancements periodically. Her concern over milk development could also be moot if she decides against having more children.

In 2017, Victoria Beckham penned a letter to her 18-year-old self covering everything from handling the spotlight to body positivity and marriage. In the letter, published by British Vogue, Beckham addresses her breast augmentation, which she got when she was 25. "And I should probably say, don't mess with your boobs. All those years, I denied it — stupid. A sign of insecurity. Just celebrate what you've got."

Her letter included some additional advice: "Learn to embrace your imperfections – that is what I want to tell you." Beckham's letter was addressed to herself, but her advice applies to anyone undergoing the same issues of body positivity she experienced as a young woman. 

For years, Beckham routinely denied having her breasts augmented despite the apparent change in her cup size. She finally admitted to it a few years before penning her letter, telling Allure she no longer had breast implants, though she didn't elaborate. Beckham's confession about her regretted breast augmentation came with little detail. That said, Beckham discussed looking at pictures of herself from years past and cringing at how large her breasts were.

In a 2022 interview with Vogue, Bella Hadid opened up about getting a nose job when she was 14. "I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors. I think I would have grown into it." Hadid is an American of Dutch and Palestinian ancestry and looks a lot like her mother, former model Yolanda Hadid, though their noses no longer look similar.

Hadid elaborated, saying, "People think I fully f**** with my face because of one picture of me as a teenager looking puffy. I'm pretty sure you don't look the same now as you did at 13, right?" Hadid regrets getting her nose job at 14 and admits to having imposter syndrome, saying about her career, "People made me feel like I didn't deserve any of this."

In 2021, Hadid burned out and became depressed and nearly suicidal, requiring two and a half weeks of in-patient treatment. Much of her mental health revolves around her self-image and how she's perceived. She summed it up succinctly in her Vogue interview: "Everything that I do in my personal life is literally to make sure that my mental state stays above water. Fashion can make you or break you."

Ayesha Curry has three children with her husband, Stephen Curry, and found her way onto an episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about motherhood. The annual Mother's Day episode had Curry on via a home video link, and she answered questions about the best parenting advice she could give.

Curry offered several helpful tips, ending on her most profound: sleep when the baby sleeps, though she admitted it took her three kids to find that out. After the Q&A, Ellen challenged Curry to find one thing in her home that she never wants to see again. Curry ran and got her implants, which she jubilantly held up for everyone to see, explaining why she was happy never to see them again.

"These are my old implants, and I've been waiting for the perfect moment to have like a going-away party for them because they weren't good to me, they didn't work for me, they work for some people, but they've got to go. And I don't ever want to see them again." DeGeneres responded with, "Good for you! Bye-bye, implants! Well, we had a party for them on your Mother's Day show."

Sharon Osbourne has been an outspoken proponent of plastic surgery for decades, but she changed her mind after a botched facelift in 2021. Osbourne spoke with The Sunday Times in 2022, explaining why she decided to swear off plastic surgery. Osbourne told The Times, "I'm telling you, it was horrendous. I'm like, 'You've got to be f***** joking,' one eye was different. I looked like a f****** Cyclops. I'm like, 'All I need is a hunchback."

Osbourne's fifth facelift left her feeling like a mummy. She was in incredible pain following the procedure and thought she looked odd. She explained how she pushed the envelope with her last facelift, and her husband, Ozzy Osbourne, who's also gone under the knife, was put off by her appearance, telling her, "I don't care how much it costs, we'll get it redone."

Osbourne told The Times that "natural settling" seems to have repaired the damage from the previous operation, as her eyes appear normal, and she's once more pleased with her appearance. Still, it's unlikely Osbourne will go under the knife again, telling The Sun, "That one put me off, and it frightens me. Time is against me; I cannot have another facelift."

Linda Evangelista was one of the 1990s most fabulous supermodels, and throughout the decade, she appeared on magazine covers and anywhere high fashion demanded. Evangelista was everywhere, but she disappeared after undergoing a procedure called CoolSculpting, which severely disfigured her body. The procedure freezes and kills fat cells without having to cut into the body for liposuction, making it favorable for being noninvasive.

Unfortunately, less than one percent of people who receive the procedure can develop paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), and Evangelista drew the short straw. PAH enlarges tissue masses, resulting in the opposite of the intended effect. She told People, "I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong ... I got to where I wasn't eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind." After receiving the procedure, Evangelista disappeared from public life, ending her modeling career far too soon.

Evangelista addressed her absence in a 2021 Instagram post, explaining that she was "brutally disfigured by Zeltiq's CoolSculpting procedure." The supermodel sued Zeltiq Aesthetics for $50 million, citing negligence in failing to inform her of the risk of PAH before the procedure. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in 2022.

Mickey Rourke was a Hollywood superstar throughout the 1980s, but after several critical failures, he left the limelight to launch a boxing career, which resulted in facial injuries and physical changes. Rourke's face required several procedures to return his Hollywood heartthrob looks, but it didn't go well.

Rourke told the Daily Mail about his plastic surgery, saying, "Most of it was to mend the mess of my face because of the boxing, but I went to the wrong guy to put my face back together. I had my nose broken twice. I had five operations on my nose and one on a smashed cheekbone. I had to have cartilage taken from my ear to rebuild my nose and a couple of operations to scrape out the cartilage because the scar tissue wasn't healing."

That's a lot of work, and it made Rourke unrecognizable. Movies featuring the actor before and after his boxing career show an entirely different person. Rourke found a better doctor and had much of his earlier work reversed. What couldn't be fully repaired was minimized, and in 2017, Rourke had another nose job, finally expressing on Instagram, "Now I am 'pretty again.'"

If you or anyone you know needs help with mental health, suicidal ideations, or an eating disorder, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741 or the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

• If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

• The National Eating Disorders Association website or NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237, or 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).