Rosie O'Donnell shares before-and-after photos following candid facelift reveal

Shania RussellWed, May 27, 2026 at 5:06 PM UTC

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Rosie O'Donnell at premiere of 'Burlesque: The Musical' in 2025
Credit: Neil Mockford/WireImageKey Points -

Rosie O'Donnell is pulling back the curtain on her experience with cosmetic surgery.

The 64-year-old comedian posted before-and-after photos of her recent lower deep plane facelift on Wednesday.

O'Donnell posted a personal essay on Tuesday about undergoing the procedure despite years of publicly condemning plastic surgery.

Rosie O'Donnell is embracing her new look.

One day after the 64-year-old comedian got candid with fans on Substack about her recent cosmetic surgery, O'Donnell is making herself even more vulnerable by sharing side-by-side photos from before and after her facelift.

In an Instagram post captioned "THE B4 & AFTER," O'Donnell shared two snaps of her face on Wednesday. She also encouraged followers to read her essay on Substack, which divulges the story behind the procedure.

Rosie O'Donnell's before-and-after photos of facelift
Credit: Rosie O'Donnell/Instagram

On Tuesday, O'Donnell announced on Instagram that she underwent a lower deep plane facelift and, in her Substack post, explained how she arrived at the decision despite years of publicly condemning plastic surgery.

The View alum began by explaining that she had "assigned myself as head of all women who would never" get a facelift and spoke often about being "morally" opposed to the procedure because she felt it was  "a betrayal" of "feminism," "aging," and "our team of women worldwide."

But she began to soften her position after losing 50 pounds. O'Donnell wrote that the dramatic weight loss resulted in additional wrinkles on her face.

"I'd look in the mirror and think, this isn't aging, this is melting with intention," she wrote, adding that she soon started "considering something" that she "swore" never to do.

Along with her own moral oppositions, O'Donnell recounted facing pushback from her teenage child, Clay. "Young women look up to you," O'Donnell recalls Clay saying. "I wouldn't be able to respect you if you did it."

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In her post, O'Donnell acknowledged that this is something that resonated with her — which brought her to an important realization.

Rosie O'Donnell at the Sydney Opera House in 2025
Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty

"If I'm teaching Clay anything," O'Donnell wrote on Substack, "it can't be that my body belongs to an idea either. Even a good idea. Even feminism. Because that's still not freedom — that's just a different authority telling you what you're allowed to do with your own face."

The League of Their Own star has voiced skepticism over the need for cosmetic surgery and frequently said she never felt the need to undergo such procedures herself. In a 2021 interview with Vulture, O'Donnell argued that avoiding surgery had benefitted her career.

"I always knew as an actress that when I got into my 60s, I would be playing the Geraldine Page roles," she said. "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."

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O'Donnell, who got the facelift in January, wrote in her essay that she was shocked when no one seemed to notice.

"Not one person. Not a friend, not a stranger, not even people who owe me compliments," she wrote. "My teen daughter has not said a word. Nothing."

She added, "I went through a full existential feminist crisis, had my face and neck surgically altered, and the result is… zippo. Which honestly is the best possible outcome."

on Entertainment Weekly

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