Ricki Lake is reflecting on her close friendship with Rosie O’Donnell and the unexpected change in O’Donnell’s views after she decided to undergo a facelift.
“Rosie is one of my closest friends, and we speak constantly,” Lake, 58, said during Saturday’s episode of The Weekend View. She recalled that O’Donnell had openly questioned Lake and other friends who visited the same doctor and were pleased with their cosmetic results. “She would admit it. She was a little judgy,” Lake added.
Lake has previously revealed that she had a “deep plane lower face and neck lift along with a mild co2 laser” performed by Beverly Hills surgeon Dr. Allen Foulad in 2024. She said significant weight loss helped lead her to make the decision.
Earlier this year, the former daytime talk show host marked two years since the procedure and praised the outcome as “remarkable, natural, and long-lasting.”
Ricki Lake continues to stand by her 2024 facelift. “One year ago today I did a thing,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday, July 18. “Yes, today July 18th, is the one year anniversary of my deep plane lower face and neck lift, plus a mild co2 laser. I was in the […]
In a May essay published on Substack, O’Donnell, 64, admitted that she had once held strong opinions about facelifts, although she emphasized that her position was not rooted in morality. Her perspective shifted before she underwent a lower deep-plane facelift in January.
While discussing her friend’s transformation on The Weekend View, Lake said O’Donnell had often wondered why women believed they “needed” cosmetic surgery.
“Sure enough, she lost a bunch of weight on [GLP-1 drug] Mounjaro and she went and had it done,” Lake said. “She looks incredible.”
In her Substack writing, O’Donnell humorously recalled appointing herself the leader of women who vowed never to get facelifts. Over time, however, she began to reconsider that commitment.
The former Rosie O’Donnell Show host also revealed that her 13-year-old child, Clay, initially urged her not to proceed, telling her she had “earned [her] wrinkles.” Rather than stopping her, the exchange prompted O’Donnell to reflect on the importance of teaching Clay that bodies do not “belong to an idea.”
Ricki Lake remains happy with her decision to have cosmetic surgery. During a Monday, March 16, appearance on the “Inside Edit” podcast, the actor and host spoke enthusiastically about her results. “I told my doctor, Dr. Alan Fouad, who I met through another friend, that I didn’t do any research when I decided very impulsively to have my […]
Lake recalled taking her doctor’s hand immediately before surgery and promising, “I will never say, ‘God, I wish you did more.’” She said she wanted to avoid constantly chasing a different appearance or treating her face as an unsolvable problem. “I wanted a limit. I wanted to still be me, just … less haunted,” she explained. “And I do look like me — A slightly more well-rested, emotionally stable version of me.”
At the 2026 Tony Awards in June, O’Donnell told reporters on the red carpet that she did not expect to pursue additional cosmetic procedures anytime soon.
“Authenticity is the goal in these days and times, and people are lying about everything all day to the American public,” she said. “It’s very depressing to me and unsettling, and I think all that matters is truth and love.” O’Donnell added that she wanted to speak honestly about the complicated emotions surrounding her facelift.