At the 2026 Tony Awards, Rosie O’Donnell opened up about undergoing a discreet facelift, discussing her decision when questioned on the red carpet.
The 64-year-old comedian had previously disclosed on her Substack last month that she opted for a facelift, expressing that she felt “shameful” about the procedure and noting that its cost exceeded any amount she had ever spent on a car.
While attending the Tony Awards in New York City on Sunday, O’Donnell elaborated on why she chose to be transparent about her cosmetic surgery.
Speaking to E! News, she emphasized, “In today’s world, authenticity is crucial, and it seems like people are constantly deceiving the American public. It’s disheartening and troubling. I believe that truth and love are what truly matter, so I wanted to be open about my mixed feelings regarding the surgery.”
However, she also acknowledged that not everyone in her circle supported her decision to undergo cosmetic surgery.
“My little autistic 13-year-old said to me, ‘If you do it, I would not be able to respect you ever again,’” she recalled. “And that put me off it for a few months, but then when I went and did it in January, I came home 10 days later, and they never noticed.”
The “Harriet the Spy” star shared that she felt it was better to be truthful about it and to get ahead of a tabloid revealing it before she herself did.
“I just wanted to say, ‘This is what I did, and here’s the doctor, and if you want to,’” she shared. “But it’s very expensive — it’s more expensive than any car I ever bought, but I can’t drive around in my face.”
O’Donnell isn’t planning to get any more plastic surgery, as she said she fixed the issues she wanted to — loose skin and two lines in her face.
“I’m on Mounjaro over the last three years, I have diabetes too, and I lost over 50 pounds, and that was responsible for a lot of the extra skin that I had around my face,” she told the outlet.
In her Substack post, O’Donnell said she was pleased with the results of her pricey plastic surgery. She also shared unfiltered before-and-after pics on Instagram of her facelift.
“I wanted to still be me, just … less haunted,” she wrote. “And I do look like me — A slightly more well-rested, emotionally stable version of me.”
“I didn’t disappear, I didn’t become someone else — I just stopped arguing with the mirror,” she added. “And maybe that’s enough. Or at the very least … it’s what a lower deep plane face lift looks like when it minds its own business.”