Rosie O’Donnell Reveals Before-and-After Images of Her Facelift

Rosie O’Donnell is opening up about her recent cosmetic surgery experience.

Just a day after announcing her facelift, O’Donnell, 64, took to Instagram to share side-by-side photos highlighting her transformation.

“THE B4 & AFTER,” she captioned her post on Wednesday, May 27, where she featured her results and mentioned that her full story was on Substack.

In a detailed poem named “Decisions” published on her Substack, O’Donnell candidly discussed her reasons for opting for the procedure, despite her earlier opposition.

“I used to have very strong feelings about facelifts. Not just casually – morally. I had taken it upon myself to represent all women who would never — ever do that,” she reflected. “I believed it was a betrayal. Of feminism. Of aging. Of women everywhere. And then I lost 50 pounds…”

She continued, “It wasn’t about wrinkles — it was gravity. Looking in the mirror, I thought — this isn’t aging, this is melting with intention. I tried to have an evolved perspective, saying, ‘This is natural. This is earned.’ Until I wondered… ‘How earned does it need to appear?’ At some point, acceptance starts to feel like deceit.”

As O’Donnell gathered “information” about the procedure, her child Clay, 13, found out about her considerations and attempted to dissuade her. (O’Donnell is also a mother to Vivienne, Blake, Chelsea, and Parker.)

“‘You earned your wrinkles,’” she recalled Clay saying. “Which — first off — rude. But also … true. Then Clay added, ‘Young women look up to you.’ And finally, with strong impact, ‘I wouldn’t be able to respect you if you did it.’ And that one … hit home.”

O’Donnell mentioned that Clay sounded “exactly” like her younger self, which “really threw [her].” She delayed “the whole thing for months,” continuing to reflect on it. Ultimately, O’Donnell understood she needed to teach Clay that bodies are not defined by societal expectations.

“Because that’s not true freedom — that’s merely another authority dictating what you can do with your own face,” she explained. “I want [Clay] to grow up knowing they don’t have to change, but also have the option to, if they choose, without losing their moral integrity.”

In January, O’Donnell went through with the cosmetic procedure.

“Just before going under, I grabbed my doctor’s hand and said, ‘I will never say, ‘God, I wish you had done more.’ And I meant it,” she reflected. “I didn’t want to become that person — the one who constantly adjusts the goalpost, never satisfied, turning their own face into an unresolved issue. I wanted a boundary. I wanted to remain myself, just … less burdened. And I do look like me — a slightly more rested, emotionally balanced version of myself.”

Since then, O’Donnell said that “no one has noticed” any change in her appearance.

“I didn’t disappear or become someone else — I just stopped fighting with the mirror,” she added. “And perhaps that’s sufficient. Or at least… it’s what a lower deep plane facelift looks like when it respects its own existence.”

O’Donnell concluded, “As I prepare for the final day of school with my youngest — the caboose — here at 64, with a refreshed lower face and neck, I’m just grateful to be alive, feel, choose, and use my voice whenever needed, for the girl I was, the woman I am, and all those who join me as we move forward into act three. This is me.”