Plastic surgery is no rarity for celebrities, seeing as their entire livelihoods involve standing in front of a camera — whether that be to shoot movies or make content.
But, similar to a tattoo, these alterations are permanent and are difficult to undo. With that comes the very large possibility of regretting them later in the future. Here are a couple of people who have voiced that exact concern over the procedures done to their body.
#1 Madonna
Madonna has never talked about her cosmetic surgeries — and whether or not she’s actually gotten them — but speculation resurfaced in 2008 when she was seen with facial bruising, making some believe she had gotten a lower eyelid surgery.
Or perhaps it was the result of a ‘ribbon lift,’ a procedure that tightens loose skin by inserting bioabsorbable ribbons into the neck, as said by Bright Side.
As the singer reflected on her past looks, she merely said, “I do sometimes think: ‘Oh God, what was I thinking…’”
Image credits: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
#2 Bella Hadid
28-year-old Bella Hadid always had to look her best as one of the world’s most well-known models and her feelings of being the “uglier sister” compared to Gigi Hadid weren’t working in her favor.
In March of last year, she opened to Vogue and said she regretted the decisions she made about her body.
“I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors,” she shared.
Image credits: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images
#3 Kim Kardashian
Many members of the Kardashian family are known to have undergone procedures, but perhaps Kim is the most well-known. The twist? The mother-of-four believes none of it really mattered.
She said to The Telegraph in 2002 that she had “a little” plastic surgery such as liposuction and Botox. But she admitted, “And you know what? None of it works. None of it.”
Image credits: kimkardashian
#4 Nicole Kidman
As someone whose job centers around being in front of cameras, Nicole Kidman has gone through multiple cosmetic procedures to look the part — and she’s been candid about her experience with them.
In 2003, she admitted, “I did try Botox, unfortunately. But I got out of it and now I can finally move my face again.”
Image credits: SGranitz/WireImager/Getty Images
#5 Kylie Jenner
A majority of people have seen the photos of Kylie Jenner, before and after her surgeries and safe to say, it’s a stark difference. But while she’s repeatedly denied her participation in a few of these procedures, she opened up on The Kardashians about how she really felt with her breast augmentation at 19 years old, before welcoming her daughter, Stormi.
“I had beautiful breasts,” she shared. “I just wish I never got them done to begin with.”
Jenner also explained that she’d feel “heartbroken” if her daughter made similar choices at such a young age.
Image credits: llen Berezovsky/WireImage/Getty Images
#6 Cardi B
After shooting her 2024 song Like What, the rapper admitted she got surgery and got a few injections in her backside removed.
In December of 2022, the Grammy winner also revealed that she had “95%” of her biopolymers removed from her buttocks that August.
Image credits: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
#7 Cameron Diaz
In general, Cameron Diaz just isn’t a fan of anything ‘unnatural.’ After all, she shared with Entertainment Tonight in 2014 what happened when she tried a small amount of Botox.
“It changed my face in such a weird way that I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to [be] like [that].” Instead, she’s embraced the natural aging process and even talked about how her laugh lines are something she takes a lot of pride in.
“Guess what this meant? I’ve smiled my whole life,” she challenged.
Image credits: Jun Sato/WireImage/Getty Images
#8 Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra is a successful woman in a lot of ways, but she definitely wasn’t very happy after getting a botched nose surgery.
Opening up on the Howard Stern Show, she revealed the mistake drove her into a “deep depression.” At one point, she even debated ending her acting career.
Image credits: Patrick Durand/Sygma/Getty Images
#9 Tori Spelling
Tori Spelling rose to fame for her role in 90210, and it was during production when the actress got breast implants — something she’s later come to regret in terms of being a mother.
She shared, “If I would have known it would or could possibly impact the production of breast milk, I would never have had them done.”
Image credits: Harry Langdon/Getty Images
#10 Khloé Kardashian
Khloé Kardashian has admitted that she once considered herself the “ugly duckling” sister of the Kardashians, and turned to surgery procedures to get rid of that cruel nickname.
She shared that while she did have one nose job, she wasn’t a fan of the cosmetic fillers she’d gotten done.
“I had to go and get this whole thing dissolved,” she said on her show Kocktails with Khloe. “It was a bummer, and now I’m afraid to do it again. And I’m almost like, I swear things are still in my face.”
Image credits: khloekardashian
#11 Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey was all the craze in Hollywood during the 1980s. But as the years passed, she seemingly disappeared from the spotlight.
In 1990, she had two rhinoplasty procedures that left her with a face that was ‘unrecognizable’ to both her fans and her friends — so it’s no surprise the actress has some regrets.
“I went in the operating room a celebrity and came out anonymous,” she remarked.
Image credits: Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images
#12 Ariana Grande
The pop singer has a history of utilizing lip fillers and botox as the years have passed and got transparent with ELLE on what that’s meant for her.
“Full transparency: As a beauty person, as I do my lips, I’ve had a ton of lip filler over the years and botox,” she said. “I stopped in 2018 because I just felt so too much. I just felt like hiding, you know?”
For a period of time, she saw ‘beauty’ as a means to hide who she really was, but now she’s embraced the process of aging, describing it as “such a beautiful thing.”
Image credits: E! Insider
#13 Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin has often stood in front of the mic, speaking about her past experiences with cosmetic procedures.
Over the years, she’s gotten surgeries such as liposuction and a nose job. The former went horribly wrong as Griffin said it was “life-threatening” and showed pictures of post-liposuction operation to remind people, especially young women, of what could happen during these procedures.
“Check this out — they’re, like, crime scene CSI pictures,” she described.
Image credits: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage/Getty Images
#14 Tara Reid
Tara Reid has been brutally honest about what it was like to go under the knife. In 2004, she underwent a breast implant surgery but suffered unforeseen complications from it. As a result, she was forced to undergo a number of other procedures, many of them of a corrective nature which, ironically, led to more problems.
For the actress, all of this was a big mistake, and she lost a lot of work because of it.
“I mean the body-shaming that’s going on right now is to a degree that it’s so bad,” she added.
Image credits: Albert L. Ortega/WireImage/Getty Images
#15 Linda Evangelista
Canadian fashion model Linda Evangelista thought her cosmetic surgery would change her life for the better. However, after undergoing CoolSculpting treatments — known as a non-invasive fat reduction process that freeze/eliminate fat cells — between 2015 to 2016, she developed Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH).
This side effect causes her fat cells to expand, rather than shrink. It’s an experience that’s left her feeling “brutally disfigured” and, as one of the most photographed women in the world, she was forced to seclusion for almost five years.
Image credits: UK Press/Getty Images
#16 Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham has claimed multiple times that she’s never gotten anything done. During an interview on Today With Hoda & Jenna, she addressed the rumors about her nose, saying, “I have never, ever, ever, ever had anything done.” Instead, she’s cited “clever contouring” as the reason why people may speculate a procedure.
She did, however, admit that she’d gotten breast implants — before removing them in 2014. Now, she’s all about being natural and focusing on skincare and self-care.
“It’s about looking like the best version of yourself,” Beckham said.
She also wrote an essay to her younger self for British Vogue in 2016, which read, “I should probably say, don’t mess with your b–obs. All those years I denied it — stupid. A sign of insecurity. Just celebrate what you’ve got.”
Image credits: Kevin Mazur/VF12/WireImage/Getty Images
#17 Heidi Montag
Heidi Montag has been fairly transparent on the surgeries she’s gotten done, including brow lift, chin reduction, breast augmentation, liposuction, and Botox, saying that she “sometimes” regrets undergoing so many procedures at just 23 years old.
She also revealed that she had almost passed away after getting 10 plastic surgeries at once. “I was in immense pain,” she said.
Image credits: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage/Getty Images
#18 Reid Ewing
Best known for his role on Modern Family, Reid Ewing suffered from body dysmorphia for much of his life, according to WatchMojo. This is what drove him to undergo multiple surgeries such as a cheek and chin implant, all before he reached 21.
But he’s had regrets about this decision.
“I wish I could talk to my younger self and tell him to just… don’t go through with it,” he said in an interview. “You really don’t need it. You look fine.”
Image credits: Charley Gallay/WireImage/Getty Images
#19 Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers hasn’t been someone who’s shied away when it comes to admitting the surgeries he’s gotten. But that doesn’t mean he’s immune to regretting a few of them, namely the ones he’s done to his eyes.
According to the singer, they aren’t as warm as they once were, and that’s something he definitely misses.
Image credits: Kypros/Getty Images
#20 Courtney Cox
Our beloved Monica from Friends has openly admitted to getting numerous fillers and injections over the years, since starring in the sitcom. And it hasn’t escaped her attention that these procedures did not age well on her.
Talking to Bear Grylls in Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Cox said, “I have done things that I regret and luckily, they’re things that dissolve and go away.”
Image credits: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
#21 Jamie Lee Curtis
While Jamie Lee Curtis was in her 20s, a cameraman she worked with told her she had puffy eyes. As a young woman in the industry, it isn’t a surprise that she took other people’s opinions to heart.
In response, she got plastic surgery but later admitted, “I tried plastic surgery and it didn’t work. It got me addicted to Vicodin.”
Image credits: CBS/Getty Images
#22 Ashley Tisdale
The High School Musical star revealed in 2020 that she had gotten her breast implants removed due to health issues and shared what she’s learned in an Instagram post.
“Over the years I’ve met with many holistic and non-holistic doctors and learned the importance of living a non-toxic life,” she said.
Image credits: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
#23 Joe Rogan
“The dumbest thing I’ve ever done” — those were the words used by Joe Rogan to describe his hair transplant. Now, he’s admitted that he’s got a “giant scar” clearly visible on the back of his head that “looks like a smile.”
He said that while some people have said the procedure is reversible, he knew there was no way to truly fix it.
One expert on social media suspected the podcaster may have gotten an FUT, similar to the FUE, which stands for follicular unit extraction, where doctors will make disorganized tiny little pinholes in a wide area to avoid bald spots.
Image credits: SGranitz/WireImage/Getty Images
