{"id":379234,"date":"2026-04-07T08:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379234\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:30:18","slug":"denise-richards-unfiltered-facelift-before-and-afters-are-a-gift-to-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379234\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Richards\u2019 Unfiltered Facelift Before and Afters Are a Gift to Us All"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of Dr. Ben Talei – Beverly Hills Center<\/p>\n

Denise Richards, 55, earned sex-symbol status with a string of steamy movie roles in the \u201990s before posing for Playboy in 2004, and appearing in two seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Now she\u2019s going viral for what may be her most provocative move yet: revealing the unedited before-and-after photos<\/a> of her recent facelift.<\/p>\n

Richards didn\u2019t just push the boundaries of the current trend toward more aesthetic honesty, she blasted them open, sharing with Allure<\/a> every intimate detail of her plastic surgery. Most remarkably of all, she revealed her clinical before-and-after photographs as well as candid shots with her face marked up the morning of surgery and bruised and swollen in the days following. Once the story broke, Richards\u2019 surgeon, Ben Talei, MD<\/a>, a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, posted his complete set of standardized before-and-after photos<\/a> of the actor, showing her from multiple angles, unfiltered and makeup-free, with consistent lighting and expressions. Countless outlets picked up the photos, flooding the internet with Richards\u2019 face.<\/p>\n

Historically, only a small handful of famous people have been honest about the plastic surgery behind their \u201cageless\u201d faces; far, far fewer have ever shared the real before and afters. These photos, which are part of a patient\u2019s medical records, are taken in the plastic surgeon\u2019s designated studio, in accordance with strict guidelines. Pre- and post-op, the patient is photographed using the same camera on the same settings, from a prescribed distance, at specific angles, against uniform backdrops, in consistent lighting, both smiling and straight-faced. What media outlets typically tout as \u201ccelebrity before and afters<\/a>\u201d are something completely different. These are pictures captured out in the world, often at glamorous events, at two separate time points\u2014prior to and following an alleged procedure. The images generally display a fair amount of production value\u2014makeup, good lighting, contrived poses\u2014and may be layered with filters. Richards\u2019 reveal was entirely raw.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/p>\n

Denise Richards photographed from all angles before and after her surgeries.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Dr. Ben Talei – Beverly Hills Center\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why the public response to her disclosure has been overwhelmingly positive\u2014celebratory, even. As a plastic surgery reporter who\u2019s approaching 50, I was thrilled to see it\u2014people commending Richards\u2019 honesty, praising Dr. Talei\u2019s surgical skills, and marveling at the time-machine-like results. Of course, I also scrolled upon the occasional \u201cWhy can\u2019t we just be allowed to age naturally?\u201d comment, which tends to turn up, in some form or another, on almost every plastic surgery post. The anti-interventionist who posed the question on Allure\u2019s Instagram<\/a> received a fair amount of pro-choice pushback from readers (242 of them at last look), including Richards herself, who replied: \u201cI respect your opinion. I believe everyone has a choice and [can] do what’s best for them and for me this was best.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been loud applause for the Richards-Talei collab from the plastic surgery community. Dr. Talei\u2019s post<\/a> featuring the star\u2019s before-and-afters, along with a nuanced breakdown of her surgery, has racked up more than 222,000 likes and roughly 10,000 comments\u2014many from big names in the field. Amongst the barrage of clapping-hands and fire emojis, one comment from Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Ashkan Ghavami, MD<\/a>, garnered an inordinate amount of attention: Boss moves. My patients pretend like I don\u2019t exist. \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 How do you do it? \ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffd<\/p>\n

While made in jest, the remark effectively addressed the inexplicably youthful-looking elephant in the room. In recent years, plastic surgery confessions have increased among a certain echelon of stars (Ricki Lake<\/a> shouting out her facelift surgeon, Kylie Jenner dropping the specs of her breast augmentation<\/a>). The cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of Hollywood, however, still rarely acknowledge the work they\u2019ve had done or the doctors behind it, notes Steven Teitelbaum, MD<\/a>, a plastic surgeon in Santa Monica. Instead, they appear ageless on screens and red carpets but stay quiet, leaving us to wonder, or to suspend our disbelief and accept the falsehood that the rich and famous are impervious to wrinkles, jowls, and wattles. What\u2019s the harm in that? Glad you asked. The harm is that their omissions are actively reshaping our beauty standards: Snatched 60-year-olds are starting to seem normal\u2014a natural fixture in every drama we stream\u2014but in reality, measuring up means having a surgeon on call.<\/p>\n

I might be able to afford a facelift myself if I had a nickel for every celebrity who has attributed their impossibly sharp jawline or elevated brow to something other than surgery.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, perhaps silence is preferable to distractions disguised as transparency. I might be able to afford a facelift myself if I had a nickel for every celebrity who has attributed their impossibly sharp jawline or elevated brow to something other than surgery\u2014to \u201ca little bit of Botox<\/a>\u201d or a popular skin-tightening gadget<\/a> (that they\u2019re paid to promote<\/a>) or their derm in Dubai<\/a> or daily horseback riding<\/a>, Pilates, green juice, chia seeds<\/a>, temple-lifting baby braids<\/a>, the list goes on.<\/p>\n

The scope of Richards’ revelation is unprecedented. And it\u2019s a powerful counterpoint to the nonsense we\u2019ve grown accustomed to. More than just an act of openness, it\u2019s a show of respect. As Richards told Allure, \u201cBeing in the public eye since my 20s, people know what I look like\u2014a facelift is not something that I could hide.\u201d Precisely! Yet, plenty of others, who also came of age in the spotlight, have attempted to hide their surgery or credit their refresh to something more palatable\u2014a vacation, a new haircut, or heck, a divorce.<\/p>\n

More than just an act of openness, it\u2019s a show of respect.<\/p>\n

But what about Kris Jenner? Yes, who could forget the media storm last spring, when a rep for Jenner disclosed the name of her plastic surgeon to Page Six<\/a> in a statement that read, \u201cWe can confirm that Dr. Steven Levine did Kris Jenner\u2019s recent work.\u201d How transparent! But, also, not really: Jenner and her team didn\u2019t reveal what, exactly, the \u201cwork\u201d entailed or when it was done. And as more than a few plastic surgeons have pointed out to me in the wake of Richards\u2019 reveal, we certainly never saw standardized before and afters of Jenner. The famous Paris photos that accompanied the news of Jenner\u2019s \u201cwork\u201d were not clinical photographs obtained from her surgeon. These \u201cafters\u201d were pictures taken in full hair and makeup, carefully edited, and obviously filtered by her team. As Allure contributor Valerie Monroe reminded us<\/a> when we reached peak Jenner Facelift Frenzy: \u201cNobody looks like Kris. Not even Kris.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kris<\/p>\n

Kris Jenner in May 2025<\/p>\n

Getty images<\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cafter\u201d images of Jenner \u201cset an unrealistic expectation and a beauty standard that is not attainable at 70 years old,\u201d Austin plastic surgeon Ashley Gordon, MD<\/a>, wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cA facelift does not airbrush or FaceTune your face.\u201d In conversation with Victoria Garrick Browne<\/a> on her mental health podcast Real Pod<\/a>, Philadelphia plastic surgeon Christian Subbio, MD<\/a>, made a similar observation about Jenner: \u201cA lot of these photos that I see of her after are a beautiful, top-tier facelift plus a filter, plus perfect lighting, plus Kardashian angles and all that. So, what is top-tier, beautiful, 10-out-of-10 work suddenly becomes 13-out-of-10 work and perhaps unrealistic to the average man or woman seeking a facelift. This underscores the importance of standardized before and afters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scope of Richards’ revelation is unprecedented, and a powerful counterpoint to the nonsense we\u2019ve grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n

Having reported on plastic surgery almost exclusively for the past decade, I can tell you this: The best doctors are fastidious about their photography, believing the quality of their before and afters reflects the quality of their outcomes. And in facial plastic surgery circles, Dr. Talei, who photographs patients himself, is famous for his exacting standards. \u201cBen is very careful about head positioning and expressions\u2014no soft smiles or other subtle expressions that can make results look more impactful,” says Jonathan Cabin, MD<\/a>, a facial plastic surgeon in Washington DC. \u201cAnd his lighting is pristine.\u201d Dr. Cabin points to the \u201ccatchlights\u201d (reflections from the flash) in Richards\u2019 eyes as proof of consistency. These flecks of light accent her irises in the exact same spot in both the before photos and the afters. (Some on social media have noted that her eyes look bluer and brighter in the after pictures, speculating that the lighting was off. But surgeons explain it like this: Richards had an upper blepharoplasty, which removes skin from the top eyelids and reduces hooding, thereby allowing more light to enter the eyes.)<\/p>\n

Technicalities aside, what I find most compelling about Richards\u2019 photos is the pure and relatable emotion in her face. Anyone who\u2019s ever posed for a before photo knows it to be a humbling experience\u2014an act of vulnerability. Taken unforgivingly, for the express purpose of laying bare our perceived flaws and insecurities, these pictures invite judgment and defy deception. They\u2019re honest by design. By consenting to share her before and afters with the world, Richards has recast transparency as something raw and radical\u2014not a trend or talking point, but a moment of truth. And what could be more provocative than that?<\/p>\n

To read more about plastic surgery:<\/p>\n

Originally Appeared on Allure<\/a><\/p>\n