Courtesy of Dr. Ben Talei – Beverly Hills CenterSave this storySave this story
Denise Richards, 55, earned sex-symbol status with a string of steamy movie roles in the ’90s before posing for Playboy in 2004, and appearing in two seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Now she’s going viral for what may be her most provocative move yet: revealing the unedited before-and-after photos of her recent facelift.
Richards didn’t just push the boundaries of the current trend toward more aesthetic honesty, she blasted them open, sharing with Allure 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’ surgeon, Ben Talei, MD, a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, posted his complete set of standardized before-and-after photos 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’ face.
Historically, only a small handful of famous people have been honest about the plastic surgery behind their “ageless” faces; far, far fewer have ever shared the real before and afters. These photos, which are part of a patient’s medical records, are taken in the plastic surgeon’s 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 “celebrity before and afters” are something completely different. These are pictures captured out in the world, often at glamorous events, at two separate time points—prior to and following an alleged procedure. The images generally display a fair amount of production value—makeup, good lighting, contrived poses—and may be layered with filters. Richards’ reveal was entirely raw.
ArrowArrow
Perhaps that’s why the public response to her disclosure has been overwhelmingly positive—celebratory, even. As a plastic surgery reporter who’s approaching 50, I was thrilled to see it—people commending Richards’ honesty, praising Dr. Talei’s surgical skills, and marveling at the time-machine-like results. Of course, I also scrolled upon the occasional “Why can’t we just be allowed to age naturally?” 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’s Instagram received a fair amount of pro-choice pushback from readers (242 of them at last look), including Richards herself, who replied: “I respect your opinion. I believe everyone has a choice and [can] do what's best for them and for me this was best.”
There’s also been loud applause for the Richards-Talei collab from the plastic surgery community. Dr. Talei’s post featuring the star’s before-and-afters, along with a nuanced breakdown of her surgery, has racked up more than 222,000 likes and roughly 10,000 comments—many 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, garnered an inordinate amount of attention: Boss moves. My patients pretend like I don’t exist. 😂😂 How do you do it? 👏🏽
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 shouting out her facelift surgeon, Kylie Jenner dropping the specs of her breast augmentation). The crème de la crème of Hollywood, however, still rarely acknowledge the work they’ve had done or the doctors behind it, notes Steven Teitelbaum, MD, 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’s 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—a natural fixture in every drama we stream—but in reality, measuring up means having a surgeon on call.
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.
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—to “a little bit of Botox” or a popular skin-tightening gadget (that they’re paid to promote) or their derm in Dubai or daily horseback riding, Pilates, green juice, chia seeds, temple-lifting baby braids, the list goes on.
The scope of Richards' revelation is unprecedented. And it’s a powerful counterpoint to the nonsense we’ve grown accustomed to. More than just an act of openness, it’s a show of respect. As Richards told Allure, “Being in the public eye since my 20s, people know what I look like—a facelift is not something that I could hide.” 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—a vacation, a new haircut, or heck, a divorce.
More than just an act of openness, it’s a show of respect.
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 in a statement that read, “We can confirm that Dr. Steven Levine did Kris Jenner’s recent work.” How transparent! But, also, not really: Jenner and her team didn’t reveal what, exactly, the “work” entailed or when it was done. And as more than a few plastic surgeons have pointed out to me in the wake of Richards’ reveal, we certainly never saw standardized before and afters of Jenner. The famous Paris photos that accompanied the news of Jenner’s “work” were not clinical photographs obtained from her surgeon. These “afters” were pictures taken in full hair and makeup, carefully edited, and obviously filtered by her team. As Allure contributor Valerie Monroe reminded us when we reached peak Jenner Facelift Frenzy: “Nobody looks like Kris. Not even Kris.”
Kris Jenner in May 2025
Getty images
The so-called “after” images of Jenner “set an unrealistic expectation and a beauty standard that is not attainable at 70 years old,” Austin plastic surgeon Ashley Gordon, MD, wrote in an Instagram post. “A facelift does not airbrush or FaceTune your face.” In conversation with Victoria Garrick Browne on her mental health podcast Real Pod, Philadelphia plastic surgeon Christian Subbio, MD, made a similar observation about Jenner: “A 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.”
The scope of Richards' revelation is unprecedented, and a powerful counterpoint to the nonsense we’ve grown accustomed to.
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. “Ben is very careful about head positioning and expressions—no soft smiles or other subtle expressions that can make results look more impactful," says Jonathan Cabin, MD, a facial plastic surgeon in Washington DC. “And his lighting is pristine.” Dr. Cabin points to the “catchlights” (reflections from the flash) in Richards’ 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.)
Technicalities aside, what I find most compelling about Richards’ photos is the pure and relatable emotion in her face. Anyone who’s ever posed for a before photo knows it to be a humbling experience—an 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’re honest by design. By consenting to share her before and afters with the world, Richards has recast transparency as something raw and radical—not a trend or talking point, but a moment of truth. And what could be more provocative than that?
To read more about plastic surgery:
- Denise Richards Opens Up About Her Facelift
- No 69-Year-Old Looks Like Kris Jenner IRL. Not Even Kris Jenner.
- Gen X Is Getting Plastic Surgery Right
