In 2024, we’re operating in a world with a general, if still hazy, awareness that famous (and non-famous) women are often dramatically filtered, photoshopped and physically modified. But there’s one strange fallacy at the heart of it all: celebrities, those at the highest echelons of what society considers beautiful, won’t often admit to having had cosmetic enhancements. Many even go so far as to blatantly deny it.
Let’s be clear: there should never be an actual—legal, regulatory, financial—obligation on anyone to admit that they have modified themselves, surgically or otherwise. Even celebrities should be granted privacy about the choices they make about their own bodies. But there is some kind of moral obligation. The position of power they occupy—they wield the power to reinforce beauty standards, the power to make a young woman question her own self-worth—comes with a sort of moral impetus, and puts them in a different category from a person without that kind of influence deciding whether or not to be transparent about them.
Bella Hadid caused a stir in 2022 when she opened up about the nose job she had when she was 14, expressing regret about not keeping the nose of her “ancestors”. Yes, this opened up a bigger conversation about what other procedures she had had done—but it was a bold step forward for one of the most celebrated models of the generation. In 2023, Kylie Jenner admitted that she had a breast augmentation. This wasn’t her first admission of enhancement—she denied getting lip filler for years before launching her famous Kylie Lip Kits in 2015. However, in 2018, she backtracked, announcing that she did have it but had it removed—only to start getting injections again a few months later.
Related: Kylie Jenner’s Beauty Evolution
"87 percent of women compare their bodies to images on social media"
It’s no secret that women are more attuned to the specific flaws and perceived failings of their appearances than ever. A recent UK study found that 87 percent of women compare their bodies to images they consume on social and traditional media. In the primacy of 2000s print media, photoshopping was the culprit: faces on magazine covers were airbrushed to be uncannily perfect.
Later, it was the advent of filters and editing apps on social media, where celebrities and ordinary people alike were able to morph and squeeze into a slimmer, curvier, prettier version of themselves for easy projection onto your phone screen. Now, we’ve entered the age of the real-life filter: surgery and body modifications and cosmetic procedures are ubiquitous—the Aesthetic Surgery Society in the US reported that surgical procedures increased by 54 percent in 2021. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, a total of 15.8 million injectable procedures were performed last year in the country.
“What would it be like for us as content consumers if more celebrities poked fun at themselves and were forthright about cosmetic procedures? Would it spare people the potential psychic harm of believing that certain looks can be achieved ‘naturally,‘ and comparing themselves to these celebrities?” asks beauty writer Mikala Jamison on Substack.
I don’t think it would alleviate it completely—after all, many women report comparing themselves to their peers, over celebrities—but a little transparency could go a long way. Being honest about plastic surgery and other procedures would go some way towards unburdening women from continuing to labour under unrealistic ideas of what people really look like—especially younger people.
But of course, there’s a different standard at play for different kinds of celebrities. There’s a clearer link and therefore a more pressing moral impetus when celebrities use their smooth, injected faces to sell you beauty products, while insisting that for the low, low price of their entire skincare line, you too can achieve their preternatural glow. If they’re not acknowledging that their wrinkle-free skin or trim body comes from more than just their wellness supplements and skincare line, such tactics reek of deception and hypocrisy.
“If the Kardashians were to come out and say, ‘Here’s everything we’ve had done’ … I just don’t think they would, because they capitalise on it,” writes beauty reporter Jessica DeFino. “They have all these lines of shapewear, makeup, skincare … they used to do haircare, vitamins. They’re profiting off of this in many ways.”
"Maybe we could feel like we could try a little less hard to be something we’re not"
But there’s also the fact that such marketing treats customers like they’re easily duped. Thanks to social media and the internet, there’s a frightening level of literacy about all the kinds of procedures available to a person, and many fans are fluent in the language and visuals of body modification. Wouldn’t a little honesty, ultimately, just show an audience the respect they deserve?
In fairness, when Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner admitted their plastic-surgery procedures—a moment of honesty and candour—they became exposed to more criticism than ever. Netizens immediately suggested that they were being selectively honest, holding back on some of their procedures and drip-feeding the public the truth about others. What if, though, we cultivated an online environment which encouraged transparency and openness? Where even they, the most idolised women in the world, could admit they don’t look like themselves naturally. Maybe it would take some of the pressure off those inherent contradictions of womanhood. Maybe we could feel like we could try a little less hard to be something we’re not. If one of us starts slipping through the cracks in the facade—and that begins with honesty—maybe others can follow closely behind.
Related: How Nose Jobs Went Viral
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This article originally appeared in Issue 02 of Cosmopolitan Australia. Get your copy and subscribe to future issues here.
