Jamie Lee Curtis has revealed that she had plastic surgery at the age of 25 because of a comment made to her on the set of a movie.
In a 60 Minutes interview, the Oscar-winning actor said that a cinematographer wouldn’t film her one day because, he said, “her eyes are baggy”.
The film was aerobics drama Perfect, which also starred John Travolta.
“For him to say that was very embarrassing,” she said. “As soon as the movie finished, I ended up having some plastic surgery.”
Curtis said the surgery did not go well and it was something she “regretted immediately” and has regretted ever since.
“I’ve become a really public advocate to say to women: ‘You’re gorgeous and you’re perfect the way you are.’” she said. “It was not a good thing for me to do.”
She said she started to take painkillers after the surgery. “Well, they give them to you!” she said. “I became very enamored with the warm bath of an opiate. You know, drank a little bit, never to excess, never any big public demonstrations. I was very quiet and private about it. But it became a dependency for sure.”
In 2018, she told People: “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic. I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.”
Curtis has now been sober for 26 years and in 2023 spoke about her journey. “I’m lucky. I didn’t make terrible decisions high or under the influence that then, for the rest of my life, I regret,” she said. “There are women in prison whose lives have been shattered by drugs and alcohol, not because they were violent felons, not because they were horrible people, but because they were addicts.”
The star has previously expressed concern about the rise of cosmetic procedures. “The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty,” Curtis said in 2021. “Once you mess with your face, you can’t get it back.”
This week the actor also spoke out on social media about a “totally AI fake commercial” which uses her likeness. She implored Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg for help in taking it down.
“If I have a brand, besides being an actor and author and advocate, it is that I am known for telling the truth and saying it like it is and for having integrity,” she wrote. “This (MIS)use of my images … with new, fake words put in my mouth diminishes my opportunities to speak my truth. I’ve been told that if I ask you directly, maybe you will encourage your team to police it and remove it. I long ago deleted Twitter, so this is the only way I can think of reaching you.”
Later in the day she added: “IT WORKED! YAY INTERNET! SHAME HAS IT’S VALUE! THANKS ALL WHO CHIMED IN AND HELPED RECTIFY!”
The 66-year-old won her first Oscar in 2023 for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She has since starred in acclaimed drama series The Bear and alongside Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl. She will next be seen in comedy sequel Freakier Friday with Lindsay Lohan as well as crime thriller series Scarpetta with Nicole Kidman.
