Julie Chen, host of “Big Brother” and former co-host of “The Talk,” says she went under the knife after leaving her job on the talk show
Chen recently released an faith-based audiobook titled “But First God,” and used the platform to reveal her personal experiences. She touched on her departure from “The Talk” and mentioned that plastic surgery was part of her decision to leave.
“When you work in front of the television and you are a woman, you are expected to look — I’m just gonna say it — young,” Chen says in the audiobook, according to People. “And I knew part of my bread and butter being in front of the camera was to maintain how I looked, stay out of the sun, put on sunblock and, yes, if I have to, go under the knife.”
Julie Chen Moonves is sitting down with ET to discuss her new audiobook, ‘But First, God.’https://t.co/Q5o8eDLFMV
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) September 19, 2023
Chen candidly discussed the pressures she felt being in front of the camera, and the realization that the way she looked was a significant factor in her ability to maintain her position.
“You’re expected to be pleasing to the eye and society. Especially Hollywood is not kind on aging women,” she said.
Chen admitted that her departure in 2018, after eight years of moderating the show’s panel, spurred her decision to go under the knife.
She left the show at the age of 48 and noted that she perceived cosmetic surgery as “a form of healing” and a way to prove that “these meanies can’t get me down.”
Chen also discussed the pressure she felt, and her determination to come out on top. (RELATED:’I Had Died, Basically’: Heidi Montag Says She Had Part Of Her Jaw Sawed Off During Plastic Surgery)
“You know how some people, when they get broken up with by a loved one, they get a revenge body? Well, I wanted to get a revenge face,” she says in the book, per People. “Getting the lower facelift was definitely part of ‘my job’ because I’m expected to look not drastically different from season to season or how people are used to seeing me on TV.”
Chen, who has been married to former CBS CEO Les Moonves since 2004, says she converted to Christianity in 2018, the same year her husband left his job amid sexual misconduct allegations.