Kaley Cuoco’s Plastic Surgery Admission May Have Positive Impact, Says One Doctor

When Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco told Women’s Health this month that she’d had plastic surgery, she did not hold back the details. As ABC News reported, she owned up to augmenting her chest and getting some work done on her face, expressing no regrets about the decision.

“Years ago, I had my nose done and my boobs — best thing I ever did. Recently I had a filler in a line in my neck I’ve had since I was 12.”

But it wasn’t the first time she’d talked about going under the knife. Back in April, 2014, when Cuoco was just months into her ill-fated marriage to Ryan Sweeting, ET Online reported on a Cosmopolitan interview where Cuoco said something almost identical about getting breast implants when she was 18.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I love them. I’m super happy. I would do it again in a heart beat.”

When Cuoco got sinus surgery a year ago, ET Online reported she took to Instagram to say she was not getting a nose job — but if she was, she would be open about it.

While many people who follow celebrities might assume their pictures are photoshopped and their perfect curves might not just be the result of strenuous workout regimens, one doctor — Forbes contributor Bruce Y. Lee — says Cuoco’s blatant honesty might encourage others in the public eye to be more open about their procedures. In the process, it might help bolster the self-esteem of everyday people.

“[M]aybe Cuoco’s announcement will have a positive impact and get others to be more open about the ‘help’ that they have gotten. Actors and actresses are after all actors and actresses. They play roles that don’t necessarily represent who they really are and have looks that may not be their own looks. So, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t quite have the look of your favorite celebrity. After all, they may not have had that look either…without help.”

After all, says Lee, it’s a myth that anyone can achieve great success in the U.S. without help — that help can be of many different kinds, including “bags of silicone.”

Increasingly, celebrities are standing up against manipulated or altered magazine images that happen after the photo shoot is over. Time recently published a list of many stars who have taken it upon themselves to post side-by-side before and after shots on their own social media pages. They have been open about so-called “flaws” that the magazines choose to eliminate.

Zendaya revealed that her hips and torso had been narrowed using image-manipulation techniques, making the already-fit actress seem even thinner. Keira Knightley posed topless in Interview in November, 2014, just to make the point that pictures of her body aren’t always a true reflection of reality. Jamie Lee Curtis also bared all for AARP in November, 2008, in order to express the evolving beauty of aging women. Lorde Instagrammed a picture of herself with acne cream. Kate Winslet said in 2003 that a magazine photo had reduced the size of her legs “about a third.”

Gisele Bundchen also spoke out against airbrushing in fashion photographs, eventually posing for a campaign without makeup or hairstyling in 2013. Bundchen told Fashionista she liked the natural approach and the way it portrays women.

“I feel like women should be really real and raw and it doesn’t really happen anymore. I love that feeling of, you know, we are women — we are so different. Our imperfections are what makes us unique and beautiful.”

Kaley Cuoco may have gotten some augmentation, but she pays close attention to what she eats and exercises vigorously, according to her interview with Women’s Health.

Kaley stars in The Big Bang Theory Thursday nights in CBS.

[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]