Cheers to NeNe Leakes for Owning Her Plastic Surgery
NeNe Leakes spoke openly about her nose job to Andy Cohen. (Photo: Getty Images)
Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes recently appeared on Watch What Happens Live with a noticeably different appearance. And instead of batting away comments about plastic surgery, she told Andy Cohen all about her recent nose job.
Why did she chose to go under the knife and share, you ask? “I got my nose done because, first of all, I can. I will. And I’ll get it done again if I want to. OK?” Leakes quipped to Cohen and the studio audience just 13 days after her procedure.
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She openly disclosed that she had nothing to hide before stating the major reason for her surgery: “There was a real medical reason why I had to get [my nose] done again,” she revealed, noting that she also had the procedure six years ago. “My cartilage was growing in my nose, my tip was touching the top of my lip.”
Whatever the reason, whether purely cosmetic or medically necessary, hats off to Leakes for openly admitting that she had plastic surgery. Because procedures are generally done under the veil of secrecy in Hollywood, a stigma is now attached for the general public.
Leakes, speaking to Andy Cohen last week. (Photo: Bravo)
Procedures can positively or negatively affect a person, according to counselor Karla Ivankovich, PhD, an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois, Springfield, so it’s important to consider each person’s motivation. “Benefits really depend on the individual, the circumstances and ultimately their personality,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “If someone is seeking surgery as a means of ‘fixing’ a perceived flaw, it could end up having the opposite impact on the issue. If someone simply wants to look and feel better, and there is a way that modern medicine can get them there, that’s fine. Body acceptance is critical.”
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Ivankovich says that a healthy sense of self-esteem is important if you decide to go under the knife. If you have low self-esteem, or a condition such as depression or body dysmorphic disorder, plastic surgery is not a good option, as it can only worsen the issue.
As for discussing it openly in Hollywood, Ivankovich is all for it. “Hiding it is certainly not productive,” she says. “You can choose to identify that you wish not to discuss it, or that you are choosing to keep your personal life personal — but to outright deny it is somewhat silly, especially in light of the media’s scrutiny of every individual. If you are a celebrity, you can expect that there is a significant amount of lost privacy; it goes with the territory. … Celebrities have fans. Those fans recognize change in their celebrity immediately.”
Ivankovich echoes what Leakes says: There is absolutely nothing wrong with plastic surgery, for medical or personal reasons. It’s perfectly fine to own it. Celebrities especially can help create a wider acceptance of the practice by simply acknowledging it as a fact of life. “It endears them to the public, and reminds us that, regardless of their role, they remain human,” Ivankovich says. “Celebrities are hailed as being the pictures of perfection — the ones that we should want to emulate. But many have bodies that are unrealistic in terms of expectations for attainment among the general population.”
It’s not just plastic surgery either. Ivankovich says celebs like Ashley Graham, Amy Schumer, Kim Kardashian, Erin Heatherton and a host of others are also helping women understand that beauty is in loving and accepting yourself — not what others think of your body decisions. “Their public acceptance of their size, or speaking out on body esteem, creates a situation where women are more likely to join with them, because they have admitted to their inability to meet the ridiculous expectations and standards placed on women today,” she explains.
By acknowledging that beauty comes in all forms, and sometimes it’s not 100-percent God-given (hey, NeNe!), it also removes the sense of unhealthy competition that shrouds so many of our body-improvement endeavors. “When celebrities speak out about this unobtainable ‘perfection,’ they are no longer allowing themselves to be branded as the upper echelon of what society deems physical perfection to be,” Ivanovich says. “When perfection is diminished, we no longer strive to achieve that status. Instead, we are endeared to them and their situation.”
Women truly are held to outrageous physical standards, both in everyday life and in Hollywood. Removing the barriers between those worlds through open discussion is a wonderful thing. We’re finally starting to feel like celebrities understand our body struggles, as we certainly relate to the issues they’re discussing. Thanks to NeNe Leakes for quickly acknowledging a big one.
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