Denise Richards Was 'Terrified' Before Undergoing a Facelift in 2025: 'Not Something I Could Hide'

Denise Richards is coming clean about a recent cosmetic procedure.

In a Friday, March 20, interview, the actress, 55, revealed she got a facelift in June 2025.

While Richards had a chest augmentation at age 19 and subsequent revision surgery, this is the first time she has ever gotten work done on her face.

“I wanted to put things back up, where they were before,” she explained. “I was terrified. Being in the public eye since my 20s, people know what I look like — a facelift is not something that I could hide.”

Eight months post-procedure, Richards is more than pleased by the results.

“It is night and day. It's shocking, actually,” she expressed.

The model noted that other celebrities were “more comfortable” telling her about their own facelifts after hers, but she refused to “name names.”

“It’s not just serums and working out and lasers,” Richards said of maintaining a youthful appearance.

Although the Wild Things alum lives life with a “never say never” mentality, a facelift was always a hard “no.”

“That’s my face. This is how I make my money. I’ve been in this business a long time. People know what I look like. I've never done anything aesthetically to my face,” she recalled thinking to herself.

Richards has gotten a “little Botox” in the past, as well as “very little filler,” since she believed it made her “look like [she] was heavy.”

“I’ve never touched anything [on my face] like that. If things go a little sideways when you do some other part of your body, you could cover it,” she continued. “So I was always scared of a facelift, but I did want to do my neck — my late mom would always say that she had a turkey neck. I think it's genetic. I had tried that [lifting] tape — a makeup artist showed it to me — and I'm like, ‘Well, if that's where I want it to go, why not just put it back there?’ It was something that I'd been thinking about for two years, going back and forth, and the last six months [before my surgery], I was like, ‘I have to do this.’”

Now, Richards feels more confident than ever and is thankful that plastic surgeon Ben Talei, MD, took care of her.

"I’m so grateful to Dr. Ben, I really am, because as we age, it doesn't happen overnight, you know? But when you get a facelift, once you heal, it's like night and day. You see a dramatic difference,” she said. “It's given me… Especially with what I'm going through in life, you know? I wasn't going through a divorce when I got it, although there were obviously some major problems in my marriage. But it's just given me a new lease on life. It's given me confidence.”

Richards, who split from husband Aaron Phypers in July 2025, added, “And people have asked me, if I wasn't an actress, would I have still had it? And I would have. I would. Because if I'm able to feel good, and if it gives me confidence, I'm grateful that I did it. It's changed my life in such a good way. I had no idea. I wish I did it earlier, but I'm grateful I did it when I did.”