There is a lot of speculation circulating in the pop culture ether right now regarding celebrity surgery. This is nothing new, sadly; a celebrity’s appearance is always – and has long been – subject to public scrutiny whether it be in social media comments and videos or via tabloid headlines. But there has certainly been more facelift chat than usual in recent weeks.

Allegations about Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner’s supposed facelift has been one such talking point. After she appeared on a recent visit to Paris looking much younger, her cosmetic work, rumoured to have cost $100,000, was dubbed the ‘Rolls Royce of facelifts’. While Jenner has yet to deny the suggestion she’s had work done, she hasn’t confirmed anything either – and has been open about previous procedures.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan finally addressed persistent rumours that she had undergone a facelift by saying…not very much at all. The rumours started when fans noticed that the Mean Girls star’s appearance had significantly changed last year, with her features looking noticeably smoother. In an interview with Elle, Lohan said of the rumoured facelift, ‘I’m like, “When? With what time? Where?”’ Lohan’s glow-up, she said, was instead down to a healthier diet, a new skincare routine – and Botox. ‘Everyone does Botox,’ Lohan said with a shrug.

Lohan’s responses to questions about her unarguably changed appearance, whether honest or not, are standard when it comes to addressing A-list cosmetic procedures. Fans are often left guessing what their favourite actors, singers or influencers are doing to change their appearance. We are regularly fobbed off with ‘drinking lots of water’ or ‘getting lots of sleep’ as the secret to their glow, rather than having an endless supply of funds to pay their plastic surgeons. This has long been associated with the setting of impossible beauty standards: ‘JLo looks like *that* at 55 and it’s all down to rubbing olive oil on her skin?!’, we cry, eyeing our own wrinkles and a bottle of Filippo Berrio warily.

Which is why there was a flurry of excitement this week when Kylie Jenner made a very clear and very honest acknowledgement about some of her own surgery. It all began when TikTok creator Rachel Leary posted a video directly asking Jenner for specifics about her surgery. Leary, who admitted she was considering a similar procedure, said she wanted to copy Jenner’s results.

‘What is it that you asked for when you had your boobs done?’ she said. ‘To me, you have got what I am, like, looking for to have done in terms of a boob job. It’s the most perfect, natural-looking boob job ever. They’re still big but whatever way you’ve had the implants – if they are implants – or if you had fat transfer, to me, it is perfection.’ She captioned her post: ‘Help a girl out @Kylie Jenner, I just want to know how to get them to sit like that, respectfully.’

Of course no one expected Jenner to reply. And yet up she popped in the comments section with a remarkably direct response. ‘445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! Silicone!!! Garth fisher!!! Hope this helps lol,’ Jenner wrote, giving details of the implant size, profile, placement, material, and her surgeon, Dr. Garth Fisher, a well-known Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who has worked with the Kardashian family for years (even performing a facelift on Kris Jenner as part of their reality show in 2011.

This is not the first time Jenner has opened up about the procedures she’s undergone – but it may just be the most forthright. In the season three finale of The Kardashians in 2023, she spoke about getting her breasts done five years previously, just before she had her daughter Stormi, after repeatedly denying she’d had the procedure. She regretted having them done, she admitted, explaining, ‘I had beautiful breasts, like natural tits. Just gorgeous. Perfect size, perfect everything. I just wish obviously I never got them done to begin with.’ She added, ‘I would recommend anyone who is thinking about it to wait until after children.’

Jenner weathered a lot of speculation about getting lip filler before she admitted on the show in 2015, when she started selling her famous lip kits, which went on to become Kyle Cosmetics. She said at the time, ‘I have temporary lip fillers. It’s just an insecurity of mine, and it’s what I wanted to do. I’m just not ready to talk to reporters about my lips yet, because everyone always picks us apart … I want to admit to the lips, but people are so quick to judge me on everything.’

You can understand the excitement, then, that Jenner’s blunt honesty caused among TikTok users. It was a rare moment of candidness about something which has always been a taboo to speak about so openly for those in the public eye, and particularly for Jenner who has often danced around the subject for fear of being judged any further than she already is for how she looks.

In a way, you could argue that Jenner is finally taking the power back. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if celebrities were all so honest about the work they were having done, instead of claiming that it’s all down to genes or a good diet. While no one *owes* anyone an explanation about anything they’ve chosen to do with their body, it feels like a relief for a star to just come clean.

One could argue that the standards that are being set for those of us not in the public eye without access to surgeons, facialists, stylists and make up artists have never felt more unattainable. To see someone who has been both a victim and a perpetrator of those standards make such an open statement, in such a throwaway fashion, felt revolutionary.

It’s not a big deal if Kylie Jenner had her boobs done. Maybe it would be more shocking if she hadn’t. By using TikTok comments as her platform, Jenner seemingly blew away years of pressure on her to present herself in a certain way and discuss things in a certain way. It will be interesting to see if any of her sisters, whose own surgery is the subject of much speculation, will be following suit.