So many female celebrities come under daily scrutiny for body modification that we sometimes forget that men are not immune to this. While so much pressure is placed on women to remain beautiful and youthful and to defy the process of aging -- heck, billions of dollars are invested into eternal youth every year -- this isn’t just a girl thing any longer. While cult figures like Michael Jackson shocked the world with intense facial surgery, basic procedures, like facelifts and Botox, have become just as common among Hollywood men reaching a certain age as women. The rush on plastic surgery we’ve seen in aging actors, singers and other men under the limelight indicates they too are feeling the sting of a world obsessed with being forever young.
We see some of Hollywood's most famous men ageing and some seem to be ageing better than others. This has sparked questions of cosmetic procedures as it is now just as common for men to be going under the knife we know women have been doing for years. Some celebs have never admitted to it, while others have no problem fessing up. Below are 13 male celebs who have had some noticeable changes in their appearances, can you guess which ones have admitted to going under the knife?
13 George Clooney
A long-standing Hollywood heartthrob, George Clooney oozes style, charm and proves the theory that the older men get, the better looking they become. Clooney’s euro-chic fashion sense paired with his classically good looking features and strong, confident persona is textbook swoon material for almost any hetero woman on the planet. We can understand why a man who seems to get more attractive with every year and every wrinkle has stated strongly that he's against plastic surgery and is all about aging gracefully -- if we all aged like George Clooney, we’d say that too. But rumors will always abound and the gossip mill has questioned Clooney more than once, leading the star to joke about having eyelid surgery, apparently a complete fiction. But Clooney did eventually mention another process called “ball ironing” -- and though he’s a notorious joker, it seems that George may have gone down the surgery path, or at least taken his package there.
12 Clay Aiken
Starting out his career on American Idol, Clay Aiken was a fresh-faced young man back in 2003. Never one to hold back, Clay had a career change, running for congress in the Republican party. Clay Aiken definitely gets props from us for being himself under the pressure and scrutiny of the public eye and showing honesty. Clay admitted flat out that he had had work done on his chin. On live TV in 2012, Aiken said, "I had operative surgery on my jaw for a TMJ thing and I had them suck the fat out of my chin while they were in there.” But just a few short year later, it’s evident that Clay has had so much more work done than just that! Far from a teen pop singer, the Clay Aiken of 2017 might as well be a completely different man!
11 Eminem (Slim Shady)
The king of white hip-hop, Eminem is a prolific rapper who’s known the world over for his aggressive, angry and thought-provoking music. His life journey was immortalized in the film 8 Mile and showed the world what life in a working class town in middle America was like, and how Eminem rose to fame in spite of it all. Always fiercely individual, we’re certain that Eminem would’ve made the decision to have plastic surgery and owned it -- just as he has done every other decision he's made along the way. Now in his 40s, Eminem’s facial modifications are quite striking when contrasted with his face at 25. For one, his face barely shows any signs of age; it’s virtually wrinkle-free, while his angles are sharper and more defined. Eminem has never confirmed any of it, but it has been speculated he’s had everything from a facelift and skin resurfacing to a cheek and lip reduction and an eye lift. Looking at this pic, what do you think?
10 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Dwayne Johnson might be one of the most drool-worthy Hollywood actors out there, but he had a little help getting there. The 44-year-old didn’t always have buns of steel or a chest carved out of marble. The actor and professional wrestler was, in fact, a lot less chiseled and more chubby back before he underwent a gynecomastia -- a restructuring of the male torso in which excess fat is removed (male breast tissue) to create a more masculine contoured look. Dwayne has absolutely admitted to the surgery, explaining that it didn’t matter how much he worked out, that was the way his body was going to look. “It was an aesthetic thing. I went in and showed the doctor, and he said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I was walking around with my shirt off all the time, so I had it done.” Somehow this admission only seems to make him cooler.
9 Ray Liotta
Starring in the cult classic Goodfellas, Ray Liotta is another Hollywood great who’s faced the sting of time and tried to turn it back. Born in 1954, Liotta is now in his 60s, and the natural aging process would tend to indicate a few wrinkles would be normal. However like tons of super-masculine, macho actors from eras gone by, Liotta evidently felt as though face surgery would keep his robust, athletic vibe going for as long as possible. Liotta has denied getting a facelift, but we can clearly see his face is stiffer, giving him less expression. We also see that his skin looks unnaturally wrinkle-free. Fillers are also questionable here as they would have added to the stiff and smooth effect on Liotta’s face, which now also looks fuller and more bloated than before. This seems to be the price you pay when deciding to ditch the wrinkles of time.
8 Jean Claude Van Damme
The muscles from Brussels, Jean Claude Van Damme is another icon of strength and masculinity. However as time has ticked on, the once fit and buff star of films like Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Lionhearted and Streetfighter must have begun to feel the signs of aging. Having his hey-day in the 80s and 90s, Van Damme -- who was born in Belgium -- had an impressive career as both actor and producer, director, and screenwriter and a martial arts athlete. Somewhat of a cult figure, Van Damme has a loyal following within the martial arts community and continues working the in the film industry. Once a very good-looking man, Van Damme has clearly undergone facial modification, most likely the usual Botox along with a facelift -- the generic combo that tightens skin, keeps that chiselled look (or tries to) and reduces sagging skin. Unfortunately, in Van Damme’s case, the work is quite obvious and instead of looking younger, he looks quite odd.
7 Christian Bale
The only cosmetic surgery Christian Bale has admitted to is dental surgery. When he was cast in American Psycho to play Patrick Bateman -- the quintessential 1980s Wall street brat-boy serial killer -- Bale decided his teeth needed to look more “American.” While Bale had pretty decent “British” teeth, the concept of perfectly even teeth straight across with no variations was so essential to his idea of Patrick Bateman that he actually got all of his teeth pulled out and replaced with implants. That’s commitment! While Bale has kept his “American” smile, he’s since said that he misses his slightly wonky British teeth -- they do give a person character, after all! While the majority of celebrities get dental work, including crowns or veneers, an entire set of implants on otherwise healthy teeth takes it to quite a new level. Christian Bale has gone on to have massive success since American Psycho, so it was obviously a good idea.
6 Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay has spent most of his life yelling at people and the eye and forehead wrinkles were definitely beginning to show. Ramsay rose to fame on his fits of bad temper and extraordinary culinary skills, and the long days in the kitchen ruling the roost of nervous apprentices meant that even in his forties Gordon Ramsay was looking weathered and worse for the wear. Cosmetic enhancements have attempted to erase some of those frown lines and while Ramsay has admitted to getting cosmetic procedures done as he said that he "turned to cosmetic surgery after his children tried to put coins in his wrinkles." According to the DailyMail he did candidly admit to getting it done, in fact "'It took four minutes each side, lasered not Botoxed. No one noticed until I mentioned it. When you don't say anything you're classified as a liar, so you can't win. It's got me more s*** in the past six months… " At least he was honest.
5 Simon Cowell
X Factor judge Simon Cowell is another man over fifty who’s pumped the Botox a little too hard. While Simon certainly doesn’t mind being perceived as a little rough around the edges -- his scathing, callous comments on contestant’s performances are legendary -- it seems his face needs to be smoother than his tongue. Over the last couple of years, Cowell finally admitted to having Botox, but the admission wasn’t met with much applause, as fans and critics bemoaned him for taking it too far and making his face look puffy and bloated. Spending so much time on television under those harsh studio lights must definitely get tiring, as so many stars claim the pressure and constant eyes on them are what causes them to turn to surgery. Simon has admitted to slowing down on the anti-aging treatments, stating "'Hopefully I look better now – I probably did have a little too much Botox a couple of years ago, because everyone on TV has it.' After being told that his face looked stiff, he decided the needed to give it a break.
4 Brad Pitt
Arguably the biggest heartthrob of his generation, Brad Pitt is nonetheless another man whose good looks weren’t enough to fight the encroaching threat of middle age. Now in his fifties, Brad Pitt’s tanned, gorgeous face with those piercing blue eyes seems to of had a little help with his youthful glow. While the clock ticked over into his fifth decade, Pitt sported a sun-kissed look with sexy smile lines and crinkles around the eyes. For most women, this worked just fine and Pitt was just as sexy as he ever had been. But more recent pics of him show that many of those wrinkles and smile lines seem to have vanished. Like, completely vanished. According to OK Magazine “He appears to have had a filler injected into his frown lines, and I suspect a touch of Botox around his eyes,” plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn said, who has not treated Pitt." What do you think?
3 Clint Eastwood
From well-loved westerns to flashy contemporary Hollywood, 85-year-old Clint Eastwood has been around the traps for longer than just about anybody and has most certainly earned the right to be a little weathered. The freckly, fair-skinned Eastwood has starred in over 50 films to date, filmed in dozens of different locations, done his own stunts, and directed 34 films too. Whether you love him or you’d be happy to never see another Clint Eastwood film again, this man has an impressive repertoire. A titan of Hollywood, it’s not surprising people would assume Eastwood has had his fair share of alterations. Back in the '90s, magazines began to speculate whether he had any procedures done because, well he looks shockingly great for his age. He has never admitted to it so we will assume he has not and has just simply aged gracefully, what do you think?
2 Tom Cruise
Ah, Tommy. From Top Gun to the top-tier of the Scientology church, this Hollywood veteran has surely come a long way -- and so has his face. While there’s no mistaking that like many Hollywood stars, Tom Cruise’s teeth have seen numerous remodels and have gone from downtown shabby to pearly prime real estate, his face also seems to be getting progressively newer as he ages. In 2016, Tom came under scrutiny for his freshly minted cheeks. Twitter went crazy with metaphors abounding, including “hamster in a tuxedo,” “inflated face” and one sassy quip that Cruise had “just been on a Mission Impossible type mission to steal all the world’s Botox supply for his face.” Ouch. For a man who’s always loved the sparkling-clean look, the 53-year-old obviously felt it was time to try and turn back time and retain that game-show-host perfection we know and love, and he turned to surgery to achieve just that.
1 Steven Tyler
As history has taught us, sometimes it’s not easy to go from being a grungy rock icon into an older (more wrinkly) face. While many Hollywood men sport that polished look we know so well, even the ones a little left-of-center aren’t immune to the pressure to freeze time in its tracks. Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler is just another powerful and famous dude who decided a little facelift would help him stay looking youthful. As the photo above indicates, the cat was definitely out of the bag and so Tyler in 2015 admitted that he was a regular Botox injector and had also gone under the knife. Born in 1948, this man will be 70 next year and has lived a full and rockin’ life. We would’ve thought that he’d definitely earned his stripes (and sags), but if you’ve got the dough to erase them, apparently that’s the way to go! No judgment.
