What These Pop Stars Looked Like Before And After Plastic Surgery

In a perfect world, all anyone would need for pop stardom would be genuine talent and hard work.

We do not live in a perfect world.

Instead, we live in a world in which we expect celebrities to look perfect, even if their jobs are just to sing and play guitar, not necessarily to be supermodels. That pressure leads a lot of pop stars to undergo dramatic and unnecessary transformations in an effort to be the total package.

The unrealistic standards — which seem to change with the wind but always remain somewhat unattainable — on women's appearances mean that stars in their 50s are expected to look 22, while others magically develop curves, plump their lips, or shrink their noses overnight.

These stars all appear to have gone under the knife, but not all of them will admit it. Still, for most of them, the proof is in the pudding ... or the breast implants, new nose, or weirdly puffy cheeks.

Iggy Azalea was naturally striking, a 5'10" blond bombshell with a gorgeous face, before she got any work done — and unlike a lot of other stars, the Aussie rapper was open about her procedures.

"There was nothing wrong with me [before]. I think it's a personal choice and anybody, man or woman, they should be able to make an informed decision, and if you want to change something, then that's up to you," Azalea said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "I changed my nose and I got boobs. ... I didn't have boobs before, I just had nipples, and now I have breasts!"

Azalea's surgeon told People in detail about her procedures, including that she was able to recover from her special "flash-recovery" breast augmentation in just a day, and that part of her rhinoplasty was to correct a deviated septum that caused the "Fancy" songstress breathing problems previously.

While Azalea was open about the work she got done above the waist, many speculate that she also got plastic surgery to create her famous booty, which The Sun notes has grown significantly more bootylicious over the years. However, she's adamantly denied all talk of butt implants or injections.

Noah Cyrus is so young — she's just 18 years old, as of this writing — but plastic surgery experts speculate that she's had a lot of work done already to make her once-long, narrow face, as well as her lips, a whole lot plumper. It's so noticeable, in fact, that one of the top Google searches related to the youngest Cyrus sister is "why does Noah Cyrus look swollen." Ouch.

"She has significantly increased facial volumes (cheeks, upper and lower lip, and chin) and her eyebrows appear to be higher," plastic surgeon Dr. Vartan Mardirossian told In Touch Weekly. Mardirossian added that he believes "she may have had botox to lift her brows as well as possible fillers, fat grafting, and facial implants" to get her current look.

Fellow plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Miller concurred, "It looks like she may have had fillers in her cheeks and lips and possibly a chin implant. Instead of fillers, she may have had cheek implants."

Janet Jackson admits to having had a nose job when she was a teenager, but isn't too forthcoming about any other procedures she may have had throughout her life.

"It's no secret [that I got rhinoplasty]," she told Extra (via People) in 2006. "When I was 16 I changed my nose. Would I do it again? I don't know. I've seen a lot of women that have been pulled and snatched, and it's not too cute."

However, experts believe Jackson may have gone under the knife quite a bit more than she's willing to confess.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Schulman, who hasn't treated Jackson, told Radar Online that it appears the singer has had significant amounts of fillers injected into her face, as well as a potential facelift, because the skin on her face appears much more taut than the skin on her neck. Dr. Anthony Youn, who also hasn't worked on Jackson, speculated that she may also have had "cheek implants" and too many rhinoplasties, "causing her nose to look too-thin and chiseled."

Dr. Schulman also told Page Six in November 2017 that Jackson's nose was in bad shape after too many tweaks.

"It appears that there is some nasal collapse and some retraction of the nostrils," he said. "This may be the result of multiple previous surgical procedures that has caused injury to the underlying cartilage support of the nose."

Ashley Tisdale rose to fame as Sharpay in High School Musical movies. After the success of High School Musical 2 (2007), Tisdale went under the knife for a rhinoplasty procedure ahead of filming the third installment of the hit series — but she was upfront about her nose job and insisted it was for purely medical, not cosmetic, reasons.

"Growing up I always knew I had a deviated septum on the right side of my nose, which caused trouble breathing," Tisdale told People at the time. "The older I got, the worse it got. I went to get it checked out, and the doctor told me the septum was 80 percent deviated and that I had two small fractures on my nose."

The Disney star insisted that she didn't want her young impressionable fans to get the wrong idea about self-esteem and body image from knowing she got surgery.

"I didn't do this because I believe in plastic surgery. I did this to help my health. I literally almost could not breathe out of the right side of my nose," she said. "I want my fans to know the truth. I'm not someone who is going to act like I had nothing done. I just want to be honest because my fans are everything to me."

Her nose does, however, look smaller at the tip now.

After her nose job, it was speculated that Tisdale got a second procedure, which she vehemently denied.

Ashlee Simpson refused to confirm or deny getting plastic surgery, but the proof is in the proboscis, and hers changed dramatically in 2006. She went from having a distinct look to looking, well, like everyone else.

"Everybody's already saying it, so I just don't talk about it," Simpson quipped to the Associated Press (via People) after speculation grew rampant. "I'm like, 'Okay, whatever.' It doesn't bother me ... Maybe [I did get a nose job]. Who knows?"

The irony was, of course, that around the same time she debuted her new mug, Simpson was on the cover of Marie Claire preaching about loving yourself as is. "Everyone is made differently, and that's what makes us beautiful and unique," she told the mag (via The Los Angeles Times). "I want girls to look in the mirror and feel confident."

A year later, she told Harper's Bazaar (via People), "I loved how I looked. I'm not an insecure person, nor was I before ... [Plastic surgery is] a personal choice. I believe if somebody chooses to do plastic surgery, it [should be] for yourself, not for anyone else." 

While that was the closest Simpson has ever come to confirming a rhinoplasty, her father possibly let the cat out of the bag on some kind of procedure when he told Fox News (via E! News), "There was a real problem with her breathing and that was cured." Whoops!

Kelly Rowland has been forthcoming about her breast augmentation, which she says made her much more confident in her body than she was before going under the knife.

"I wanted to get breast implants when I was 18, but my mom and Beyoncé's mom told me to really think about it first," she told Shape magazine (via E! News) of her procedure. "I took their advice and waited 10 years."

"Once I felt ready, I tried on padded bras and walked around in them to see how it would feel," she added. "You have to know what you're getting, no matter what type of surgery it is."

Rowland finally got her breast implants in 2008 and was thrilled with how the surgery turned out — because finally the size 2 singer could fit into tops that she liked.

"I simply went from an A-cup to a B-cup," Rowland told People. "I didn't want to have double Ds and be a little bitty size 2 — that would look nuts!"

Lady Gaga has never admitted to getting any actual cosmetic surgery, but she looks quite different today than when she first burst onto the pop scene in 2007.

Dr. Maurino Joffily, who hasn't treated Lady Gaga, told The Daily Star that he believes she's had a nose job, noting, "The nose looks straighter and narrower, and the tip more defined."

"Even though her nose looks different, it might be a result of some fillers and Botox combined," Dr. Joffily added, explaining that Gaga may not have had an actual rhinoplasty procedure, but that she may have used injectables to change the look of her her nose.

"I suspect Botox as in many pictures her brows look higher. She might also have had fillers in her chin and cheeks," Dr. Joffily said, adding that he thinks she may also have had lip fillers.

While Mother Monster says she has never gone under the knife, she did admit to going under the needle. "I've never had any 'work work' done, but I went through a phase when I was smoking pot when I was really obsessed with getting facial injections," she told Howard Stern (via The Daily Star). "Before I shot the 'Applause' video, [a photographer friend] was like, 'Gaga, I love you but if you don't stop injecting s*** in your face, I'm going to just kill you.' "

Britney Spears grew up in the spotlight, so it's easy to see that her face looks much different now than it did in 1999. Part of that, of course, is due to aging, but some of her transformation may be the result of skilled doctors.

Dr. Andrew Miller, who hasn't treated the "Baby One More Time" singer, told Life & Style, "First of all, loss of baby fat goes a long way to making the face look different. ... As to procedures she may have done, Britney always had a slight asymmetry between her eyes that appears improved in her later photos. Also, the lips look a bit fuller and the nose is a little thinner ... Everything does look natural so whatever she has done, it appears to have been done well."

MYA plastic surgery specialists also speculated to The Daily Star that Spears has had a nose job to slim her profile and shrink the tip of her nose.

For her part, Spears has never admitted to actual cosmetic surgery, but did tell InStyle (via The Huffington Post) that she's gotten lip injections before, calling it "fun stuff."

Madonna has her own pricey skincare line, MDNA, that promises to keep its users looking as ageless as the Queen of Pop herself, but a source close to the singer says she's had quite a bit of help from doctors to maintain her taut appearance well into her 50s.

Plastic surgeons who haven't treated the Material Girl speculated to The Daily Mail that she's had at least one (possibly two) nose jobs throughout her career, as well as lip injections, a possible chin implant, a possible blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), and cheekbone-enhancing fillers. Doctors also believe she got a facelift and a neck lift at some point.

For her part, Madge has remained coy about her preternaturally youthful appearance. She once told press (via The Daily Mail), "I am not going to have a press conference if I have plastic surgery. But I've said many times, I think about it and I sure don't rule it out."

Gwen Stefani looks amazing for a woman who's almost 50, and experts agree she's had some help maintaining her stunning visage.

"Gwen appears to have done Botox," plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer told Radar Online . "But she's also had her already luscious lips plumped up to perfection. Aside from that, she's just most likely had a series of chemical peels. She looks great."

However, cosmetic specialist Zara Harutyunyan thinks Stefani went beyond skincare and injectables, telling the site, "It looks to me like Gwen also has undergone Ultratherapy, which is a non-surgical face lift and neck lift."

Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who hasn't treated the singer, also believes she's had a nose job worth a cool $10,000, according to The National Enquirer, as well as "upper and lower eyelid lifts," possible "fat grafting," cheek fillers or implants, and lip fillers, estimating her total procedures and upkeep to have cost her about $82,000 over time.

Though she's denied it, Taylor Swift has been speculated to have had both breast and butt implants, giving her a much fuller figure than she had when she first broke into the mainstream.

"[Taylor] has always had a very petite chest but recent photos seem to show a fuller chest and more cleavage. We know that Taylor has a friendship with many Victoria's Secret models, so it so possible that she is rocking a new bra," plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Schulman told Page Six in 2016. "It is more likely that she has had some surgical help. I suspect that she has had a surgical breast augmentation, taking her from a small A cup to a B cup."

After Swift showed off a fuller derriere in spring 2016, experts speculated whether she had silicone butt implants, a Brazilian butt lift, or simply wore padded underwear, Radar Online reported. "Sources close to Swift" told Page Six that any rumors regarding the singer having had plastic surgery are false. 

When Adele emerged in the music world, she was much less polished than the vintage styled, wig-loving diva she is today. Experts believe that in addition to losing a bit of weight and getting a great stylist who developed her signature cat eyes and glam stage looks, Adele may have gone under the knife for a nose job.

"The tip of Adele's nose is definitely more defined, which would suggest that she had a tip rhinoplasty," Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Renato Calabria told Hollywood Life. "That consists of reshaping the lower cartilages of the nose by reducing their width and repositioning them with carefully placed sutures to give more definition. This can all be done through a tiny incision at the base of the nose in a minimally invasive fashion to limit swelling and bruising."

For her part, Adele has expressed being averse to plastic surgery in general, especially in terms of fighting the aging process. "Do you want to be uncomfortable for 20 years, or do you want to just settle into it? I don't want to have plastic surgery," she told Time in 2015. "I'm going to look like this forever. Deal with it. Once you deal with it, you feel more calm about it."