Classic TV stars who completely erased their signature features with drastic cosmetic surgery – see photos

Heidi rose to fame after starring in the hit MTV reality show The Hills, which aired between 2006 and 2010 and followed the star and her friends as they navigated work, love, and life in Hollywood.

Heidi was known for her girl-next-door beauty, yet when she underwent several cosmetic procedures to transform herself into a glamorous LA star, she became virtually unrecognisable. 

In 2010, when she was just 23 years old, the blonde bombshell underwent 10 surgeries in a single day, receiving Botox, a brow lift, a chin reduction, breast augmentation, liposuction, rhinoplasty and ear pinning, amongst other procedures.

Heidi shared with Paper magazine that she almost lost her life due to the sheer amount of physical alterations she had done. "[My husband] Spencer thought he lost me," she said. 

"I died for a minute. With that much surgery, I had to have 24-hour nurse care, and Spencer didn't want to leave my side…Cutting yourself up isn't something I'd recommend."

The '00s mainstay later told Cosmopolitan that she regretted altering her body to the extent that it became detrimental to her health. "I was way too young to make such a life-changing decision," Heidi explained, adding that she "was under so much pressure because it was the beginning of comment sections and negativity and hate on the internet."

"I was also on TV, where every perceived flaw is amplified," she continued. "I think I looked in the mirror a little too much. I wish I had waited and not made a decision so young, because I have long-term health complications."

"Everyone always shows you the before-and-after pics. They don’t show you how devastating the recovery is," she added. "I don’t regret a lot of my enhancements, but plastic surgery isn’t something that should be glorified. Take it seriously."

The Friends icon was a megastar in the '90s and '00s, lauded for her stunning good looks, beautiful smile and raven-black hair. However, over time, Courteney's face began to transform due to filler and cosmetic work – so much so that the actress decided to pare it all back and return to a more natural look.

"There was a time when you go, 'Oh, I'm changing. I'm looking older.' And I tried to chase that [youthfulness] for years," she told The Times. "And I didn't realise that, oh s***, I'm actually looking really strange with injections and doing stuff to my face that I would never do now...People would talk about me, I think. There was a period where I went, 'I've got to stop. That's just crazy.'"

"I look at pictures of me from when I thought I looked okay, and I can't believe it," she later said on the Gloss Angeles podcast. "Thinking I was getting older when I was really young…that's just a bummer, a waste of time."

"You don't realise what it looks like to the outside person and just doing too many fillers and then having to have them removed, which thank God they are removable, but I think I messed up a lot and now luckily…I was able to reverse most of that, and now I'm actually just older."

Joan Rivers was a staple on our TV screens for almost 50 years, with credits like The Tonight Show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, and Fashion Police under her belt. The TV personality had classic, soft features as a young woman, until she was thrust into the spotlight and forced to reckon with her insecurities. 

Joan underwent everything from tummy tucks to rhinoplasties over the years, with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, estimating that she had received a whopping 348 cosmetic enhancements in her lifetime.

"We’re in a society where looks count…and all the beautiful women lie and say ‘I’ve done nothing’, and that is so unfair. And I just want women to know it’s okay, do it," Joan said in an interview on 20/20.

She was also an advocate for people getting plastic surgery if they so desired. "Stop telling everyone it’s okay not to be pretty! If you can fix it, fix it! If it makes you happier," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I love to look in the mirror and say, 'For 77, you look good.' That’s all. I don’t care what anyone says. Not bad for 77."

Lara burst onto the scene in 1990 thanks to her role in the hit TV series Twin Peaks, capturing the audience with her classic good looks, sultry dark features and piercing blue eyes. 

Then, in the '00s, the actress began to undergo a transformation that appeared to stem from fillers and Botox, although Lara has never confirmed if she had received cosmetic enhancements. She has spoken about ageing under the spotlight, and remarked to the Daily Mail that she "may be running out of time".

"There are just not that many roles for older women. On a vanity level, I am not looking forward to aging at all," she said.

The Quantico star almost derailed her entire career in the early '00s when she underwent surgery on her nose to fix a breathing issue. 

After winning the Miss World pageant in 2000 and skyrocketing to fame, Priyanka began to experience symptoms of a head cold and discovered she had a nasal polyp that was affecting her breathing.

When the Indian-born star went to have it removed, everything seemed to go wrong on the operating table, as she wrote in her 2021 memoir Unfinished. "While shaving off the polyp, the doctor also accidentally shaved the bridge of my nose, and the bridge collapsed," she recalled.

"When it was time to remove the bandages and the condition of my nose was revealed, Mum and I were horrified. My original nose was gone. My face looked completely different. I wasn't me anymore."

Priyanka's mental health suffered as she came to terms with her new look, and she even dealt with bullying from the media at the time, who dubbed her "Plastic Chopra". 

She was then fired from multiple projects and thought her career was over, until her father convinced her to undergo corrective surgery. "I was terrified of that, but he was like, 'I will be in the room with you,'" she said on The Howard Stern Show.

"He held my hands through it and helped me build back my confidence." Although her nose was never the same after the botched procedure, Priyanka eventually "made peace with this slightly different me".