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She went on, \"I thought it was a betrayal. Of feminism. Of aging. Of our team of women worldwide. And then I lost 50 pounds…\"

The \"League of Their Own\" star then said that the weight loss was what led to her face also transforming, which she said was \"melting with intention.\" 

\"I tried to be evolved about it. and say things like, 'This is natural. This is earned,'\" O'Donnell wrote. \"And then… 'umm how earned does it have to look?' There's a point where acceptance starts to feel like lying.\"

She said that a conversation with her child, Clay, challenged her, when the 13-year-old told her that she had \"earned\" her wrinkles and the teen \"wouldn't be able to respect\" her if she did it.

\"It threw me -- it really did,\" O'Donnell said. \"I delayed the whole thing for months, changing my mind talking to friends just sitting with it, thinking. And then I had this quiet realization … if I'm teaching clay anything, it can't be that my body belongs to an idea either. Even a good idea. Even feminism.\" 

\"PHOTO:
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
PHOTO: Rosie O'Donnell attends Cool Comedy Hot Cuisine Benefitting The Scleroderma Research Foundation at Fairmont Century Plaza on October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
>

\"Because that's still not freedom -- that's just a different authority telling you what you're allowed to do with your own face,\" she continued. \"I want them to grow up in a world where they don't feel like they have to change but also knows they can, if they want to, without losing moral standing in their own life\"

So after some thought, O'Donnell said she found a doctor she trusted and went through with the procedure, which she said was a \"lower deep plane face lift.\"

She wrote, \"I wanted a limit. I wanted to still be me, just… less haunted. and it worked -- I do look like me -- A slightly more well-rested emotionally stable version of me/I'm quite pleased with the whole thing.\"

After the procedure, O'Donnell said she wrestled with a new thought: if she had to publicly disclose what she did, which made her reflect on an earlier period in her life when she faced similar questions about visibility, honesty and public expectations as a closeted gay woman. 

\"PHOTO:
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Tinderbox Productions
PHOTO: Rosie O'Donnell arrives in Australia ahead of her "Common Knowledge" show at the Sydney Opera House on October 06, 2025 in Sydney, Australia.
>

O'Donnell said, \"I have never like[d] secrets/And part of my desire to show myself Is to come clean/But who do I owe that truth to?\"

She ended her essay by saying, \"Here at 64 years old/happier than I have been in years/Just to be alive/Able to feel and choose/And use my voice/Whenever I feel called to/For the girl I was/The woman I am/And all those joining my ranks/As we carry on in act 3/This is me.\"

O'Donnell didn't immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

In March 2025, O'Donnell revealed that she moved out of the United States with Clay, who was 12 at the time.

\"It's been heartbreaking to see what's happening politically and hard for me personally, as well,\" O'Donnell said of her decision to move to Ireland. \"The personal is political, as we know.\"

Since then, she's shared updates about her life on social media as well as Substack.

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