Julie Chen revealed that she had plastic surgery on her eyes to make them look bigger.
Chen, 43, shared with her co-hosts on CBS' "The Talk" this morning that she underwent plastic surgery. The talk show's "secret" week also revealed secrets from Sharon Osbourne and Aisha Tyler.
On Wednesday morning, Chen showed pictures and footage of a young Julie Chen, saying that she had surgery to change the look of her eyes.
"My secret dates back to – my heart is racing – it dates back to when I was 25 years old and I was working as a local news reporter in Dayton, Ohio," she said. She recalled how she had asked her editor if she could fill in for anchors over the holidays, to which he replied, "Let's face it Julie, how relatable are you to our community?"" she recalled. ""How big of an Asian community do we have in Dayton? On top of that because of your Asian eyes, I've noticed that when you're on camera, you look disinterested and bored because your eyes are so heavy, they are so small.""
She also discussed racism when she was growing up, saying that it felt like a grown-up version of racism. She talked about her insecurity she had with her eyes. "All I could see was my eyes," she said. "Do I look bored or disinterested?"
So she said she started meeting with agents for career advice and a big agent told her the same thing. "He said I cannot represent you unless you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger. He then whipped out a list of plastic surgeons who have done this surgery."
"Anyone out there in the Asian community you know what I'm talking about. More than half of Asian people are not born with double eyelids, a crease," Chen said. She said her agent told her that if she gets this plastic surgery done, "you'll get straight to the top."
Chen said she then had a long conversation with her mother, on whether it would be denying her heritage. She said the agent at the time represented the most famous Asian broadcaster and that he had a point. She also said that her consideration of her having the surgery had once divided her family.
Eventually, Chen proceeded with the surgery with support from her parents.
Chen revealed that she got the surgery at the age of 25 and shared the before-and-after photos to the audience. She then said the ball started to roll for her after she got it done.
"Did I give in to the man?" she said.
"I think you are beautiful before and you are beautiful now and it's really whatever makes you happy," said Sara Gilbert.
Chen said, "I don't like to live with regrets. I did it, I moved on. No one's more proud of being Chinese than I am and I have to live with a decision that I have made. I'm not gonna look back."
