‘Plastic Surgery Rewind’ Stars On Aubrey O’Day Finding Out Diddy Was Arrested While Filming: “Very Heavy”

With some help from Michelle Visage, Dr. Terry Dubrow, and Dr. Spirit, Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind is shedding a new light on the long-lasting effects of cosmetic procedures. In the new Botched spinoff, which premiered on E! this week, a group of celebrities and influencers are digging deep into their psyche to not only understand their desire to alter their physical appearances, but to decide whether or not they want to reverse some of the surgeries they’ve already had.

Plastic Surgery Rewind stars celebs like Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Kim Zolciak and her daughter Brielle Biermann, 90 Day Fiance‘s Larissa Lima, and former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day, whose appearance is teased at the end of Episode 1. As we see in the trailer, O’Day—who was mentored by Sean “Diddy” Combs in the early stages of her career, but has since accused him of grooming her—learned of his arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering charges while filming Plastic Surgery Rewind, making for a “very heavy” moment, according to Dubrow.

“Going through the whole Diddy thing, talking about that and considering having a surgical procedure in the midst of all that emotionality? Very heavy,” the renowned plastic surgeon told Decider earlier this week.

According to body image expert Dr. Spirit, there are often deeper reasons behind people’s decisions to go under the knife, whether they are mirroring the way their parents viewed themselves, or coping with a traumatic experience, much like O’Day.

“You’ll think that it’s about, ‘I want to change this,’” Dr. Spirit said. “You don’t realize that what even took you to this was something that happened 20 years ago. Until you do the work on that, ‘changing this’ is only going to lead you back to procedure after procedure after procedure. It all is interconnected.”

For Visage, who had her breast implants removed over health concerns in 2019, she was “excited” to help guide the reversal-curious celebrities through their time on the show. “I wanted to go through the journey with these people as one of them who has done it and help guide them, not being a professional, but being somebody who has lived it,” she said.

When the trio stopped by Decider’s studio this week, they spoke at-length about Plastic Surgery Rewind, the potentially harmful effects of cosmetic surgery, and the celebrities that signed on for the journey. Check out the full interview below.

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DECIDER: What made you each want to sign on to this show? 

MICHELLE VISAGE: I’ll go first. I’m a triple board certified plastic surgeon [laughs]. For me,I had gone through my own journey with explanting and going through my own health journey, so I know what it’s like to alter my body and not only regret it, but also moved on in my life to a point where I was like, “I can release this.” Who I am now is not who I was when I got these. I was 21 when that journey started and two other subsequent surgeries. When they came to me about it, it made the most sense to me because I wanted to go through the journey with these people as one of them who has done it and help guide them, not being a professional, but being somebody who has lived it. So that was exciting for me to talk to them and get into their brains about what it meant to them to do it and what it means to possibly reverse it. 

DR. TERRY DUBROW: Obviously, I’ve been doing 10 years of Botched. It’s really interesting. There’s been such a change in celebrities talking about plastic surgery and the transparency. They’re listing the procedures and the surgeons, but they don’t really necessarily focus on the other side of it. There’s about a 40% estimate of people who have cosmetic surgery actually regret it. One of those celebrities, Kylie Jenner, said two years ago that she regretted having done all that surgery, particularly at that age. And so plastic surgery regret is a real thing. This is the next natural evolution of Botched. That’s why it’s Botched Presents, besides the fact that I’m the surgeon on it. 

VISAGE: But the surgery isn’t botched. 

DUBROW: No, the surgery is not botched. But if you think about it, there’s both the physical component and the high-risk physical component reversing the surgery, because it’s not easy. It’s revisional surgery. Plus, even more importantly, there is the emotional component, because a lot of these people and these celebrities, part, if not all, of their identity is based on that procedure that they had. And what happens when you take away the thing that they’re most identified or recognized by? That has a whole other set of issues that may go along with it. I’m so happy that we had the super expert, Dr. Spirit, to work on that, because that was like plastic surgery without a scalpel. And an even more important component of the show. 

DR. SPIRIT: I respect that too, because one of the things that we like to joke about is being like emotional surgeons, right? I work with a lot of clients behind the scenes on many issues that look like this. For me, coming back to television is the opportunity to put the medicine in the candy, so to speak, and to utilize television to magnify the messages that I see in the office. There were individuals who were willing to tell the story out loud, and they trusted us to tell those stories. This is a very sensitive thing. Most people don’t want to talk about the work that they’ve had done. 

VISAGE: Let alone celebrities, right? 

SPIRIT: Absolutely. Those stakes were really high, so when they called me and asked me to be a part of it, I was really worried about how they would be framed, what stories would be told, and what was the point. Once they told me what they wanted to do, I was hooked. There was no way that I wasn’t gonna be a part of it. 

Michelle, you are the host extraordinaire. What was your first impression of that first set of guests that came in? 

VISAGE: I was excited, but I felt kinship with them because I know what the journey is like. I know it’s personal, but to know what lies ahead for them … at some point, I got to a place where I just wanted my implants out. I didn’t care what I looked like. The reality is I actually did care what it looked like. It has to be done correctly by the right doctor and thank God we have the amazing Dr. Dubrow working on these people if they choose to go through with it. So I was excited. I knew what was to come for them. It’s really exciting. 

Dr. Dubrow, what about you? Botched has been airing for more than a decade. You’ve seen a lot on that show. When you were first looking at this first group of people, who did you think could benefit the most from a plastic surgery rewind? 

DUBROW: That’s a good question. 

VISAGE: Don’t you dare say me.

DUBROW: A couple of them came on the show and they had very exaggerated procedures – some of those people that you might see on Botched who we actually turned down – but they didn’t want more, they wanted less. Those are the ones that I was initially most interested in. What surprised me about the show is people are having cosmetic surgery and things that they think aren’t really surgical [and] don’t have risks, like filler at the age of 19 and 20. What they don’t realize is first of all, I think we all agree, it makes you look older most of the time. Secondly, it isn’t just a matter of taking some enzyme and dissolving the filler and it just goes away. You will see in the first episode that [we talked about dissolving Brielle’s filler]. We showed her where it could go wrong, where it could end up botched, so to speak. It was very scary. It’s a very high risk [procedure]. I know I always say that with Botched, but if you think about it, if a celebrity’s identity is based on looking a certain way, and even if it goes right, but if they don’t look the way they want to anymore, what effect does that have on their career, their self-confidence, and their personality for the rest of their lives? It’s important to understand that plastic surgery is as serious as cardiac surgery or trauma surgery or cancer surgery. It is no joke. 

Dr. Spirit, you are the resident body image expert. What was it like to get to know these celebrities and influencers? Was there anyone who surprised you once you met?

SPIRIT: They all surprised me in different ways, because it really is about how vulnerable you are willing to be. I think this show was very different than a lot of shows most celebrities are used to being on because they’re looking for the drama, they’re waiting for the hook, they’re waiting to find the lane where we have the fireworks. And it was like, “No, the fireworks are coming from your heart. We want your actual stories. We want to understand. How did you get here? What was the journey?” And what surprised me, really, was their ability to make connections very early. To hear people that you wouldn’t expect go, “Wow, I never considered that. So is that why this in my life looks like this and that? Oh ,my gosh. And I’ve done that to my kid.” To sit back and just watch it take hold and how fast they were able to find the through-line to really consider the mental health aspects, the emotional aspects of their journey, most of them will surprise you in some really amazing ways. Even when you think it looks one way, it looks something totally different four or five episodes in. 

DUBROW: But let’s face it, Aubrey O’Day, going through the whole Diddy thing just as she came on the show…

SPIRIT: He got arrested. He got arrested while we were filming. 

DUBROW: Going through the whole Diddy thing, talking about that and considering having a surgical procedure in the midst of all that emotionality? Very heavy. 

How do you help somebody through that? Because something like the Diddy scandal is way beyond just the plastic surgery.

SPIRIT: Well, what you’ll find is that everything is beyond just the plastic surgery, right? 

VISAGE: Deeper than the surface. 

SPIRIT: Yes. You’ll think that it’s about, “I want to change this.” And you don’t realize that what even took you to this was something that happened 20 years ago. Until you do the work on that, changing this is only going to lead you back to procedure after procedure after procedure. It all is interconnected. 

Michelle, you are truly a leader in this series. Not only did you open up about your own breast implant removal, but you also paved the way for that second exercise when you took all your makeup off for everyone. What was it like to share those kind of intimate moments with everyone else?

VISAGE: We talk about the moment right now being timely, because celebrities are deciding to be transparent about their surgeries that they’ve had and the procedures that they have had, when the truth is, and my colleagues here will agree, it’s selective transparency. They’re talking about some of the things that they want us to know that they’ve had done. 

SPIRIT: I’ll admit to this, this and this, but not the rest of that. 

VISAGE: It was an exercise for me to be able to say, “I’m with you. I absolutely am willing to be as vulnerable as I need to be to show you that you are beautiful and perfect as you are. You are loved as you are, before, after, during surgery, whatever it is you need to do or want to do.” Dr. Spirit asked me if I would do it. I said absolutely. It is a vulnerable thing, but if I could do it, maybe it would encourage them to take the next step to freedom, whatever that looked like for them. 

And it worked. They all took off their makeup at that moment. 

VISAGE: I was surprised. Were you surprised? Especially Aubrey.

SPIRIT: I was surprised. There were gasps at first. And then there was the moment where it clicked that they watched how free you were, and they wanted that for themselves too. That’s what made it so special. 

Dr. Dubrow, I feel like we saw your dad hat go on when you were talking to Brielle. As a parent and plastic surgeon who’s raised kids in places like Orange County and Beverly Hills where everyone wants to keep up with everyone, what do those conversations look like in your house?

DUBROW: It’s very tricky because my kids do express an interest in having filler [or] potential surgical procedures done. Of course, as a father, I say immediately, “No.” That’s my instinct. But they look at me and they go, “Really? Really?” They look around and they go, “Isn’t this based on being a plastic surgeon?” I just think it’s important that if you’re going to have those conversations, do a lot of listening. If you really want to go get a consult, get many consults. That’s one of the things Michelle talks about a lot. Go to different physicians. We talk about celebrity transparency, but I think there’s a significant lack of doctor transparency, meaning you really should be turning down a great percentage of your patients. Unfortunately, to be honest, nothing against plastic surgeons, but when you walk into a plastic surgeon’s office, they see a pre-op. It’s not necessarily truly a consult. How will they benefit? What should they really know about it? If doctors were really more transparent and tried to get a feeling of,”Why are you considering doing this now? You know you’re 20 and if you do filler, you may end up looking older. It may be difficult to get it out. You may have permanent swelling.” If plastic surgeons would just be a little more transparent, I think you’d have a lot less plastic surgery regrets. 

VISAGE: It would also be easier if they didn’t charge $5,000, $2,000, $1,000 for a consult.

DUBROW: That you can “apply towards the surgical fee.” That’s wiring you in further. 

SPIRIT: You don’t want to lose the money. 

DUBROW: We shouldn’t be selling surgery. 

VISAGE: But they are. 

Dr. Spirit and Michelle, as women, how did it make you guys feel when you heard that Brielle started doing this stuff to her face the second she turned 18? 

VISAGE: I can only speak from the entertainment side. For me, I’m a mother of two kids and that tracks if you grow up on television or social media. This is why social media is a horrible place for kids to be weaned off of Elmo. You jump onto TikTok or jump onto Instagram. I’m being honest. Our Instagram and our social media is curated for you to see the best that we look, the best we can live our lives. You never see us looking ratchet and how I really wake up in the morning. That’s the truth. 

SPIRIT: She still looks fabulous. 

VISAGE: I love you. But kids are still gonna look at it and go, “Oh, I want to look like that. I want my butt to look like that. I want my boobs to look like that.” And that is not truth. That is not authenticity. But that is what the kids see. So for me, it tracks to have an 18 year old go and get filler. 

SPIRIT: From a mental health perspective, it absolutely tracked for me, because I tell parents all the time, “Your children are not gonna love themselves the way you have loved them. They’re gonna love themselves the way you love yourself.” As she walked through the doors with her mother, it showed me the through-line. Now, Kim, talk to me about how your mother loved you. As you see the show, you will see the intergenerational languaging, the intergenerational perspectives, and even the intergenerational trauma that if they don’t disrupt the pattern, Brielle’s children will be under the knife as well. 

VISAGE: It all comes down to acceptance. We just want to be validated. We want to be told that we’re beautiful from somebody other than our mother. And we just want to feel loved. 

DUBROW: Let’s not forget, two years ago, Kylie Jenner said she regrets every single procedure she ever had, wished she had none of them before she had kids. 

VISAGE: And nobody’s talking about that.

DUBROW: Nobody’s talking about that right now. Sure, it’s wonderful that she named the surgeon, she talked about how many CCs, and they were under the muscle. 

VISAGE: Paid his bills for the next 10 years!

DUBROW: But let’s be honest, with great power comes great responsibility. Who said that? Spider-Man’s uncle or something? 

VISAGE: Well, I say RuPaul. 

DUBROW: I think Winston Churchill also said it. At the end of the day, when you’re gonna talk about your procedures with enthusiasm, let’s not forget the regret you may have had about them too. 

Exactly. Also, Kylie may not have reversed any of her surgeries, but she’s definitely going more natural in her makeup and even her clothes are more modest.

DUBROW: That is the trend right now among celebrities. There’s a sort of deflational trend. Less is more, for sure. 

VISAGE: I love that. I love it. Less is more.

You touched on this a bit with celebrity transparency. When Aubrey came in, she said she only had some lip filler and a wig.

VISAGE: Did you see Kim? [Laughs]. That’s actually a great moment in television, because she goes, “Aubrey, come on, you had more, girl.” That was funny. 

What did you guys think of that? Were you buying it? 

VISAGE: I’m going to let them answer it on a professional level, but for me, who cares who buys it? This is her story. We’re not there to shame anybody. If you believe her, that’s on you. If that’s her story and she’s sticking to it, then we have to go, “You go, girl.” And Dr. Spirit probably gets into why. 

SPIRIT: For me, it is meeting them where they are so if that’s the story that you start with, I don’t think for a second that that’s where we end. That’s just the beginning and that’s the entry point. So if she started off, “Yes, this is all it is,” the more that she is willing to open up also tells me about her progress. So I love that. 

DUBROW: It’s also potentially dangerous, because as a surgeon, if you open someone up who’s had a lot of procedures or filler or something in there and they don’t tell you about it, and you find a completely different set of circumstances anatomically, that can elevate the risk extraordinarily. 

SPIRIT: Didn’t we have that? There were folks who were like, “Oh, I forgot that I had that and I didn’t remember that that was there.”

DUBROW: It’s like not telling your doctor what medications you’re taking when you put them under anesthesia. It’s very scary .

I would love to see future seasons of this show. There are a lot of celebrities out there with a lot of plastic surgery. Who would you each like to see come on to this show in the future? 

VISAGE: This is probably a blanket statement, but I think it’s about the people who are interested in actually moving the needle in their lives and making the decision that they no longer are enslaved by social media or physicality or aesthetics, so to speak. People are ready to release it and move on to the next chapter in their life. It’s not easy. Having gone through it, I was known for giant boobs. To let go of them and really want to make peace with that is a very personal thing. Whether it’s that, a butt, filler, lips, hair, whatever it is, we welcome everybody. But they have to be people who are willing to take the journey. 

DUBROW: For me it’s any celebrity that has regret, you know? 

Maybe Kylie?

VISAGE: If she has regret.

DUBROW: If she has regret and understands what emotional toll it might take on them if they do rewind and what risks they’re taking on. You may rewind, you may go south with it. You may have a complication because the complication risk is very significant. It’s a lot like Botched that way. It could go very sideways, and that was very scary. You operate with some influencers who are on the program. You have a complication with someone with 20 million followers? That’s a problem. 

VISAGE: And that’s your career. It’s scary.

SPIRIT: One of the things that I’m known for, which is why I work with a lot of celebrities behind the scenes, is staying out of the industry. I didn’t know any of these individuals and I don’t purposely. I stay under the water, under a bubble because I believe that it’s important to meet people where they are with their stories. I don’t like to be influenced by what I see in the media, I don’t like to be influenced by their coaches, by their managers, by all of these things. When they come to me, I am literally meeting them for the first time. What I would say is, I’m interested in anybody coming who is interested in meeting themselves. I help them learn who they are and where it is that they’re trying to go.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on E!.