Amber Tamblyn reveals she had plastic surgery at age 12

Amber Tamblyn is opening up about her decision to undergo plastic surgery at a young age.
The “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” star, 41, revealed in an essay for The New York Times published Sunday that she received ear-pinning surgery at age 12 after landing her first major television role.
Tamblyn wrote that she had “ears that stuck out like big butterfly wings” growing up, which caused kids to make fun of her in school, and she would “often stare at myself in the mirror wishing my ears would lay flat against my head.” But she said that it wasn’t until she was preparing to be on television that she opted to undergo surgery.
“Once I knew millions of people all over the world would be judging me on their television screens, not just on a playground, that knowledge changed everything for me,” she wrote.
The actress did not directly mention what the television role was, but she started appearing on “General Hospital” in 1995, the year she turned 12.
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Tamblyn went on to admit receiving the surgery made her a “hypocrite” because around this same time, she was a “fiery young feminist” who wrote a poem about women going to extreme lengths to stay “young and desirable.” She said that undergoing the surgery “felt like choosing a weapon I could wield in self-defense against my own disposability.”
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According to the Cleveland Clinic, ear-pinning surgery permanently brings a person’s ears closer to their head. The procedure takes about two hours, during which the patient usually receives general anesthesia, and is generally safe, the clinic notes.
Tamblyn’s essay was tied to “The Substance,” the new body horror film starring Demi Moore. In the movie, Moore’s character is the host of a fitness show who is fired on her 50th birthday because the network wants to replace her with a younger star. She subsequently begins using a black market drug that creates a younger version of herself but soon causes horrifying side effects.
Speaking with USA TODAY, Moore shared that “The Substance” taps into the fact that “we’ve all stepped through that door of self-judgment, self-criticism, that kind of battle,” which “in many cases can lead to almost a violence against ourselves.” She added that “the hope is that maybe we can be part of laying down some new stones on that pathway to a cultural shift by creating just an awareness.”
Writing for The New York Times, Tamblyn noted she related to the film as someone who grew up as a “child actress in the sexualized spotlight of the entertainment industry.” She recalled a director telling her in her 20s that the “key to a long-lasting career was to stay as young as possible for as long as possible” and said she once overheard an agent saying that representing actresses past their 30s is “hell on earth.”
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“This kind of warped thinking has become the status quo — and women can become our own worst adversaries,” she wrote. “Would I be less happy if I had fought against the desire to get my ears pinned back, if they still stuck out today? I don’t know — but I do think about it often, and about my willingness to align myself with the industry’s expectations.”
Other stars who have previously opened up about regretting getting plastic surgery include Bella Hadid, who revealed in a 2022 Vogue profile that she received a nose job at age 14.
“I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors,” she told the outlet. “I think I would have grown into it.”
Contributing: Brian Truitt