Julie Chen: I Had Plastic Surgery To Widen My 'Asian Eyes'

Courtesy Of CBS/Getty

Wow! Julie made a shocking revelation during ‘secret’ week on ‘The Talk,’ saying she had plastic surgery on her eyes to make them look bigger when she was 25 years old.

Julie Chan revealed on a Sept. 11 episode of “The Talk” that she had the surgery after facing pressure from her superior and a “big-time agent” to look more “relatable” to viewers. Read on for more details.

Julie Chen’s Plastic Surgery — Secret Week: She Widened ‘Asian Eyes’

Poor Julie! After encountering racism in the workplace when she was a local news reporter in Dayton, Ohio, she felt compelled to alter her appearance for good.

When Julie asked her news director if she could fill in for anchors who were away on vacation, he said, “You will never be on this anchor desk, because you’re Chinese.”

Julie, 43, adds, “He said, ‘Let’s face it, Julie, how relatable are you to our community? How big of an Asian community do we really have in Dayton? … On top of that because of your heritage, because of your Asian eyes, I’ve noticed that when you’re on camera, when you’re interviewing someone, you look disinterested and bored because your eyes are so heavy, they are so small.'”

How awful! Julie said she was “very insecure” at the time and the criticism hurt her immensely. “It felt like a dagger in my heart,” she says. “It was racism.”

We can’t believe anyone would have the nerve to say those awful, insensitive things to Julie!

Julie Chen Reveals Her Before And After Pictures

Discouraged, Julie started looking for a job elsewhere, only to be told by a “big-time agent,” “I cannot represent you unless you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger.”

Julie finally gave in and got the surgery, and she revealed the shocking before and after pictures on The Talk, noting how “dramatic” the difference was. “The eyes are bigger. I look more alert. … more expressive.”

“Now, it’s like I sometimes wonder, but I will say after I had that done everything kind of, the ball did roll for me,” Julie adds. “I struggle with, ‘Wow. Did I give in to the man in doing this?'”

Julie’s co-hosts Sheryl Underwood, Sharon Osbourne and Sara Gilbert all voiced their support for her decision, and Julie reflected that there’s no turning back now.

“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.”

It’s so sad that Julie faced this kind of racism and felt she had to change who she is. Still, we’re so glad she has overcome her feelings of guilt over her surgery and is moving forward. It was very brave of her to share her story, and hopefully it will serve as a cautionary tale to young women facing similar discrimination.

What do YOU think, HollywoodLifers? Do you support Julie’s controversial decision to have plastic surgery? Let us know!

WATCH: Julie Chen Opens Up About Her Plastic Surgery

– Tierney McAfee

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Ha ha, lest anyone think for one second that Julie Chang didn’t have MORE than just her old chinky eyes done. Also, has anyone seen Julie even now without all that makeup and fake eyelashes? She’s AVERAGE at best….yes she used to look like Margaret Cho but she really still looks like Margaret Chow when you peel away the layers. She’s so in touch with her Asian side, she lives in Ohio – she married a rich white Jew (stole him away from his wife), she used to be married to a poor white Jew and she chopped up her face to supposedly look MORE WESTERN.

you’re a racist bastard

It does look like her nose was done as well, but I really do think that’s all. I’m disappointed that she didn’t mention it if she did. I got goosebumps and a little teary-eyed when she was recounting how her mother told her that she and her father would support her decision. And if she wanted the surgery they’d pay for it and they’d all go out to L.A.. It sounds like something my parents would do, may they R.I.P.

Someone doubted that ‘those men” said those things to her – I have no doubt that they did. I remember an incident back in the 80s or 90s that made international news when some TV station was going to let one of their female anchors or reporters go because she was “too old.” I can’t remember if she’d turned 35 or 40. She was still good looking and physically fit. They just wanted to bring in a prettier, younger version in the hopes of attracting the younger viewers in the region.

To be totally honest, she was no beauty. She did her whole face including teeth! Why is sheonly talking about the eyes only/ She rebuilt her whole face, that’s ok, but she is stand-off-ish. Just know that your children are no going to look lke you now but then and have to explain to them.

What about all the other plastics she had?

I for one don’t care what Julie Chen does, I do not like her!!! I don’t watch her shows, she does nothing but criticize the young beautiful actresses of today—she is IMO a phony

This will change in less than a generation with the ascension of China on the world stage. As China spreads its wealth and power more people around the world will use plastic surgery to make their faces look more Asian and adopt certain Asian culture traits, just as they have done in the previous hundred years adopting the Western standard of beauty. We will all witness this new paradigm in our lifetime.

She also had a nose job!! And maybe her chin. We don’t know if what she’s saying is true, does this guy exist? I would have to hear it from her mgr. But don’t let her fool you she’s had much more than her eyes done!!

I bet that eye procedure is what made a huge difference for her. Without her revelation and seeing the early picture of her I would have never known she was Chinese, let alone Asian. That surgery sure makes Asians more relatable, look more interested and awake. What a difference! Good God I can’t believe professionals were talking to eachother like that in 1995. The person who hired Oprah for her infamous talk show had the opposite attitude, and that was 10 years earlier.

You simply have a stereotypical image of “asian” in your head. “Asian” doesn’t look like what you think it looks like. In fact you often hear Stormfront types talking about how Asians don’t want to “look Asian” because they expect Asians to look like Margret Cho or Long Duk Dong when in fact it’s just their own ignorance about the range of ethnicities in Asia. It’s like back in the 80s when the typical American thought blacks all looked like Willie Horton or Oprah.

Its sad that your article supports body love but all the ads below are for changing your body. Nothing has changed since Julie was told to change.

I think Julie did the right thing and her “after” photo is beautiful but let’s not just dwell on one or two men saying her eyes need changing. She has obviously had a nose job and who knows what else? I do notice that she might need another trip to the surgeon to “tweek” the one eye that appears to be sagging. Also, I would ease up on the very dark eye shadow that closes the eyes she’s trying to open.

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I believe that may have been what she heard but I’m don’t believe that was actually said.
Also, I didn’t see any mention of her nose job. Did she cave to “the man” on that too?

Her nose looks the same to me.
Her makeup is so much better now, her nose is contoured for
better definition.

please don’t believe this.
this is a way for attention.

Her eyes look the same size to me. On her younger pic she is not wearing false eye lashes and on the other one she is. That’s the only difference in her eyes that I see.

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Julie Chen: I Had Plastic Surgery To Widen My ‘Asian Eyes’