The cat is finally out of the bag, (not that it wasn’t already sticking its head out)! After admitting that she had plastic surgery done on her eyes to make herself look less Chinese, the veteran journalist and host of The Talk, Julie Chen vehemently denied having any other surgery done on her body. She admitted that she had her eyes done to make them look a bit bigger, but that was as far as it went. In confession on the The Talk, she insisted that she did not have any fat taken out of her face, she did not have any cheek implants, or chin surgery or even a nose job. She also insisted that she did not have anything done on her teeth, and that she has never even had to wear any braces.

Instead she revealed that she had a great makeup artist who gives her the transformation that gives the impression of a good plastic surgery. Julie Chen said that for almost 45 minutes every morning, she sits on her makeup artist’s chairs and practically has her face painted on. Although it is rumored that she had a nose job done, she insists that the contouring done on her nose sometimes is heavier than others, giving her nose the impression that some kind of plastic surgery has been done.

Chen argues that underneath the makeup she does not look all that different. She went on to compare a photo of her without the makeup (which she provided herself in an attempt to nip the plastic surgery rumors before they blossomed) and her earlier photos, which seem to collaborate her story somewhat. She revealed that she underwent the surgery when she was told that her Asian eyes were holding her career back. She ascribed it to workplace discrimination and rooted it into her bosses’ displeasure of her Chinese look. This initially began back when she was about 25 years old in Dayton Ohio, where she was working as a reporter for the local news. Her boss indicated that she would never become a news desk anchor because she was Chinese. She confessed that after having the surgery done, her career did actually pick up, and states that she has no regrets about it.

The worst part after the surgery, according to Chen, was the hateful comments she received from people within her own community about how she looked. It was comments such as “You are denying your heritage” or “Way to give in to the western standards of beauty” that really had a negative effect on her.