SIMON Cowell hasn't been exactly hush-hush about his plastic surgery or filler use.
According to an Upper East Side plastic surgeon, though, the America's Got Talent judge has likely had more nips and tucks than he's admitted to.
Fans have speculated about Simon Cowell's changing face in recent years.
The 64-year-old copped to getting a "thread lift" and going "too far" with fillers after reality TV viewers buzzed about his appearance on social media.
"Simon Cowell looks more like a waxwork of Simon Cowell than a waxwork of Simon Cowell," wrote one Twitter user in 2019.
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"Simon Cowell looks like someone tried to make Simon Cowell in The Sims 3 but got stuck playing around with the eye toggles for too long," quipped another.
"Simon Cowell's new face looks like a doll that you leave out in the sun too long and it starts melting," wrote a third.
But while commenters see the overall change, a pro has broken down just what, exactly, most likely went into it.
Double-board certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich told The U.S. Sun he sees signs of filler, an eyelid lift, and possible "pillow face."
FLASHBACK TO THE '90s
Back in 1994, Simon was still years away from being a household name but was already working in music.
His biggest claim to fame at the time may have been producing the theme song to Power Rangers.
A photo of the then-35-year-old on the red carpet at The BRIT Awards shows his "natural features," according to Dr. Vasyukevich.
He said the music exec had a "very good jawline and cheeks that weren't particularly full."
Simon didn't look much different by the time he made his American Idol debut in 2002.
HELLISH FACELIFT
His public presence continued to grow over the next two and a half decades with American Idol, The X-Factor, and America's Got Talent — but it wasn't until the late 2010s that fans started noticing he looked a bit different.
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The Sun reported in 2018 that he had undergone a $2,550 "Silhouette Soft Lift" with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh, who is known as the “Picasso of dermatology."
The procedure involves tugging a bioplastic-infused thread that has been sewn into the face to get rid of sagging skin.
Simon admitted to going under the knife, complaining that it "hurt like hell."
“There’s lots of things you can do now. You don’t just have to stuff your face with filler and Botox," he told The Sun on Sunday of seeing the doctor, who has a six-month waitlist.
“It hurts like hell but it gets rid of sun damage and unplugs all the crap.
"For me now, it’s all about having clean skin. If you have clean skin, you look better."
MIGHTY MORPHING FACE SHAPE
In 2019, speculation really ramped up on social media.
"I would like to personally thank Simon Cowell's plastic surgeon for sewing his eyes on upside-down," tweeted one person.
"I can’t get over this is how Simon Cowell looks now, surely it’s just a whole different person altogether," said another.
But Dr. Vasyukevich said that there are some differences that only a pro would notice.
"Maybe it’s a natural result due to weight gain, but his cheeks appeared higher and the overall face shape and features are slightly pronounced," he said, analyzing photos from 2019.
"You can see he lost volume in the face, and the overall decreasing roundness and definition of the face.
There was a stage where I might have gone a bit too far.
Simon Cowell
"However, the cheeks were still very prominent and high."
He added that "something seemed incongruent," which could have been a sign of filler, but "fillers, by themselves, are neither good nor bad."
Dr. Vasyukevich noted that Simon's brow had lowered and was closer to his eyes, which could have been a natural effect of aging or Botox to relax the muscle.
"He had a skinfold on the upper eyelid, but since the brow lowered, the skinfold disappeared, so there might have been a blepharoplasty," the doctor explained.
A blepharoplasty is an eyelid lift.
'TOO FAR' WITH FILLERS
Dr. Vasyukevich observed that over the course of two years from 2019 to 2021, the overall volume of the AGT judge's face increased.
"At this point, there could be filler in multiple areas," he admitted.
"Moreover, the forehead and cheeks presented a bumpiness that could be the result of filler.
Between 2022 and 2023, he added that there was an overall "uneven appearance and bumps," which he speculated were due to old filler and migration.
The former American Idol judge admitted to The Sun in 2022 that he had gone "a bit too far" with face fillers and thought he looked "like something out of a horror film."
"There was a stage where I might have gone a bit too far. I saw a picture of me from ‘before’ the other day, and didn’t recognize it as me first of all," he told The Sun.
More recent pictures from the end of 2023 until today "show a less puffy face," with more wrinkles and a more natural look overall.
Cowell said that he previously had filler but has had it dissolved.
Dr. Vasyukevich said that the visual show above "might align with him dissolving filler."
He has "overall good facial volume," but "less soft tissue laxity," which could be due to other filler work that has been decreased in some spots.
PILLOW PROBS
Even after having filler dissolved, some people are left with an unwelcome phenomenon called Pillow Face — and Dr. Vasyukevich sees signs that Simon falls into this camp.
He described it as an "uneven volume distribution" that causes a loss of definition in the face.
There are three stand-out signs that the average person can spot.
- Overfilled cheeks: The cheeks become excessively plump, losing their natural contours and blending into the under-eye area.
- Flattened midface: The natural folds and shadows of the midface disappear, creating a smooth, almost featureless appearance.
- Smaller eyes: Because the cheeks become so puffy, they can push up against the lower eyelids, making the eyes appear smaller.
