The quote
“The first thing was get rid of the bags under my eyes, I had my nose thinned and my chin done and my neck done twice.”
Context
She told Tim Teeman in 2010 that removing the bags under her eyes was her first cosmetic procedure. On NPR's Fresh Air (2010-06-09) she said she had talked about her surgery publicly since the start of her career.
Sources
- The Times (London) interview by Tim Teeman, 2010; quoted in The Daily Beast, 2014-09-04 (thedailybeast.com)
- Interview magazine archive, republished 2021-06-16: "I had my face done, I had my eyes done ... I had a facelift six years ago." (interviewmagazine.com)
Both pages read 2026-09-30.
The procedure
Lower eyelid surgery
In Joan Rivers' words: “Under-eye bag removal”
Lower blepharoplasty removes or repositions the fat that bulges under the eye and removes excess skin when present (PMID 37531619). It is done mainly for appearance: bags, circles or a tired look under the eyes (PMID 37531619).
Procedure page: Lower blepharoplasty
Procedure pages and surgeons
Others on record
People who named the same procedure, most in common first, then the newest statement.
| Person | Year |
|---|---|
| Jessi Ngatikaura “I went in for a lower bleph and then I asked about an upper bleph and ended up getting that. Did not want…” | 2026 |
| Kathy Wakile “Today I had a neck and lower facelift, along with a brow lift and lower blepharoplasty.” | 2026 |
| Barbara Corcoran “three facelifts, lower eyelid skin pinch, filler four times a year, brow lift, professional teeth whitening,…” | 2025 |
| Simone Biles “Every time I would go to a shoot, they're like, 'Oh, can we put some [eye masks] on her?' And I was like,…” | 2025 |
| Josh Peck “It's the best. It's really easy. They go all inside your eye. No scar, little lift, little tuck.” | 2024 |
| Jeff Lewis “It's fat repositioning. ... They go inside my eyelid, but it doesn't change the shape of your eye.” | 2021 |
| Jane Fonda “...some 'work' done on my chin and neck and had the bags taken away from under my eyes.” | 2010 |
| Phyllis Diller “I decided to do the whole thing, neck, up above the eyes, below the eyes, whole new nose.” | 2006 |
Questions
Did Joan Rivers have lower eyelid surgery?
By Joan Rivers' own account, yes. The statement is in The Times (London) interview by Tim Teeman, 2010; quoted in The Daily Beast, 2014-09-04, and interviewmagazine.com reported it.
What did Joan Rivers have done?
In Joan Rivers' words: “Under-eye bag removal”. Sorted into the procedure library as lower eyelid surgery.
Who was Joan Rivers' surgeon?
The statement on record does not name a surgeon. A surgeon is listed only when the patient named them.
How was the record checked?
The quote was copied verbatim from the source page, a second outlet was found reporting the same statement, and both pages were checked 2026-09-30. Rumor and comparisons of photographs are not recorded. The rules are in the method.