The quote
“I decided to do the whole thing, neck, up above the eyes, below the eyes, whole new nose.”
Context
She told the Television Academy she decided to have the surgery after watching herself on The Sonny & Cher Show. Her publicist advised her not to tell anyone.
Sources
- Television Academy (Emmy magazine) interview, republished 2012-08-20 (televisionacademy.com)
- TV Guide interview, 2006-12-05: "I've had a complete face-lift, I know how to do the hair, I've been taught by the greatest makeup people in the world" (tvguide.com)
Both pages read 2026-09-30.
The procedures
Upper eyelid surgery
In Phyllis Diller's words: “Eyelid surgery (upper and lower)”
Upper blepharoplasty removes excess skin from the upper eyelid, with or without a strip of orbicularis muscle and some fat (PMID 40152471). Redundant upper lid skin can narrow the upper field of vision and cause lid heaviness, headache and tearing (PMID 42693598).
Procedure page: Upper blepharoplasty
Lower eyelid surgery
In Phyllis Diller's words: “Eyelid surgery (upper and lower)”
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 procedures, 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 |
| Denise Richards “He did everything. He did the neck, the lower face, the upper, the brow lift. The only thing he didn't do…” | 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 |
| Ramona Singer “So I really did it because I had 'a little hood,' ... my eye was a little droopy... I had a little excess…” | 2023 |
| Jeff Lewis “It's fat repositioning. ... They go inside my eyelid, but it doesn't change the shape of your eye.” | 2021 |
| Jamie Lee Curtis “I had a routine plastic surgery because of a cameraman. I naturally had puffy eyes.” | 2019 |
| Dawn Ward “I had excess skin on my upper lids. I'd try to mask it as much as I could with lots of makeup.” | 2018 |
| Tamra Judge “I did a lower facelift, where they pull from the neck and the lower jaw. ... Since he would have to cut…” | 2017 |
| Jane Fonda “...some 'work' done on my chin and neck and had the bags taken away from under my eyes.” | 2010 |
| Joan Rivers “The first thing was get rid of the bags under my eyes, I had my nose thinned and my chin done and my neck…” | 2010 |
Questions
Did Phyllis Diller have upper eyelid surgery?
By Phyllis Diller's own account, yes. The statement is in Television Academy (Emmy magazine) interview, republished 2012-08-20, and tvguide.com reported it.
What did Phyllis Diller have done?
In Phyllis Diller's words: “Eyelid surgery (upper and lower)”. Sorted into the procedure library as upper eyelid surgery and lower eyelid surgery.
Who was Phyllis Diller's 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.