Denise Richards Was ‘Terrified’ Before Going Under the Knife for a Facelift: ‘Not Something I Could Hide’

Denise Richards spilled her secrets to a youthful look: A facelift!

The brunette beauty, 55, opened up about her plastic surgery journey in an interview with Allure, published Friday, March 20, saying she was “terrified” to go under the knife.

“I wanted to put things back up, where they were before,” Richards said. “Being in the public eye since my 20s, people know what I look like — a facelift is not something that I could hide.”

Despite her fears, the Wild Things actress was thrilled with her results.

“It is night and day. It’s shocking, actually,” she told the outlet.

Richards added that her ex-husband, Aaron Phypers, spilled her secret to the press, taking away her decision and privacy.

“I went back and forth about whether I was going to say anything about my facelift,” Richards — who was also previously married to Charlie Sheen, who she shares daughter Sami, 22, and Lola, 20 —said. “He kind of let the cat out of the bag. I think I could have gotten away with, ‘Oh, she looks so much better after her divorce.’ I think I probably would’ve been able to get away with it.”

While news of her facelift was shared without her consent, the Starship Troopers actress explained that it’s nice for people to know that “it’s not just serums and working out and lasers” that make people appear younger.

In addition to her facelift, plastic surgeon Ben Talei also performed a “a very minor and conservative upper blepharoplasty,” a temporal brow lift, lifted the outer corners of her lips, and repositioned “the forehead and temples back to where they used to be.”

“My face was in his hands,” she said.