Heidi Montag and her husband, Spencer Pratt, opened up about the “devastating” recovery she endured after her dramatic plastic surgeries a decade ago.
Back in 2010, at age 23, "The Hills" star revealed that she had undergone 10 body-altering procedures in one day, including a brow lift, a chin reduction and Botox injections.
“I think I look way better and I’m way happier,” she told People magazine at the time. “Nobody ages perfectly, so I plan to keep using surgery to make me as perfect as I can be.”
It also caused an infamous rift between the star and her mom, as documented on the show.
Now, however, Montag, 32, has a very different outlook on the extensive procedures she underwent at such a young age. She and Pratt talked about her past surgeries during a recent episode of "The Hills: New Beginnings," and she opened up even more during a recent interview with Cosmopolitan.
“I was way too young to make such a life-changing decision,” Montag, 32, told the magazine, adding that she “was under so much pressure because it was the beginning of comment sections and negativity and hate on the internet.”
“I was also on TV where every perceived flaw is amplified,” she said. “I think I looked in the mirror a little too much. I wish I had waited and not made a decision so young because I have long-term health complications.”
Pratt, 35, her husband of more than a decade, also opened up about how hard it was for him when Montag went under the knife.
“I was there for every second, so I know all about that journey,” he told Cosmopolitan. “Let me just tell any ladies and gentlemen and gender nonconforming folks out there — just everyone: The phrase ‘minor surgical procedure’ does not exist. That’s the hard lesson we learned. There’s no such thing as one minor surgical procedure. And there’s certainly no such thing as 10 minor surgical procedures.”
Last year, Montag revealed that the aftermath of her surgery was actually a very scary time for the couple. She says her heart briefly stopped during her recovery.
"Spencer thought he lost me," she told Paper magazine in 2018. "I died for a minute. With that much surgery, I had to have 24-hour nurse care and Spencer didn't want to leave my side. … My security guards called Spencer and told him, 'Heidi's heart stopped. She's not going to make it.' And I easily could've. Cutting yourself up isn't something I'd recommend.”
Looking back on that frightening time, Pratt reflected on how negativity in the media drove his wife to strive for the “perfect” body.
“Heidi thought people would stop criticizing her if she got surgery,” he told Cosmopolitan. “Everything she did came from people criticizing her in the comments on Us Weekly and People magazine. She brought printouts of what the trolls and haters said to the doctor and said, ‘Can we do something about this?’ Everyone’s insecure but it’s different when you’re young and on TV and everyone’s talking about you."
He also voiced his frustration about how easy it has become to go under the knife.
“It’s upsetting that you can go to a doctor and say ‘Here’s what I hate about myself,’ and he’ll say ‘I can fix that. For free.’”
Now, Montag has some advice for anyone considering plastic surgery because they feel insecure about their looks.
“If you’re having those kinds of thoughts and issues, it’s important to seek advice from those you love and professionals who want to help,” she said. “Figure out why you feel that way and what’s behind it.”
She went on to say that while she’s not against plastic surgery — and she believes people can do what they want with their own bodies — she hopes people understand the not-so-pretty realities of body alteration.
“Everyone always shows you the before and after pics. They don’t show you how devastating the recovery is,” she said. “I don’t regret a lot of my enhancement, but plastic surgery isn’t something that should be glorified. Take it seriously.”