Caroline Manzo is showing off a radiant new look.
The former “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, 57, revealed that she recently lost nearly 20 pounds and underwent a face-lift.
Her friend and “Shahs of Sunset” star Reza Farahan shared a photo of her new look on Instagram, revealing she also recently chopped her hair into a cute pixie cut.
She opened up about her transformation in an episode of the “Dear Albie” podcast, hosted by her sons, Albie and Chris.
“I started to gain weight in the past year, probably the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. “So one day, shortly after New Year’s, I woke up and I decided, you know what, I was spiraling and going into a bad headspace and I can’t do that for a multitude of reasons. It’s not good for me, it’s not good for the family.”
Manzo, who appeared on “Real Housewives of New Jersey” from 2009 to 2013, knew it was time to make drastic lifestyle changes.
“So I just decided that I am going to stop eating bread and pasta and meat and soda and cake and all that kind of stuff,” she said. “I’m basically vegetarian. Not completely, but basically. ... And since the beginning of January, I’ve lost nearly 20 pounds.”
One side effect of the weight loss was looser skin around her neck.
“It just freaked me out,” she said. “... I went and I said to myself, all right, I’m going to go to the doctor and see what can be done about this.”
Manzo had always been anti-plastic surgery, and she said she understands that fans might be surprised by her decision to get a face-lift.
But she pointed out that the procedure mostly involved her neck, not her face, and that she wanted the results to be as natural as possible.
“I said, listen, I’m not trying to be my daughter. ... I’m 57, I’m not trying to be 25,” she said. “When (my granddaughter) looks at me, she has to see Grandma.”
“It’s not a matter of, you know what, let me bring my youth back,” she added. “No, I want to be the best version of me I can be.”
Manzo, who starred in a spinoff reality series, “Manzo’d With Children,” following her time on “Real Housewives,” said both her face-lift and recent weight loss have changed her “whole entire outlook on life.”
“I could cry thinking about it because it really, really, for me, just brought my headspace to a whole different place,” she said.