By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-12 17:44:42 | Updated at 2026-08-12 18:50:54
1 hour ago
Writer and MS NOW commentator Molly Jong-Fast has published an essay revealing her recent decision to get a face- and neck-lift.
The surgery happened 'a few months after' her 47th birthday last August, according to the author. The piece was published Wednesday by The New York Times.
Jong-Fast, 47, also addressed the stigma female operative patients face in the piece.
She recalled first frowning upon such procedures to embracing them fully as a means to further her career.
Jong-Fast acknowledged her iconic feminist mother Erica Jong, as well as her regal upbringing on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
'Many of the feminists who populated my mother’s narrow townhouse - Andrea Dworkin, Betty Friedan and Phyllis Chesler among them - did not believe in molding themselves into something different for men’s delectation,' she wrote.
Jong, in contrast, was presented as a 'pro-sex' feminist, 'which of course meant keeping herself appealing enough for men to want to have sex with her,' according to her daughter.
'To preserve that status, she had a face-lift in her 50s.'
Moly Jong-Fast, 47, underwent a deep plane face- and neck-lift recently, she revealed Wednesday. The political commentator and podcaster is seen on a recent edition of her podcast filmed after the surgeries
The frequent MS NOW political contributor - seen here at an event in New York in June 2024 - addressed the stigma female operative patients face
Jong-Fast used the anecdote to argue that 'our looks shape our livelihoods, our romantic prospects' and even women's 'visibility.'
'In response to that, my mother and these women were each forced to make a choice.'
A blunt diagnosis from 'a disarmingly young-looking plastic surgeon' was what ultimately swayed her, according to the piece.
He told her: 'The bottom half of your face looks older than the top half of your face,' she remembered.
'A few months later, I was rolled into an operating room for a deep plane face- and neck-lift.
'He made me better looking, and I don’t regret it,' Jong-Fast said. She added how she didn't think that made her 'a bad feminist.'
'I never quite bought into the idea that the best response to a culture that would exclude women from public view if they didn’t look young or pretty enough was to spurn it.
'My face, for instance, is directly connected to my livelihood.'
Jong-Fast appeared live at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side location in New York City to discuss her memoir How to Lose Your Mother in June of last year, before going under the knife
Jong-Fast - the daughter of iconic feminist writer Erica Jong - said she doesn't regret the decision. She is seen here in November 2023
Jong-Fast wrote that cosmetic surgeries are 'actually the norm for women on TV these days.' She's seen here with Yale law professor Natasha Sarin on Thursday's edition of The Moment With Katy Tur
The author noted how she discusses 'politics on TV for a living.'
'What I did to my face isn’t that unusual; I’d argue that it’s actually the norm for women on TV these days.
'We’re all on screens more and more, whether we’re grown-ups taking Zoom meetings or young influencers who have to feed the TikTok beast.'
In addition to her regular spots on MS NOW, Jong-Fast also runs a popular political podcast, called Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast.
'Plastic surgery isn’t going away. My daughter will have to make this choice one day, too,' she wrote to end the piece.
'We must be transparent about the treatments we receive and stop shaming others about their choices.'
