Andy Cohen defended his history of asking “Real Housewives” stars about plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures they’ve done.
On January 29, the Bravo host was in the hot seat after the first part of “The Real Housewives of New York City” season 15 reunion featured him questioning Jessel Taank about her ”glow up.”
After a viewer called Cohen out, he explained his reunion questions—and dished on the cosmetic work that he had done.
Andy Cohen Said Fans Constantly Ask About the ‘Work’ the Real Housewives Had Done
After the RHONY season 15 reunion aired, one viewer tagged Cohen in a complaint. “@Andy, The millions of women who watch these franchises are tired of you asking women ‘what work they had done,” the viewer wrote on X. “This isn’t 2009 anymore and women can do whatever they want to their face/bodies. It’s time to retire this question. It’s rude and does 0 for the viewers.”
Cohen responded by explaining that he simply asks the questions that viewers want him to ask. The Bravo host often posts to social media to urge fans to send in questions for the reunion and for his late-night show “Watch What Happens Live.”
“‘What work have you done’ remains at the top of the list of viewer questions every season, every franchise,” Cohen replied to the viewer. “The HW have unabashedly let us into their beauty regimes since day one; It’s a big part of the series DNA.”
Cohen also responded to a critic who challenged him to share “all the work he’s done on his body over the years.”
Cohen, 56, replied with, “I had botox for the first time 3 weeks ago. been talking about it on the radio a lot. after all, i ask the women in the last 18 years of Housewives, i will be transparent if i ever do anything else!”
It wasn’t long ago that Cohen said he had no interest in trying Botox. “I’ve not touched it. I’ve never even had Botox,” he said on the “How to Fail” podcast in November 2024. “Joan Rivers, before she died, used to beg me to get Botox. And every guy that I know who’s hosting a TV show, mainly all of them are younger than me or about my age. They all have had Botox. I look at their foreheads. I’m like, ‘Your forehead does not move.'”
Andy Cohen Grilled Jessel Taank About Her ‘Glow Up’
After hosting dozens of reunions and thousands of WWHL episodes, Cohen has asked it all. But he didn’t let up on Taank during the first part of the “Real Housewives of New York City” reunion, which aired on January 28 on Bravo.
Cohen noted that Taank had a real “glow-up” since her first season on RHONY. “You look like an airbrushed version of yourself. What has happened?” the Bravo host asked the mom of two.
In an awkward exchange, Taank replied, “I don’t know. I think I cut my hair and lost some weight. I mean, was I heinous before?”
After some prompting from co-star Brynn Whitfield, Taank admitted to doing Botox and more. “I mean, I’ve done Botox since I was 26, OK?” she said, before admitting to using fillers as well.
“I get Botox, and I get filler,” she told Cohen as he continued to grill her. “I’ve always done that, OK? And I take care of my skin, lots of water. And I lost some weight.”
Cohen pointed out that her teeth also looked different, to which Taank replied, “I got veneers.”
“So now, it is just the sprinkle of Botox, the fillers, and the veneers,” Cohen confirmed.
Cohen’s plastic surgery questioning has not been limited to the Housewives. After he hosted the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” reunion in 2021, he revealed that his “frank” questions about plastic surgery were left on the cutting room floor.
“As revealing as they’ve been, there was so much more,” Cohen said in a 2023 appearance on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “And if there could ever be a director’s cut or my cut, I think people would be really surprised. Because we had very frank conversations about plastic surgery.”
“There was a moment where I was grilling Kim. And she was being really PC, and then she finally said, ‘Look, we’re not going to use this, but I’m going to tell you right now,’” Cohen said. “They own the tape, so it’s never going to be seen,” he added of the Kardashian clan’s plastic surgery discussion.
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Andy Cohen Defends RHONY Reunion Question to Jessel Taank