Of course, while Jacobs’s 1.6 million followers are used to seeing him share the ins and outs of his daily life on Instagram, there’s something quite extraordinary about anyone, let alone someone of Jacobs’s stature, pulling back the curtains on their plastic surgery – and in real time, no less. While surgical and non-surgical cosmetic treatments continue to grow rapidly, especially amid the pandemic when staring at our faces on Zoom teamed with a more flexible recovery schedule have caused a boom, the secrecy and shame still largely remain. But Jacobs is more than happy to do what he can to help shift societal attitudes and shed stigma around plastic surgery. As he chronicles his experience in multiple posts on Instagram, he’s helping educate curious parties on the recovery and results of the latest cutting-edge procedures. (And let’s be real, the facelift could use some help in the PR department.)
New York plastic surgeon Dr Andrew Jacono performed Jacobs’s “more modern” facelift using the advanced deep plane technique he’s been pioneering for more than 13 years, which lifts only under the muscle layer, leaving the skin attached to the muscle layers to steer clear of tightness for a smoother, softer lifted look. The surgeon sees Jacobs’s willingness to be transparent as an important step forward for openness and acceptance. “A big frustration is that people in the public eye that have means seem to be genetic mutants and make the rest of us feel like we’re not up to par,” he explains. "But the truth is there’s a certain point in life where you can’t fix things without surgery. The people who look good never talk about it, so it only adds to the confusion. When someone of Marc’s status is sharing, it helps people realise that there are things we all can do to maintain ourselves and enhance our appearance. It sends people a message: Yes, it’s possible to look like yourself, it’s not as bad as you think, and you can get the results you want without looking like you had bad plastic surgery.”
Ever the open book, Jacobs discusses his decision to get a facelift, how admitting you’ve had cosmetic surgery can help others, and what he believes the future of ageing in our modern world will be, below.
To start, could you talk me through your relationship to cosmetic procedures and how you ultimately decided to get a facelift?
I started [getting cosmetic procedures] many years ago. I don’t remember exactly when, but Steven Meisel had recommended a doctor named Dr Brandt who was, of course, pretty famous and everybody knew. I started going to Dr Brandt like most of my friends did and would get some Botox and some fillers. But I was always very conservative with it. Unfortunately, we lost Dr Brandt, and then I started going to Dr Frank, who was also recommended by Steven. What was really bothering me was my neck and how loose the skin was. I started to become very conservative with the Botox because I don’t like the way guys looked when they were, like, very Botoxed and even with the filler, it seemed like it was just becoming too much. So I started doing thread lifts to hold up my jowls and the area of my face where the skin was sagging. But I found that those were only effective for a very short period of time. The fillers were too heavy and the threads didn’t really hold anything up anymore. So Dr Frank said, “I can continue doing stuff to your face, but it’s really not going to help much. It’s not going to be effective. You’re at that time where I think you should consider a surgery that requires cutting rather than like injecting.” So I got recommendations and, out of everyone, I fell in love with Dr Jacono immediately and definitely thought from everything we’d seen online that he was the best.
You’re about a week into your recovery. How are you feeling, and what do you think of the results so far?
I love the results. I’m very happy. I’m still in the process of going to this hyperbaric oxygen chamber every day for a couple of hours, which is supposed to help with healing. I’m just in the beginning of what will be a few weeks, or a couple of months, before I have a full recovery. There was some discomfort after the surgery where I took painkillers. I made sure I had a nurse who monitored those painkillers so that I wouldn’t abuse them, because I do have a problem with addiction, so I was very transparent with my people in AA, my sponsor, etc. Now I’m just taking extra-strength Tylenol and don’t really feel any discomfort. Just some tightness and pulling in my neck, which feels foreign, but not uncomfortable.
Did you have any reservations around sharing that you’d had a facelift, or had you been planning to share your journey all along?
I mean, there have been so many things that I’ve been transparent about. Like, once when I went to an event with a baseball cap, and people asked me, “Why are you wearing a baseball cap?” And I said, “Well, I just had a hair transplant.” People were amused and amazed that I answered. [Laughs] But, honestly, what’s the difference? I’m not covering my face. I’m not wearing sunglasses. I’m not incognito. I’ve got some scars around my ears, and my face is swollen, and I have a bruised neck, but I’m still posting on Instagram. I don’t care. I don’t even see it as an effort to be transparent. I’m doing what I normally do, which is living my life and sharing it with anybody who is interested.
Whether intentional or not, how might you want your transparency to help push the conversation around ageing and procedures forward?
I’m 58 years old. I don’t think I look bad for 58 years old. I didn’t feel like I had to do this, but I feel like all of these conversations around ageing or around plastic surgery are just like any other conversations to me. The problem comes with the shame around them. And I don’t want to live my life with shame, you know? I find that the way I do that is by being open, transparent, and honest about things. Yes, I’m vain. I find there is no shame in being vain. I find there’s no shame in wanting attention. I find there’s no shame in getting dressed up and showing off a look. You know what I mean? Those are some of the things that give me pleasure. Self-care on every level, whether it’s spiritual self-care or meditation, or whether it‘s getting my hair dyed and cut, or spending two hours at JINSoon getting my nails done… those are all part of wellness for me. External and internal wellness are really important. I say the same thing about all of it, which is that the better I feel about myself, the better I’m able to be to others.
Why do you think there’s still shame around getting work done, particularly for those in the public eye?
It all comes down to shame and these old paradigms. When you look at current male and female actors, and they’re expected to look a certain way in order for the audience to see them the way they want to see them, they have to uphold this myth that they are what you see on screen, that they’re not real. Who believes that someone will look the same for 30 years on screen? But there is this kind of standard and we’re very much a product of the world we live in. That’s the part that I find really strange. In a world, especially one where a younger generation is all about transparency, disclosure, and honesty, I don’t see why people have this shame around vanity or keeping up with a certain thing. You know, we all have filters on our phones. We all retouch and filter our pictures. That’s the world we live in. It’s like this thing we do because the audience wants it, but the audience wants it because we do it. So it’s this funny little circle. But the thing that I find disappointing or difficult about that circle is that you could just remove the shame, and be honest and straightforward. It seems so crazy when an actor or public figure denies that they’ve done something. And they say like, “Oh, it’s olive oil, I bathe in seltzer.” It’s like, come on. Like all those things might be true, but they’re not why your neck is tight.
In terms of cosmetic enhancements and plastic surgery, how do you see the ubiquity and societal attitude changing in the years, or even decades, to come?
I don’t know what the equivalent of this would have been like 30 years ago, but you can imagine that there’s always been something. Whatever the next thing, there will be a certain group of people that will find these treatments or suggestions of how they can alter their appearance. There will probably be different ones in years from now. But look, it’s not new. People have always been very youth-oriented. If you ask most older people how they want to look, they don’t say they want to look old. You know? I mean, youth has always been what people aesthetically want to achieve. There’s no disgrace in being old or looking old. It’s just a choice to want to look younger. I don’t think there’s any disgrace in that. There will always be products or treatments, and there will always be some people who prefer to use those products or things as a means to achieve the aesthetics that they prefer. It’s like everything now… to start a dialogue is really what it’s about. It’s just funny how many people responded to my posts in that way of like, “Thank you for your transparency, your transparency is everything.” I think you just need to start a conversation, and then maybe that will have a resounding echo that helps people feel less ashamed. I just don’t think there’s shame in being vain.
Ever the open book, Jacobs discusses his decision to get a facelift, how admitting you’ve had cosmetic surgery can help others, and what he believes the future of ageing in our modern world will be, below.
To start, could you talk me through your relationship to cosmetic procedures and how you ultimately decided to get a facelift?
I started [getting cosmetic procedures] many years ago. I don’t remember exactly when, but Steven Meisel had recommended a doctor named Dr Brandt who was, of course, pretty famous and everybody knew. I started going to Dr Brandt like most of my friends did and would get some Botox and some fillers. But I was always very conservative with it. Unfortunately, we lost Dr Brandt, and then I started going to Dr Frank, who was also recommended by Steven. What was really bothering me was my neck and how loose the skin was. I started to become very conservative with the Botox because I don’t like the way guys looked when they were, like, very Botoxed and even with the filler, it seemed like it was just becoming too much. So I started doing thread lifts to hold up my jowls and the area of my face where the skin was sagging. But I found that those were only effective for a very short period of time. The fillers were too heavy and the threads didn’t really hold anything up anymore. So Dr Frank said, “I can continue doing stuff to your face, but it’s really not going to help much. It’s not going to be effective. You’re at that time where I think you should consider a surgery that requires cutting rather than like injecting.” So I got recommendations and, out of everyone, I fell in love with Dr Jacono immediately and definitely thought from everything we’d seen online that he was the best.
You’re about a week into your recovery. How are you feeling, and what do you think of the results so far?
I love the results. I’m very happy. I’m still in the process of going to this hyperbaric oxygen chamber every day for a couple of hours, which is supposed to help with healing. I’m just in the beginning of what will be a few weeks, or a couple of months, before I have a full recovery. There was some discomfort after the surgery where I took painkillers. I made sure I had a nurse who monitored those painkillers so that I wouldn’t abuse them, because I do have a problem with addiction, so I was very transparent with my people in AA, my sponsor, etc. Now I’m just taking extra-strength Tylenol and don’t really feel any discomfort. Just some tightness and pulling in my neck, which feels foreign, but not uncomfortable.
Did you have any reservations around sharing that you’d had a facelift, or had you been planning to share your journey all along?
I mean, there have been so many things that I’ve been transparent about. Like, once when I went to an event with a baseball cap, and people asked me, “Why are you wearing a baseball cap?” And I said, “Well, I just had a hair transplant.” People were amused and amazed that I answered. [Laughs] But, honestly, what’s the difference? I’m not covering my face. I’m not wearing sunglasses. I’m not incognito. I’ve got some scars around my ears, and my face is swollen, and I have a bruised neck, but I’m still posting on Instagram. I don’t care. I don’t even see it as an effort to be transparent. I’m doing what I normally do, which is living my life and sharing it with anybody who is interested.
Whether intentional or not, how might you want your transparency to help push the conversation around ageing and procedures forward?
I’m 58 years old. I don’t think I look bad for 58 years old. I didn’t feel like I had to do this, but I feel like all of these conversations around ageing or around plastic surgery are just like any other conversations to me. The problem comes with the shame around them. And I don’t want to live my life with shame, you know? I find that the way I do that is by being open, transparent, and honest about things. Yes, I’m vain. I find there is no shame in being vain. I find there’s no shame in wanting attention. I find there’s no shame in getting dressed up and showing off a look. You know what I mean? Those are some of the things that give me pleasure. Self-care on every level, whether it’s spiritual self-care or meditation, or whether it‘s getting my hair dyed and cut, or spending two hours at JINSoon getting my nails done… those are all part of wellness for me. External and internal wellness are really important. I say the same thing about all of it, which is that the better I feel about myself, the better I’m able to be to others.
Why do you think there’s still shame around getting work done, particularly for those in the public eye?
It all comes down to shame and these old paradigms. When you look at current male and female actors, and they’re expected to look a certain way in order for the audience to see them the way they want to see them, they have to uphold this myth that they are what you see on screen, that they’re not real. Who believes that someone will look the same for 30 years on screen? But there is this kind of standard and we’re very much a product of the world we live in. That’s the part that I find really strange. In a world, especially one where a younger generation is all about transparency, disclosure, and honesty, I don’t see why people have this shame around vanity or keeping up with a certain thing. You know, we all have filters on our phones. We all retouch and filter our pictures. That’s the world we live in. It’s like this thing we do because the audience wants it, but the audience wants it because we do it. So it’s this funny little circle. But the thing that I find disappointing or difficult about that circle is that you could just remove the shame, and be honest and straightforward. It seems so crazy when an actor or public figure denies that they’ve done something. And they say like, “Oh, it’s olive oil, I bathe in seltzer.” It’s like, come on. Like all those things might be true, but they’re not why your neck is tight.
In terms of cosmetic enhancements and plastic surgery, how do you see the ubiquity and societal attitude changing in the years, or even decades, to come?
I don’t know what the equivalent of this would have been like 30 years ago, but you can imagine that there’s always been something. Whatever the next thing, there will be a certain group of people that will find these treatments or suggestions of how they can alter their appearance. There will probably be different ones in years from now. But look, it’s not new. People have always been very youth-oriented. If you ask most older people how they want to look, they don’t say they want to look old. You know? I mean, youth has always been what people aesthetically want to achieve. There’s no disgrace in being old or looking old. It’s just a choice to want to look younger. I don’t think there’s any disgrace in that. There will always be products or treatments, and there will always be some people who prefer to use those products or things as a means to achieve the aesthetics that they prefer. It’s like everything now… to start a dialogue is really what it’s about. It’s just funny how many people responded to my posts in that way of like, “Thank you for your transparency, your transparency is everything.” I think you just need to start a conversation, and then maybe that will have a resounding echo that helps people feel less ashamed. I just don’t think there’s shame in being vain.
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